Boys & Girls (2000)

Behind the generic title of Boys & Girls lies a surprising enjoyable and nuanced romantic comedy. Teen heartthrob Freddie Prinze Jr. plays Ryan, a dorky, emotionally sincere young guy who keeps crossing paths with Jennifer, played by Claire Forlani, an independent and willfully unattached young woman. Their chance meetings coincide with relationship traumas and they start to confide in each other, which leads to a more genuine friendship and, in the midst of their college years, a romance. It's a bit of a stock plot line to have their friendship threatened by sexual attraction, but Boys & Girls has just enough genuine feeling to make it compelling. Meanwhile, Jason Biggs (from American Pie) plays Ryan's roommate, a compulsive liar and would-be scam artist, who carries off some pretty funny scenes. Forlani and Prinze work together quite well. Their performances hearken back to the classic screwball comedies of the 1930s, with the repressed male simultaneously attracted and horrified by a footloose dame. Some kooky moments are a little strained, but at other times the movie has a refreshing realism about human emotions. Overall, a much more engaging and entertaining flick than its ad campaign suggests. Also featuring Alyson Hannigan from the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Heather Donahue from The Blair Witch Project. --Bret Fetzer Amazon.com

When its right in front of your eyes for years

Ryan and Jenny meet as pre-adolescents on a plane from New York to LA and meet just after a high school football game as teenagers. They reacquaint themselves and then lose touch again until college at Berkeley. Jenny is still the free spirit, indpendent, adventurous, and bohemian girl studying latin and bound for Italy while Ryan is logical, studious, insecure, shy, and practical one enrolled in electrical engineering. Ryan plans everything while his roomate Hunter is lost and chasing girls all over campus, and Jenny goes in and out of one romance after another with a series of free spirited commitment phobic men. Jenny's rommate, the therapy dependant Amy, tries to help her out and begins dating Ryan until Jenny begins spending more time with him after a breakup. Over the next 3 years Ryan and Jenny hang out with each other, their double dates, mutual friends, and get in and out of crazy adventures all over town. When romance sparks (finally) between Jenny and Ryan (after his breakup with fellow engineering student Meagan) everything gets complicated. Jenny tries to goes back to what it was before, Ryan wants to try to have a relationship, and then graduation puts their whole dynamic to the ultimate test. Will Jenny go off to Italy and forget Ryan. Will Ryan go back to L.A. and back to his life plan. Will Hunter and Amy ever figure themselves out? January 27, 2008

Happy Ending

I was blown away by Claire Forliani in "Meet Joe Black" and have been waiting for another breakthrough movie for her. Other than a good role in "Bobby Jones, Stroke of Genius" with Jim Caviezel, I'm still looking! I found this one among the older DVDs on the rental store shelves. As Jennifer, Forliani plays a nervous young lady afraid of romantic commitment. She's got such expressive eyes and that glowing smile that seems to radiate kindness on screen. Opposite Freddie Prinze Jr. who had just worked with director Robert Iscove on "She's All That," she does a good job. Prinze plays Ryan, the boy next door looking for a real relationship. While he doesn't read emotionally deep, he lights up the screen with a fun-loving touch. The film bogs down in that it goes through high school and several years of college trying to get these two together. At some point long before they get together, it becomes tedious. The actors do well; so it seems to be a script or directorial failure. Jason Biggs from "American Pie," "There's Something About Mary," & "American Wedding" plays Hunter/Steve, Ryan's roommate who eventually serves as the catalyst for their eventual rendezvous. Heather Donahue from "The Blair Witch Project" plays Ryan's girlfriend Heather. Alyson Hannigan from TV's "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" & "American Pie" plays Ryan's first girlfriend. Amada Detmer who was in "Kiss the Bride," "Final Destination" & "The Magestic" plays Jennifer's roommate who wants to get a bit too close to Jennifer. While this is a sweet romantic story with a happy ending, it seems to take just a bit too long to fire. While this film may not be a life-altering experience, it works fairly well most of the time. Enjoy! March 5, 2007

Worst movie ever

Even worse than Wing Commander, yet another craptastic movie starring Freddy Prince Junior. Why does it suck? Well first it stars FPJ, so you know it's gona suck already. Next it just sucks. That's it. The story is boring. Hell I don't even remember what it's about. I saw this movie years ago, and all I remember was that I hated it.

You know a movie sucks when the only thing you remember about it was that you despised it. Avoid at all costs. September 8, 2005

When Harry Met Sally for teens

Misery loves company. I became addicted to this quirky, somewhat surreal romantic comedy when a long term relationship of mine ended. To watch Freddie Prinze Jr. and Claire Forlani as long-time friends navigate through the minefield of failed relationships and teen angst only to eventually consider getting together themselves seemed like the perfect anecdotal medecine to relieve what I was going through at that time. Yes, it's ultimately a funny and touching drama that taps into that need for comfortable feel good stories to put the sparkle back into life. Really, it bears more than a striking resemblance to WHEN HARRY MET SALLY in both structure and themes. (Is it a surprise they are both favorites of mine).
Ultimately my favorite part of the movie is the first half. The movie starts with a young Ryan and Jennifer meeting for the first time on a plane from New York to Los Angeles. Their encounter remains so memorable that five years later Ryan recognizes Jennifer during a football game. As luck would have it the two also eventually end up both in college at Berkeley and bump into each other in a series of When-Harry-Met-Sally-esque encounters over a number of years.
Prinze definitely plays against type here, he doesn't play a hotshot high school football star but instead Ryan is a difficult, unsure teen attempting to make his way through an engineering degree and Forlani is the confident, assured college girl who has no trouble getting dates, but is unable to maintain any long-term commitment.
Providing possibly his funniest performance is Jason Biggs (of American Pie fame) who plays Ryans college roommate Hunter (well that's not his real name but he feels it sounds better when picking up girls). From his introduction - getting stuck in a storage case to his eventual success in the girl department - his all too rare screen moments provide some great humor and lend a certain charm to the movie giving it an edge over the adult movie that so clearly inspired it.
I've seen this movie numerous times, its one of my guilty pleasures that speaks to me on so many levels.
Incidently if you have seen this movie on television the chances are that you have not seen it all. I have seen "Boys and Girls" shredded to bits on network tv. November 8, 2004

Boys and Girls

this is the gold of any freddie prinze, jr. collection...its totally a need to buy item... October 5, 2004

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