Wild X-Mas (2005)

Wild X-Mas: Directed by Roger Kumble. With Ryan Reynolds, Amy Smart, Anna Faris, Chris Klein. While visiting his hometown during Christmas, a man comes face-to-face with his old high school crush whom he was best friends with — a woman whose rejection of him turned him into a ferocious womanizer.

“u0026#39;Just Friendsu0026#39; is pretty much the standard of male-centered romantic comedies produced by Hollywood these days. This one reminds me most of u0026#39;Thereu0026#39;s Something About Mary,u0026#39; except substitute a fat kid in place of Ben Stilleru0026#39;s exceedingly nerdy character. Moreover, this seems like material with heavy traces of Farelly Brothersu0026#39; style comedy, save some of the gross-out moments of which they are so fond of using. But, despite itu0026#39;s purely by-the-book formula and redundancy thereof, this once manages to prevail above mediocrity presumably because of Reynoldu0026#39;s quirkiness (although at times, he does tend to overdo it in the same sense that Jim Carey might). He is able to pull this kind of character off better than Ben Still could or, in similar comedy, Adam Sandler can. He seems to fit well with the role. And the situations do not strive to be so outlandish for shock comedy and doesnu0026#39;t have to tried hard to manipulate its audiences for laughter. This comes naturally instead.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRyan Reynolds plays Chris Brander, a guy whou0026#39;s always wanted to be more than u0026#39;just friendsu0026#39; with his childhood pal, Jamie Palamino (Amy Smart). In high school, he was unfairly condemned to this role of the eternally nice guy/friends status as an overweight teenager with a penchant for cheerleading. When he tries to tell Jamie that heu0026#39;d like to be more than just friends, the idiot jocks spoil the occasion.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFast-forward a few years into the future and Chris is a shapely stud working as a rep for a major L.A. recording company. His outlook on dating and relationships with female are now anything less than sensitive–never get stuck in a position where youu0026#39;re u0026quot;just friends.u0026quot; Meanwhile, getting stuck having to babysit a brainless and selfish pop singer (Anna Faris as a parody of the Simpson sisters, it seems) that Chrisu0026#39;s boss wants on the label, they are coincidentally stranded in his old New Jersey hometown en route to Paris. Chris reunites with his old friends and particularly Jamie, whom he tries to rekindle a relationship now that he not confined to the nice-guy/fat-kid strata anymore. And this is no easy thing to do, obviously, what with a psychotic and annoying pop singer getting in the way as well as competition from the deceptive Dusty (Chris Klien in routine) who most closely resembles Matt Dillonu0026#39;s character in Thereu0026#39;s Something About Mary. It just seems like a chain of disasters is going to keep Chris and Jamie from every being more than u0026#39;just friends.u0026#39; If youu0026#39;re in the mood for a movie to sit around watching with friends on some evening occasion, this is probably a good choice for the slumber party-esquire films. As said before, Ryan Reynolds pulled off this character better than most have before him.”