Sometimes I really wonder why it takes to so long before a film is release here in the UK. Being head over heels with Cameron Diaz and wanting to see the girl that was once Kelly Bundy in the infamous Married with Children, I eagerly waited for this to be released here in the UK. It’s been at least half a year since it was released in the US, and it’s even out now on Region 1 DVD! Was it worth the wait? NO. A captial N and a capital O, NO!
I know a lot of film critics panned this to death and it flopped big time in the US, which should have rang bells in my head but oh no, I refused to believe them. Surely it couldn’t be that bad! From the trailers it looks like another sure fire hit along the lines of ‘Something about Mary’.
Story? ThirtySomething Christina (Cameron Diaz), Courtney (Christina Applegate) and Jane (Selma Blair) are girls who like to have fun playing the field. Jane gets dumped by her boyfriend, other 2 take her
for a night out clubbing to drown her sorrows, Christina grabs the arse of some bloke and gets into a bitchy argument, then make ups and falls for him. Nice guy leaves club wishing Christina ‘A nice life’ not exchanging phone or contact details. Christina then realises she’s just met Mr Right and spends the rest of the film chasing/looking for him. Work the rest out for yourself!
I really tried to like this film, hence I never read any of the reviews in depth until I saw the film. I know the plot could be written on a grain of rice in a Covent Garden market stall, but with the A-list Diaz as the main star, it had potential to be a huge and funny hit.
It tries very hard to be funny and for some part it does work (though not many), but for the majority of the film we are induced with the same kind of toilet humour that we have become accustomed to since the countless American Pie type films appeared. Yes, we’re talking about penises and large ones at that. In fact most of the jokes in this film seems to revolve around the size of peoples manhood and blowjobs.
I thought it tried very hard to be a ‘Something About Mary’. Some scenes will remind you of that film such as the ‘getting stuck’ scene but the way the film was scripted and directed leaves the jokes as flat as an airport runway. The jokes range from gross and snigger to ‘whoosh, flew right pass my head’. There are several bits in the film that could have been hilarious such as the movie montage in the middle, the gross cum stain joke (Something About Mary again?) and the various musical bits where they all burst out singing. Guess what they are singing about? A) Penis, B) Penis or C) Penis?
The performances were so mundane and the characters so selfish that you really couldn’t give a flying monkey what happened to any of them. The American bitchy phrase ‘WHATEVER’ with one hand held up, is a nice way to sum the characters. Diaz more or less reprises her usual characters once again flashing her knickers and showing off and wearing next to nothing. It should have made me smile but not this time, she’s been there, done that, now move on! Applegate is not bad sporting dark coloured hair away from the blonde look in Married with Children (OK I know it must have been 10 years ago, but all the blokes fancied her!) but her character changes from pure bitch to pure nice in less than a second. I felt sorry for poor old Selma Blair who spent most of the film em, having oral sex and not much else. You can imagine what her script lines are! I think the performances aren’t bad (though nothing special), it’s just down to the awful script and direction.
Conclusion, take ‘Something About Mary’, remove humour, age Cameron Diaz a bit and you have The Sweetest Thing. Some of you may like it (I’m sure they will people who LIKE this film) but it’s the biggest turkey I’ve seen this year. It’s sadly lacking a plot and doesn’t even have any original comedy to compensate.
If you like grossed out comedies, the choice is yours, insult your arse and see it at your local cinema now or insult your living room and buy (god forbid) the region 1 DVD. If it was my choice, go and see The Guru instead (although flawed, still infinitely better) at the cinema, and if you’re staying home, watch ‘Something About Mary’.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
Comedy - Director: Gareth Carrivick - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Kathryn Drysdale, Sheridan Smith, Natalie Casey, Will Mellor, Ralf Little
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
With chick-flick stalwarts like Sandra Bullock, Julia Roberts and theSex and the Citycrew ... more
pushing 40,The Sweetest Thinglowers the demographic to the late-20s and stirs in some of that Farrelly Bros/American Pie-style gross-out stuff to liven up the usu...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: Some funny moments, good chemistry between the female leads. Disadvantages: Gross-Out humour might not be to everybody's taste.
damncoldnightdotnet 04.05.2004 (04.05.2004)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Sweetest Thing (DVD)
![The Sweetest Thing [DVD] [2002]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78527184.jpg "The Sweetest Thing [DVD] [2002]")
Sep 4th, 2002
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