Fast Times Ridgemont

'Friends With Benefits' Review: Great Cast In Teriffic Romcom

With eight “Harry Potter” movies, four “Pirates” films, three “Transformers” and two “Hangover” flicks clogging the Hollywood distribution pipeline over the last few years, and “reboots” of movies like “Spider-Man” that are less than a decade old, it might seem that nothing original is coming out of La La Land these days. And this weekend might appear to offer up the most ridiculous example of repetitive thinking yet, when “Friends With Benefits” hits theaters a mere six months after another comedy about hot young twentysomethings hoping to score without emotional or legal commitments, “No Strings Attached.” 

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Now, consider that “No Strings Attached” was originally titled “Friends With Benefits,” and that each of the films stars one of the lead actresses from “Black Swan” – with Natalie Portman in “Strings” and Mila Kunis in “Friends” – and one might even wonder why the competing studios that released these films aren’t suing each other for copyright infringement. 

And yet, against all expectations, “Friends” proves itself to not only be the vastly superior of the two films, but also one of the best romantic comedies – period – to come out in the last few years. It’s a terrific, witty, sexy, and genuinely appealing film that should not only be a big hit but might wind up on my end of year mix list of the best brainy art-house films and crowd-pleasing popcorn flicks. 

“Friends” benefits from the beginning from the fact its other star is Justin Timberlake, the pop-music wunderkind who’s proven himself to be one hell of a comedic talent in his surprising switch to comedic acting on “SNL” and in his charismatic drama turn in “The Social Network.” As Dylan, a magazine art director who’s recruited to take over GQ magazine’s creative approach by headhunter Jamie (Kunis), he at first displays just the right amount of cocky charm to win her over along with the audience. 

But neither Dylan nor Jamie are looking to be won over, since each have been burned too many times and have decided they just want to have a fun, uncomplicated fling for a while. Soon they’re exchanging witty banter and knocking boots all over Manhattan, free to drop each other at any moment if another potential love interest comes along. 

Of course such complications do turn up, and the dynamic duo seems to handle the pivot into straight-up friendship well. But when Dylan is called back home to L.A. over the July 4th weekend because his father (a terrific performance by Richard Jenkins) is starting to slip further into Alzheimer’s-related dementia, he asks Jamie to come along for emotional support and the two find that life, emotions and relationships are way more complicated than they ever expected.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Blu-ray Review) | HdMovies

Is ‘Fast Times’ still crazy after all these years?

There’s a famous adage that if you remember the 1960’s you can’t possibly have been there. That same idea might be applicable to at least some of the characters of a comedy that takes place a couple of decades past the 60’s, Fast Times at Ridgemont High , a late 70’s-early 80’s-fest that is fondly remembered by a certain subset of the movie going public who may have been either high school aged or just slightly older when the film first arrived at megaplexes in 1982. The film is a rather …

Whoa! Bad trip, man! Let’s be clear right up front: Fast Times at Ridgemont High has never been a gorgeous looking film. It has virtually reeked of its low budget ethos from its theatrical exhibition through its various home video incarnations. But, wow , a lot of folks are probably going to be shocked at how shoddy this VC-1 encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1 looks. The opening scenes in the shopping mall are swarming with on-again off-again digital noise th

Fast Times at Ridgemont High ’s lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track really comes alive in the film’s ubiquitous use of rock and pop hits of the day (including a tune by my hometown of Portland’s one attempt at producing a 1980’s arena rock act, Quarterflash). The music, so important to establishing the time and tone (no pun intended) of the film sounds absolutely fantastic and actually rattles the floorboards a couple of times. While dialogue is certainly clear and crisp, the rest of

Unlike some other coming of age dramedies, Fast Times at Ridgemont High has aged surprisingly well. Bolstered by some fantastic performances by a coterie of youngsters who would go on to define their generation’s acting, and with a very smart and surefooted screenplay by Cameron Crowe, and equally strong direction by Amy Heckerling, this is a film with relatively modest ambitions that nonetheless is surprisingly nuanced and actually rather profound at times.

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