Too Smooth

Yeah, The Aunt Edna's Dead Line always Bags'em

Too Smooth is a story about some pathetic loser writer-actor wannabe, Danny who has a reputation for using chicks; but genuinely falls deeply in love (at first sight of course!) with a beautiful aspiring actress (how original). Several people in the movie, including Danny's highschool ex-girlfriend (Neve), and the actress's male best-friend, are poised to dissuade the actress from pursuing a relationship with Danny.

Call me old-fashioned, but while I normally like romantic comedies, I think that they should have at least a likeable protagonist. None of the characters in Too Smooth are likeable at all, in fact, they're almost all downright detestable. For example, in order to coax the new love of his life into sleeping with him, Danny (our protagonist) conjures up a story about his dying Aunt Edna (...ummm...hey kiddies, try this approach with your dreamgirl...it works much better than honestly telling her you love her...hahaha!!!). Hey, he's just sooo smooth and clever to boot! Of course, to show her heartfelt sympathy and help Danny get over his time of mourning, our heroine sleeps with him (True romance at it's finest!).

Later, in order to exact revenge for getting dumped by Danny in highschool, Neve's character tells our heroine that Danny uses that story on a bunch of different people. I suppose then the viewer is supposed to feel sorry for the Noxema girl because she's comprimised her chastity and has been a helpless, naive victim of the treacherous "Aunt Edna Scam". Of course, if it were not for Danny's slick "dying Aunt Edna ploy", I suppose she wouldn't have consented to this. Poor girl!

But, when she confronts Danny about this, he says he's sorry and tries to win her back. How? Does he serenade her or send her roses, you ask? Does he show up in disguise everywhere she goes like Nicholas Cage a la Valley Girl? How does Mr. Too Smooth handle the situation? Well, check this out: he calls her about 25 times a day to win her back. How thoughtful and creative of the screenwriters!!!

But, does, Danny have any redeeming qualities? Further subplots reveal that this character is untalented as an actor and is relegated to minor roles. He is unmotivated as a script-writer, relying on others to do his work for him. He is an insensitive friend who gets his own friends fired from thier jobs. And finally, the buffoon is so self-centered that he doesn't even realize that his best pal (Peter) is showing suicidal tendencies.

Any other redeeming traits?, you ask. Is he even handsome? Well, on a scale of 1-10, with Chris Farley's rotting corpse being a "0" and Ewan MacGregor being a "10", the guy is about a "2". Whoever wrote this script must have the artistic creativity of a 4th grader. Of course, Danny gets the girl in the end because he says he's sorry. This will not make you like his character any more, but probably make you have even less respect from the female lead. Too smooth, no, too stupid!

I feel sorry for Rebecca Gayheart taking this script, as she is quite talented when given a good role. Shame on her agent.
July 31, 2004

Too Smooth... More Like Too Choppy

With a good cast and quirky characters, this movie lacked something in the substance. The characters were a little over done (a.k.a. Disney film) and the story line lacked any substance. It was pretty predictable and I think Ms. Campbell's talents were wasted on this character. If you want to watch a movie just to while away an hour and a half - go rent it at the video store. Definitely not an addition to anyone's collection of "I bought this movie because I want to see it again and again." January 15, 2002

spend yout time elsewhere.

Just because Rebecca Gayheart is gorgeous, it doesn't make this movie worth renting. I wish I rented Whipped again and I didn't like that movie either. Next time I am clueless on what to rent and pick a low budget movie like this one, I'll stick with my DVD collection and watch Road Trip for the billionth time, (at least it's funny). The cute combo of Katie Wright and Gayheart was the only reason I was able to make it through this movie. Other than that, it stunk. June 26, 2001

except for the noxema girl, this movie sucked!!!!

This had to be the worst movie I have ever seen. The only reason I bought this is because on the box it said in the tradition of American Pie, which I love. American Pie, this movie is not. The lead character is supposed to be this big time player. In short he has no skills of how a true player is. Dude, when you play a girl you are not supposed to tell her what you feel or even fall for her. What a Jabrone. Whoever wrote this movie should have done a little research. Besides all that the acting and the plot were horrible and unwatchable. I searched my dvd only to see Rebecca Gayheart aka "The Noxema Girl". As Heavy D once said"got nothin' but love for ya!" If you want to see a good movie on being a player get Def Comedy Jams "How to be a Player" with Bill Bellamy, you can't go wrong with this. I give that movie 5 stars!!! June 9, 2001

A Hair Shirt by any other name still smells like crap...

We covered the premiere of Too Smooth (then called Hair Shirt) when it premiered at the 1998 Toronto International Film Festival.

The film was almost unwatchable then and age has just made it more moldy. It's easy to see why it took three years and a name change to get a distributor...for a straight to video release. As we said three years ago:

You would think that Neve would use a small role in a self-produced flick to try new things. Only Neve doesn't have new things. The film only goes to show that right now Neve has a pretty limited acting range. That annoying squint and giggle thing that she seems to do in all of her films.

There's a million other more deserving flicks to buy on Amazon. April 15, 2001

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