Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Maleeha Vincent It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Saarah N You'll love this film if you appreciate light humour, a predictable plot and the message of staying true to yourself. A young woman, Nicole, wishes to avoid the ridicule of going to prom alone, so she enlists the services of her old friend and next door neighbour, Chase. Why do they decide to go together? So they can also make their true 'special someones' jealous. But they have to make it a good scam, of course, so they act all loved up before the actual prom. And they might just realise what true love is, who knows?I'm a fan of Melissa Joan Hart, so it comes as a forgone conclusion that I'll enjoy this film. The other leading role was also equally entertaining. A scam well-played? But who's scamming whom?

LitCritChas To be fair, this film is listed under the Teen Comedy genre so if you generally don't find Teen Comedies tasteful then do yourself a favor and move along. Now as I say it is a Teen Comedy, I should also say that this is a Comedy in the traditional definition of the genre, meaning that it is a Comedy that explores some thoughtful and deep themes before the Act III obligatory turn away. This is what a traditional Comedy looks like: it's life affirming, completely aware of the human body and its limits, the community is reformed where it needs to be, the society merely exists in the earthly space that creates the community (ignoring Heaven and Hell), and it turns away in Act III informed by but not obsessed by some rather ponderous thoughts on what it means to be human in its society. It's not Satire like Scream, nor is it Farce like American Pie or Not Another Teen Movie, so don't come in expecting that you're going to be laughing every few seconds.If you're familiar with the genre you know the story. Nicole (Hart) is a preppy girl in High School, aiming for the handsome jock, Brad (Carpenter), to ask her to a community dance that she's helped organize. Brad falls in love with a cheerleader from another school, leaving Nicole to make a deal with her former childhood best friend and "rebel without a cause" boy next door, Chase (Grenier), to make Brad and Chase's recent ex-girlfriend jealous. From here the plot begins to resemble a gender-swapped Pygmalion (aka. My Fair Lady) slightly as Nicole "cleans up" Chase to make the deal seem realistic. And here is where the "ponderous thoughts" begin to crop up--mostly having to deal with the social masks people wear throughout life in order to maintain some kind of status in their society.Lovely performances are given by Keri Lynn Pratt, Kris Park, and Mark Webber, who play small but well fleshed out character parts that come across as refreshingly new looks at old archetypes (the pretty girl who used to be ugly, the quietly rebellious underdog, & the geeky outcast who both wants to and doesn't want to fit in) that are truthful and never exaggerated.The film's largest weakness is with its antagonists: Alicia and Eddie, who are played by Susan May Pratt & Jordan Bridges. Jordan's Eddie is simply a jerk for the sake of being a jerk--and is hardly developed at all. Susan's performance is well nuanced, but there seems to be a deeper inner life to her character that we are never allowed to see. I feel that this is because Alicia as well as Eddie, are developed poorly compared to other more minor characters. All the characters that you are supposed to care for are developed in quite humane ways, while the two main antagonists (S.M. Pratt and Bridges) are left by the script as nearly two-dimensional stereotypes and the film never bothers to explore how or why they came to be who they are or provide motivations for what they do throughout the course of the film.Overall, the film is a simple and lovely Teen Comedy that is worth watching if you enjoy Teen Comedies and want to see a fairly decent one. It's not the best Teen Comedy of the bunch, but it is quite far from the worst one every made. I'd give it a B/B-.

mitchlb452 I really enjoyed this movie. It is like all Romantic comedies of course - and generally I am not a fan - but Melissa Joan Hart (Sabrina the teenage witch) does a really good job portraying the romance. I thought the relationship was really authentic and believable. I felt actual chemistry between the couple. I gave it ten stars because it is easily worth the $5 that you pay to get this movie. I literally walked into blockbuster and picked it up for $4 tax included... If your looking for something that isn't predictable - than go for another genre b/c Romantic comedies are always predictable, and this movie is no exception. If you go into it with low expectations, you will be pleasantly surprised. I say, if your thinking about getting it - go for it!

potterface I have had this movie for over a year, and I have watched it 5 or 6 times, the original reason I bought it was because it 4.99$ on DVD at walmart, there was really no appeal to me. I watched it and I thought it was really cute. I am not a huge fan of Melissa Joan Hart. I have never seen Adrien Grenier in another movie, so the new face was definitely refreshing even though this movie is 6 years old, I think it was cute and still modern, and it had some awesome characters. I loved the main crew. I didn't think Dolcy was very pretty, but oh well. I think Dave (designated Dave) was an awesome role. I loved how he was such a cute pushover, and I am glad he went to the prom with Di vine.:]Thanks for reading my opinion on drive me crazy, Krista!