Was this movie made in 1985? And shouldn't it star Molly Ringwald?
Though set in the present day world of hip, young urbanites, "The Good Guy" is the movie John Hughes might have made if he'd moved his stories of teen angst out of the Chicago suburbs and into the middle of Manhattan. O.k., so the kids in this film are at least five or so years out of their teens, but the kids who starred as the teens in Hughes' films weren't really teens either, so the comparison stands.
Alexis Bledel basically plays Rory Gilmore, picking up her story where the T.V. series "The Gilmore Girls" left off. She's a conscientious young do-gooder with some kind of job having to do with conservation. Her boyfriend is a Wall Street hot shot who only cares about money. Enter Bryan Greenberg, playing the new guy on her boyfriend's team, who thinks he wants to be a Wall Street shark but is far too sensitive and quiet to make it. We know he's meant to be with Bledel, because his favorite book is "Pride and Prejudice" and he's awkward with girls.
"The Good Guy" is almost hopelessly young and hits its notes with all the subtlety of an episode of "Melrose Place." But it has a great message to relate about life priorities, and I found it refreshing for once to find a movie in which the character of the old (32) married guy is the happiest character in the film.
My wife and I did a lot of chuckling at "The Good Guy," but I admit that it won me over. And one wonders if the makers of this movie weren't more aware than I'm giving them credit for of how much it plays like an '80s teeny-bopper film, because there's good old Andrew McCarthy, not playing the dreamy heroes he used to, but rather a foul-mouthed obnoxious boss.
Grade: B+
Though set in the present day world of hip, young urbanites, "The Good Guy" is the movie John Hughes might have made if he'd moved his stories of teen angst out of the Chicago suburbs and into the middle of Manhattan. O.k., so the kids in this film are at least five or so years out of their teens, but the kids who starred as the teens in Hughes' films weren't really teens either, so the comparison stands.
Alexis Bledel basically plays Rory Gilmore, picking up her story where the T.V. series "The Gilmore Girls" left off. She's a conscientious young do-gooder with some kind of job having to do with conservation. Her boyfriend is a Wall Street hot shot who only cares about money. Enter Bryan Greenberg, playing the new guy on her boyfriend's team, who thinks he wants to be a Wall Street shark but is far too sensitive and quiet to make it. We know he's meant to be with Bledel, because his favorite book is "Pride and Prejudice" and he's awkward with girls.
"The Good Guy" is almost hopelessly young and hits its notes with all the subtlety of an episode of "Melrose Place." But it has a great message to relate about life priorities, and I found it refreshing for once to find a movie in which the character of the old (32) married guy is the happiest character in the film.
My wife and I did a lot of chuckling at "The Good Guy," but I admit that it won me over. And one wonders if the makers of this movie weren't more aware than I'm giving them credit for of how much it plays like an '80s teeny-bopper film, because there's good old Andrew McCarthy, not playing the dreamy heroes he used to, but rather a foul-mouthed obnoxious boss.
Grade: B+