This film, directed by Michael Dowse, who made BritCom It’s all gone a bit Pete Tong and the Ice Hockey comedy Goon, appeared in the TV schedule this week. It’s a film that had passed me by, but my interest was perked by seeing Hollywood Man of the Moment, Chris Pratt was in it.
Being a RomCom, I took to the sofa with the wife and gave it a go. The story centres around Matt (played by Topher Grace, possibly best known for playing Venom in Spiderman 3) who has graduated high school, yet being extremely intelligent has not really moved on with his life, settling for a role working in a video shop).
He spends most of his time hanging out with his friend, Barry (played by Dan Fogler from Table Tennis comedy Balls of Fury)
All that is to change when Tori, (Teresa Palmer from RomZom Warm Bodies) the girl he had a crush on throughout school turns up in the video shop he works.
She has become incredibly successful in life. Matt, rather than admit to working in the video store, tells her he works at Goldman Sachs and is incredibly successful too. Tori, feels she may have under estimated him and arranges to meet him at a party in the evening.
Matt quickly joins Barry and his sister Wendy (played by the Scary Movie comedy scream queen Anna Faris) to make arrangements to go to the party with the possibility to talk more to the girl of the dreams. He believes this will set up a night that will possibly change his life forever.
Barry, who has started the day being fired from his job at a car showroom, by his boss Mike (Blink and you may miss him, but it’s Breaking Bad’s Saul Goodman) steals a car to make them look like they are doing much better in their lives.
Once at the party, Barry is ready to party, having found a bag of drugs in the car. Matt quickly looks for Tori and Wendy finds her boyfriend Kyle (her real life husband, Jurassic World’s Chris Pratt)
Wendy is unable to tell him that she may have been accepted to Cambridge, here in the UK, the other side of the world for him. She fears he will not be supportive with the couple on the brink of moving into a new home.
The film delivers a very good message about taking chances, either for good or for bad. Matt gets together with Tori only to find his lies appear to have cost him;Wendy, after learning from Kyle, she has got into Cambridge, sees him in another light just moments after agreeing to marry him and Barry finds that drugs can cause all sorts of issues, leaving to a very over friendly sexual encounter.
Set to a great Eighties soundtrack, this is easy watching, albeit with perhaps a bit more substance than your normal romcom!
Also amongst the cast are top comedian Demetri Martin as wheelchair bound Carlos; Michael Biehn leaves fighting the Terminator and Aliens to play Matt’s dad; Lucy Punch from Bad Teacher as a party girl and almost unrecognisable as a goth, Michelle Trachtenberg, best know as TV’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s little sister, Dawn.
Will Matt get with the girl, you probably don’t need to see the film to work that one out, but it is interesting to see how the chain of events eventually leaves him in a position to decide what next to do with his life.
If you like a romcom, we think you will like this, Topher Grace plays a good lead, much as he did when he starred opposite Scarlett Johansson & Dennis Quaid in romantic drama In Good Company. Terasa Palmer is likeable as the lead and Anna Faris shows why she is still popular today in TV’s Mom
Iit’s hard to believe with all the arguing she does with Chris Pratt in this film, that they are deemed to be one of Hollywood’s more secure couples.
Dan Fogler appears to be the weakest link in the leads, with his role seeming to be just an idiot to create crazy scenes, presumably to market the film better.
Have you seen Take Me Home Tonight ? What is your favourite RomCom, we at the BMAF would love to hear from you. You can also find us on Facebook, just seach ‘Barking Mad About Films’
