How many romantic comedies begin with scenes of the couple verbally abusing each other, deliberately sabotaging each other, and throwing gum in each others hair?  Not too many, to be sure.  But I believe in the case of Just Married, it was exactly what this film needed.  You see, I was one of those that watched previews of this film and said to myself, "Dear God, not another brainless film made for a bunch of teenagers".  So when it showed up at my doorstep, I was not very excited to say the least.  I don't know what I expected.  I really don't.  I suppose it was something along the lines of: ditsy couple has many misadventures on their honeymoon and looks cute the whole time so that it is more easily cut into a music video for the soundtrack's MTV single".  But then, as the first moments began, it hit me.  This was definitely not what I had expected.

As I mentioned, the film begins with our romantic and loving couple returning from their honeymoon, but not in each others arms and fawning disgustingly over each other as would be expected.  Instead, these are people who hate each other.  The looks cast between Sarah and Tom in the first 5 minutes of this film, leave you wondering how things could get any better (or worse!) in the other 90.  But just when the audience is sure that they have entered the wrong theatre, the film takes a trip back in time...to a time when things were...well, better.

Sarah is the daughter of an extremely wealthy sports team owner, yet somehow doesn't quite fit in with the rest of her family.  Whether it is her overbearing and over condescending father, her oddball mother or her prep-club brothers with their sweaters tied around their necks...this is not where she belongs, and we can tell.  Tom has much the same problem...he just doesn't seem to have found his niche.  With Tom, an extremely part time radio traffic reporter, this is due mainly to the fact that he is in many ways an imbecile and wouldn't fit in many places except a special ed class.  But through a fateful football toss, the two are brought together and suddenly it is apparent!  This sports franchise heiress and overzealous sports fan; we know where they belong...with each other.

But wait a minute...this all sounds so peachy and dreamy?  I thought I said that these two hated each other?  Are you missing something?  Oh yeah you are...the rest of the film.  You see, the two are whisked through a blizzard romance and eventually tie the knot, leaving only one part left to this fairy tale story.  The honeymoon.  And this is where things go wrong.

Immediately their wonderful trip to Europe turns to a veritable nightmare as the newlyweds are met with a string of unfortunate circumstances; everything from renting the wrong car (this one is umm...a LITTLE small), to nearly destroying a historical castle by fire (when plugging a >ahem< marital aid into a European outlet...with an American plug), to the "convenient" appearances of Sarah's former uber-yuppie suitor at nearly every turn.  And during the entire ordeal, the couple learns one very important thing: Opposites may attract, but the collision may prove fatal!

This film is definitely geared towards a younger audience, as evidenced by its hip, young cast and flagrant usage of slang (Dude, Where's My Car anyone?).  It was this very target audience which had me so afraid of this film.  But I was pleasantly surprised to find that Just Married actually played out like a mix between National Lampoon's European Vacation and Meet The Parents; two films which I cannot get enough of.  It is the over the top use of slapstick that really drew me to this film with comparisons able to be made to some of Chevy Chase's or Steve Martin's old "Saturday Night Live" skits.

And you might say that every recent teen movie has had pratfalls, gag humor and slapstick...but I am not talking about kick-in-the-nuts poo-in-the-pants gross out stuff made for kids.  Just Married goes for the more adult sort of humor that I remember from the Peter Sellers' Pink Panther films or the antics of Goldie Hawn in films like Seems Like Old Times or Bird On A Wire.  Sure there are the requisite nods to Adam Sandler films and There's Something About Mary, but at tolerable levels.  The majority of the comedy comes straight from the acting and facial expressions of the Kutcher/Murphy pairing (think Wedding Singer).

You know Ashton Kutcher from the hit TV series, "That 70's Show", where he plays the intellectually vacant Kelso.  Nearly every scene of this particular show can be upstaged simply by Kelso showing up and saying something extremely stupid or staring into the camera with his mouth hanging agape.  Although there is a bevy of great talent in the cast of this show, Ashton is the one who is forging a quick rise to the top in Hollywood; and there are reasons for his success.  In fact, we should see a lot more of Ashton's acting abilities and find out if he is simply a one trick pony, or if he can actually demonstrate some range in his five upcoming films that he has been attached too.  He's come a long way from the Iowa farm he was raised on.

Brittany Murphy has already established herself as much more than a definable role, with her varied appearances in films such as 8 Mile, Don't Say A Word and of course as the sex-pot, trailer trash voice of Luanne Platter on Fox's hit show, "King Of The Hill" (kudos if you knew she was the voice of Joseph Gribble as well!).  That same voice nearly landed her a role as Janis Joplin, which she beat out Courtney Love and Emily Watson for, but the film was scrapped.  But hell, if her voice ever fails her, she will always have her looks to fall back on!

And looks could be what really made me enjoy this film, after being so sure that I would not.  These two just "look" right on the screen together.  Everything from their mannerisms to their body language complements each other really well, and overall I give kudos to the casting director for seeing what I could not; that this pair could be convincing together on screen as well as drawing in the teen dollars.

But enough of the praise!  Lest you think I have gone soft, I must get to my one complaint.  There is a very repetitive nature to the goings on in Just Married.  Just when you think a gag has run its course as far as possible, it goes a little more.  And when it finally does wrap up, you can bet your life that a similar gag will rear its ugly head in moments.  I compared this film with National Lampoon's European Vacation earlier in the review and I will do so again now.  Both films were about fish out of water in Europe and were set in a matter of a few days.  So both movies had roughly the same challenges to face.  But while Vacation has Clark Griswald angering native peoples, mocking native customs, dropping in on the wrong relatives, destroying the picturesque settings of national monuments and losing some very "private" video footage of his wife just to name a few, Just Married pretty much has the couple destroying a crappier car than they wanted, tearing up a crappier hotel room than they wanted, and generally having a crappier honeymoon than they wanted.  Funny stuff, but a tad bit tiresome by the end of the film.

All in all I was pleasantly surprised by Just Married, and maybe it is because I was setting my expectations so low that I enjoyed it so much.  But it could be that it was just a well done comedy that was a great way to spend an hour and a half.  Actually, it is a great way to spend 3 hours, as I highly recommend listening to the audio commentary with Kutcher, Murphy and director Levy.  Fear not older audience!  There will be elements here that make this one accessible to you (especially the trials of marriage which all these young whipper-snappers know nothing about!).  And you kids?  Yeah, you'll love it.  Trust me.  As for us in-betweeners?  I say give it a shot, you may be pleasantly surprised.

-aaron-
 

Directed by: Shawn Levy   Written By: Sam Harper   Cast: Ashton Kutcher Brittany Murphy Christian Kane David Moscow Monet Mazur David Rasche Raymond J. Barry

DVD Features: Dual Format: Full & Widescreen English, French & Spanish Languages English & Spanish Subtitles Audio Commentary With Stars Ashton Kutcher, Brittany Murphy & Director Shawn Levy Deleted Scenes With Optional Commentary Comedy Central's Reel Comedy Episode "Making Of" Featurette