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+  :)

Check Those References Carefully..."The Babysitter"

The Babysitter (2017)

TV-MA

Starring Judah Lewis, Samara Weaving, Robbie Amell, Hana Mae Lee, Bella Thorne, Andrew Bachelor, Emily Alyn Lind, Leslie Bibb, Ken Marino

Directed by McG

The Story:

Cole (Lewis) is 12, and he's the only kid his age who still has a babysitter. He doesn't really mind when his mom and dad (Bibb & Marino) leave though, because his babysitter, Bee (Weaving) is hot! However, when he finally decides to break curfew and spy on what his sitter does when he's supposed to be asleep, he learns that Bee is not the sweeetheart he was led to believe!

A Netflix original released in time for the holiday season, it's a worthy addition to the horror-comedy genre.

If you've managed to somehow miss this one so far, my recommendation is to avoid the trailer as it's a little spoiler-ific.

Or, if you don't have 90 minutes to spare, watch the trailer and you'll see a lot of the fun condensed into 2 minutes.

The cast is a lot of fun, and the script lets them poke fun at the genre while still never letting go of the fact that this is supposed to be a scary movie.

Amell does such a great job as Max that you almost aren't rooting for him to get killed as the movie goes along. :)

Fun stuff, and I'll be back next year for another round!

Final Grade: B

Who's A Good Dog? "Max"

Max (2015)

Rated PG

Starring Josh Wiggins, Thomas Haden Church, Lauren Graham, Mia Xitlali, Luke Kleintank, Dejon LaQuake, Robbie Amell,

Written and Directed by Boaz Yakin

The Story:

When Marine Dog Handler Kyle Wincott (Amell) is killed in action, his dog Max comes to the funeral. Max is very loyal and misses Kyle, so much so that the Marines really can't use him anymore. Somehow, Max bonds with Kyle's brother, Justin (Wiggins). Justin doesn't care for the dog, but as time passes, the two begin to bond. However, when one of Kyle's friends (Kleintank) comes back to town, Max begins to act strange, and Justin begins to learn things that put his life in danger.

Based on a true story needs to be said upfront, though I'm sure it's more the dog at the funeral than the conspiracy over how the Marine was killed.

Boaz Yakin crafts another fine tale as both writer and director, but he's been doing that for some time now.

The movie balances fairly nicely between a coming of age / boy and his dog / murder mystery subplots that get equal time without really shortchanging or sabotaging anything.

It's possible that the murder mystery could have easily been dropped and the movie would still have been enjoyable, but it's a nice treat that what is essentially a family movie can also delve into some darker areas.

A great cast, but it's easy to see how this was overlooked in theaters and dismissed as a Made for TV movie.

That's a shame because it is indeed worth a look.

Final Grade: 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