Dane Cook is My New 'Best Friend'

by Brett Parker

This past summer movie season rolled out an avalanche of promising comedy vehicles from hot and popular comedians whose talents have been praised to the high heavens. Talents ranging from Steve Carrell to the Judd Apatow Gang served up promising comedies that looked hilarious in their trailers and hype. In the weeks leading up to the release of these individual comedies, I read countless articles praising the comic genius of the rising talents behind these films (even Mike Myers received honorable write-ups leading up to the release of The Love Guru, the entirety of that fiasco not being fully eclipsed yet). Apparently, America loves these comedians and believes were in the midst of some sort of comedy renaissance for the YouTube era.

As I went about my religious summer movie going this year, I made sure I took in all of these potential laugh fests. These titles include Get Smart, Pineapple Express, and Tropic Thunder. I enjoyed these films; they were likeable in their cheerful goofiness. My award for the best comedy of the summer goes to Tropic Thunder, mainly for its intelligent and observant satire of Hollywood business and Robert Downey, JR’s brilliant performance as an Australian actor playing a black Vietnam soldier. Yet I noticed a certain disappointment in these comedies I saw, even in Tropic Thunder. I didn’t laugh that hard. Sure, I smiled and chuckled consistently, yet big bellowing laughs were absent from my viewings. Cinematically speaking, these films were competently made with exceptional production values and had a knowing comic intelligence about them. But unlike comedy classics like Animal House and Slap Shot, there weren’t consistently big laughs throughout the films. I realized it had been a very long time since I lost my mind with laughter while seeing a movie. When I go to see a comedy, I want to laugh so hard that it hurts. Nowadays, that seems like a grandiose demand. America is in love with our current slew of comedians, throwing around the word “genius” like candy, but how come I’m not laughing?

If there’s one comedian who isn’t being branded a genius, it’s Dane Cook. Cook is a zany comedian who is beloved by the current generation of college kids (especially the female ones) yet on countless occasions, I’ve heard extensive arguments about how Cook is “not funny.” Indeed, it seems to be a popular debate within the comic community as to whether or not Cook has true comic talent or not. His film career thus far has done little to elevate Cook’s status. Despite a worthy dramatic turn in Mr. Brooks, Employee of the Month and Good Luck Chuck proved to be lackluster efforts that are even elusive of beloved cult status. I’ve always found Cook to be a talented stand-up comedian, but the question always remained about whether or not Cook had a future in feature films.

That question was put to rest recently after a trip to the movies with my Uncle. As a cinephile who would sit through anything, I left the choice of film up to my Uncle. He decided upon My Best Friend’s Girl, a romantic comedy that Cook stars in with Jason Biggs and Kate Hudson. I figured, sure, let’s see what the kid can do this time. What proceeded turned out to be the best laughing fit I’ve had in the past year. The movie was hilarious. My Uncle and I were laughing so hard we were dropping things. The audience chuckled, but we were roaring. People kept staring at us as if two escaped hyenas had roamed into the theatre. Here it was, a comedy that finally made me laugh till it hurt, and it’s one of the worst-reviewed comedies of the year staring a comedian whose been a whipping boy in most entertainment circles.

Of course I can understand why the film isn’t getting any love. If someone told me a romantic comedy with Jason Biggs and Kate Hudson was side-splittingly hilarious, I’d think they were a dimwit whose only seen five movie their whole life. On the surface, My Best Friend’s Girl has the bone structure of a cutesy romantic comedy: A nerdy office worker named Dustin (Biggs) recruits his best friend Tank (Cook) to help him win back a beautiful girl he blew it with (Hudson). The film’s devilish twist comes in Tank’s method for helping Dustin: Tank has a side business in which men pay him to take their ex-girlfriends on the worst date of their life. So obnoxious is Tank’s efforts and so horrifying is the date’s awfulness that his dates always run back into the safe, familiar arms of their former boyfriends. Tank’s repulsive methods include vulgarity, strippers, making the woman pay for everything, and performing oral sex on a burrito. This guy is Hitch from hell.

