Jeff Anderson, whom most of you know better as Randal from CLERKS and Kevin's other "Jersey" flicks (not to be confused with Kevin's JERSEY GIRL flick), has a new movie out right now. Well, out in the New York area, anyway. The movie, NOW YOU KNOW, is written and directed by Jeff, and also stars in the flick (along with Jeremy (SIX FEET UNDER) Sisto, Rashida (BOSTON PUBLIC) Jones and even our own Kevin Smith. It opened this past Friday there (and hopefully some of you caught Jeff's Q&A after the evening showing). I watched it this past weekend.
The film opens in Vegas, on a typical bachelor party (although, at this particular party, it's attended by, among others, Kevin Smith, and the, er, "lady of the evening" in the back room is played by a certain former Miss Schwalbach. The bachelor party is for Jeremy (played by Jeremy Sisto (psycho brother Billy on SIX FEET UNDER), but little do the attendees know (or, most likely, care) that Jeremy's fiance Kerri (Rashida Jones) has called off the wedding.
Only...Jeremy has no idea why. And he can't quite bring himself to tell his friends that night, so he goes through with the flight to Jersey, where the wedding was to take place. He hooks back up with his old friends Gil and Biscuit (Anderson and Trevor Fehrman and tells them the truth. These two, shiftless slackers who spend their days mowing lawns (and one unfortunate chihuahua), washing cars and drinking beer, couldn't be happier to have their friend back. Jeremy isn't so happy...
Kerri, as she explains to her vampy friend Marti (Heather Page Kent), just doesn't want to be married to a guy she thinks doesn't love her any more. Anderson said about the movie that he was inspired to write it after a lyric from a matchbox 20 song, "Push" -- "I want to take you for granted, I will. I will."
Out at a bar, where his friends are determined to get Jeremey "back in the game," he meets Lea, played by Paget Brewster. (Incidentally, I could swear this is the same bar frequented by George Carlin and his buddies in JERSEY GIRL -- unless every bar in 'burban Jersey looks the same. I'm from CA, so what do I know?)
The thing with this sort of story is...it's not going to surprise anyone -- it follows the traditional romantic comedy rules of guy and girl having problems, guy getting bad advice from mostly mindless friends who vehemently sell single life while secretly pining for more, girl getting advice from female friend who doesn't think guy measures up, and, hopefully, a satisfying resolution. But also with this type of movie, it's not about the destination at all, it's about the journey, and the characters who populate this world. And to that end, it's a wholly satisfying, sweet, perceptive and well-acted movie. Which is more than most romantic comedies deliver nowadays.
Anderson wisely cast himself as the friend rather than the lead -- while he's good as always, his "Randal-like" ability to talk quickly and funnily (yeah, I'm sure that's a word) is better suited to the part of advice-giving friend. And he and fellow guy's guy Biscuit share some funny moments. But it's Sisto who really sells this flick--he brings nice grativas to his role, same as he does on SIX FEET UNDER. All in all, it's a cute, clever movie that deserves to be seen by more people than just the New Yorkers who can currently check it out. Anderson has developed into a very capabale writer and his direction is pretty solid, too--on top of it all, it's a good-looking flick. I realize this flick will be hard for most of you to see right now, but hopefully it gets picked up for wider distribution.
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