A GUY THING
After his (pretty tame) bachelor party, Paul (Jason Lee) wakes up with Becky
(Julia Stiles), a tiki dancer, and tries to hide the indiscretion from his
fiancée, Karen (Selma Blair) -- a decision that leads to the inevitable
comedy of compounding cover-ups. It's not even that simple: Karen is the
daughter of Paul's boss, Becky turns out to be Karen's cousin and further has a
jealous ex-boyfriend who's a sadistic cop (Lochlyn Munro), and Paul's brother
(Thomas Lennon) secretly covets Karen. Directed by local guy Chris Koch, the
movie aims for witty, warm moments yet often (and unnecessarily) succumbs to
scatological humor. The result is not-so-screwy mayhem and marginalized
romantic chemistry. Lee is passable as the lightning rod, and so is Blair as
the perky trophy-wife-to-be, but the film belongs to Stiles: her goofy sass
makes this "guy thing" her own. (98 minutes) At the Entertainment, Flagship,
Holiday, Providence Place Mall 16, Showcase, and Tri-Boro cinemas.
Issue Date: January 24 - 30, 2003
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