Cupid, Draw Back Your Bow..."When We First Met"

When We First Met (2018)

TV-14

Starring Adam Devine, Alexandra Daddario, Shelley Hennig, Andrew Bachelor, Robbie Amell,

Directed by Ari Sandel

The Story:

Noah (Devine) met Avery (Daddario) 3 years ago, and fell head over heels. The problem? After that first date, Noah found himself in the "friend zone" and now he's watching the girl of his dreams get engaged to Ethan (Amell). However, when Noah discovers that he can go back and try and fix that night, he realizes he can make sure that he's the one that winds up with Avery, and not Ethan!

The Rom-Com is alive and well, and thriving on Netflix. :)

Just in time for Valentine's Day comes When We First Met, a fun comedy that comes squarely from the "What if we took Groundhog Day and made it a ...." family of films.

Thankfully, I'm a big fan of that genre of films, and this Netflix Original didn't let me down.

The cast clicks nicely together, and Devine anchors the film with his weary Noah, chasing after the girl of his dreams, regardless of what it takes to woo her.

However, as with all good Groundhog Day-type movies, he's got to learn a few things along the way, and he does.

And it's what he learns along the way that makes this one not necessarily follow the beat for beat pattern that we get used to with these films.

Sure, there's some things he needs to change in his life, but Noah himself is not a bad guy, far from it. :)

And, as with apparently all Robbie Amell Netflix originals, he apparently is required to be shirtless in at least one scene in the movie!

It's a fun one, and doubtful you'll be disappointed.

Final Grade: B Ah heck,  in the spirit of the holiday, B+  :)

Who's "The DUFF" In Your Life?

The DUFF (2015)

Rated PG-13

Starring Mae Whitman, Robbie Amell, Bella Thorne, Bianca Santos, Skyler Samuels, Nick Eversman, Ken Jeong, Romany Malco,

Directed by Ari Sandel

The Story:

Bianca (Whitman) is entering her senior year and she gets stuck with writing the article of what homecoming means to her by Mr. Arthur (Jeong). Naturally, Bianca is that one girl that has no interest in homecoming or the assignment. She does however, have a major crush on Toby (Eversman) and would do anything to get to know him. Enter her obnoxious jock "friend", Wesley (Amell) who is going to teach her how to stop being the DUFF and start being herself.

Okay, I suppose I owe the explanation of the acronym DUFF:

Designated Ugly Fat Friend.

:)

Once Bianca learns that she is the DUFF of her two best friends (Santos & Samuels) needless to say, she's not too happy.

And when the evil queen of the school (Thorne) tries to stop Bianca from being friendly with Wesley, the claws really come out.

So what do you think, sound familiar?

Taking equal parts of Whatever It Takes, She's All That, Mean Girls and countless other high school ugly duckling/beautiful swan movies, The DUFF adds to the catalog with another winner.

Because face it, when these are done well, they are a lot of fun and add another time capsule of "life in high school" to a long list of cinematic cult favorites.

It's a genre I enjoy watching, and normally they are fun to share with the kids.

This is where I pull out my soapbox and mention that this film uses a bit more language and innuendo than I would have preferred in a PG-13 film, so it gets knocked down because of it.

I still think it's a lazy screenwriter trap to be explicit, but the world is full of potty mouths, so what can you do?

I would have liked to add this to favorite films of the year, but I'm taking it down a notch for the language.

Still a pretty funny movie though.

Final Grade: B