Most critics have condemned the film for its relentless raunchiness and Cook’s manic efforts to obtain a laugh, two things I think rescue the film from mushy irrelevance. The current dating world can be an awkward and cynical place, so I don’t feel the film’s raunchiness is entirely indifferent to the material. It spits in the face of the polished, routine humor of most romantic comedies and makes no apologies or deceptions about its intentions. I’m all for mixing up the rom-com formula. Plus at a time when most of these flicks have zero brains, this one at least has half a brain. The film takes on a sort of thoughtful discussion about what women are attracted to. Dustin thinks being nice and supportive will get you girls while Tank thinks being a Grade-A Jerk is the most efficient way. That Tank’s philosophy appears to be the winner of that debate isn’t entirely far-fetched and does reveal some sad truths about contemporary dating.

As a comedian and movie star, Dane Cook appears to be that polarizing performer you either love or hate. He’s like a hipster Jim Carrey on speed who shows no mercy in getting laughs. While a comedian relentlessly combing for laughs can be a scary thing, I think Cook is hilarious in his efforts. His audacity and randomness is not wasted and his very goofiness is too outsized not to be affected by it. I think one of the reasons Cook works better here than in most of his films is because of the seasoned eye of Director Howard Deutch. Deutch is best known for directing the teenage classic Pretty in Pink yet I most admired his work on the hilarious fare of The Great Outdoors and The Replacements (yes, I found The Replacements hilarious! Any movie where a grown football team does the electric slide to “I Will Survive” is funny in my book!). Deutch has the experience to know how to manage a comic life force such as Cook as opposed to some first-time former commercial director. There’s a certain cinematic grace to the material and Cook feels like part of the film as opposed to the film being built around his manic humor.

Of course this film is far from perfect. There are too many musical montages and a few clunky developments. I didn’t fully believe Tank’s sudden decision to ruin a specific character’s wedding, yet I forgave it for being such a hilarious scene that even throws in a great Johnny Cash musical moment. And the film’s ending is hard to buy, relying on the cliché of the woman forgiving the romantic hero for all his wrongdoings and living happily ever after with him. There’s no way Tank can be forgiven for the stunts he pulls in this film (if there’s an actual woman out there who would forgive a guy for doing what Tank does, she should write me!) Plus, Kate Hudson and Jason Biggs seriously lack the likeable quality Cook exudes here (which is curious, considering his character’s repulsive nature). Hudson never really mastered the charming quirkiness her mother, Goldie Hawn, displayed so well. Biggs’ usual shtick of the loser who’s clueless about women is wearing seriously thin. I don’t blame Biggs, I’m sure he’d love to do something else with his career besides being a lovelorn geek, but the beast of typecasting is beating his image down into redundancy. Yet Cook isn’t alone in grabbing serious laughs. Alec Baldwin shows up in the howlingly funny role of Tank’s Dad. In a scene where Baldwin talks about sleeping with a female assistant, he unleashes the single funniest thing he’s ever said on the big screen. It made me want to start watching 30 Rock.

What can I say? I thought this movie was so damn funny. Funny enough to make me want to write a review about it two weeks after its release, probably before it’s on its way out of theatres. I believe in giving credit where credit is due, and I felt obligated as a critic to report that Cook’s lightweight romantic comedy runs laughing circles around the much-hyped comedies of summer’s past. In the debate of whether or not Cook is funny, I know where I stand. This film seriously got me thinking about how to properly judge a comedy. My Best Friend’s Girl isn’t as thoughtful, slick, or as well-acted as Tropic Thunder, yet it scores way bigger laughs in my book. If a comedy is supposed to make you laugh, is the film more exceptional for greatly achieving that? Is the film’s laugh factor enough to hold it in high regard? My Best Friend’s Girl may never be regarded as a comedy classic, yet for $10 and 90 minutes of my life, it achieved something so-called “comic geniuses” haven’t been able to achieve for me in a long while.