There are three kinds of bad movies: movies that defy reality but still entertain, movies that so bad that they're funny, and unforgivable pieces of cow dung that you watch in disbelief as it approaches badness from all directions. "Friends & Lovers" fits the last category like a wedding dress. It is one of the most jaw-droppingly bad movies I have ever seen. This film has, virtually, no redeeming qualities. The acting is wooden and unrealistic, notably by Claudia Schiffer and, surprisingly, Robert Downey Jr. One person I did like and care for was Danny Nucci's character, but he couldn't have save this film if his life depended on it. The characters carry on, endlessly, in boring, silly and uninvolving conversations. This cast could have had a lot of potential had they had a script that wasn't found in a garbage dump. I was never really fond of Stephen Baldwin, the only role I accepted him in was "The Usual Suspects." There was a moment in the film where is a graphic close-up shot of a man's genitals that is, not only gratuitous, but it ruined what could have been a semi-chuckle on my part. I don't know. All was lost on this film. "Friends & Lovers" ranks in the same field as 1997's worst film, "Gone Fishin'."
Review of Friends & Lovers
