The Groomsmen (2001) from Tuna

Disambiguation: click here if you are looking for the 2006 film written and directed by Edward Burns.

 

The Groomsmen (2001) languished on the shelves for three years, and has finally been released on DVD under the name What Boys Want.

Christopher Wiehl plays a regular guy who comes home with anniversary presents for his girlfriend (they have been living together for three years), only to find her in the shower with their female letter carrier and a strap-on dildo. Next comes the news that one of his longtime friends, a confirmed bachelor, is getting married the following weekend. Wiehl and two other friends travel to Santa Barbara from San Francisco for the Wedding, since they will be groomsmen. The film is mostly about these three characters. Wiehl is a serial monogamist. His friend Alex Nesic is a cocksman who owns Wilt Chamberlain's old car, and is out to break his sex record. The third guy, Duane Martin, is Mr. Uncool, who can always manage to say and do the wrong thing.

The cocksman needles Wiehl about his newly-lesbonic girlfriend, and about his need to commit. Their argument ends up in a bet.

  • Wiehl has to nail a horny bridesmaid for a one night stand. If not, the cocksman gets to nail Wiehl's virgin sister.

  • The cocksman, on the other hand, has to go all three days in Santa Barbara without getting laid, or Wiehl gets his car.

NUDITY REPORT
  • Marilyn Sue Perry, as the Sapphic letter carrier, shows breasts.
  • Jennifer Gareis shows breasts, and partial buns in a bathing suit.
  • Gabriella Harding, as the stripper for the bachelor party, shows breasts and buns.

Things get more interesting when Wiehl discovers that the bride-to-be is the old girlfriend that he has been secretly pining for since High School. Seems she still feels the same way about him. Her fiance, it turns out, is more interested in her rich father's money than in her.

So the key issues are:

  • Will Wiehl get laid?

  • Will the cocksman keep it in his pants despite lots of opportunity?

  • Will the dorky guy finally get it together?

  • Who will end up married to whom?

The film had great pace, snappy dialogue, lots of sight gags, some physical humor, decent acting, great camera work, and was over way before I was ready to stop watching it. One of the IMDb comments suggests that if you like American Pie/Road Trip raunchy comedies, or Pretty Woman romantic comedies, you should give this one a chance. That is not a bad definition of a date movie. It is a mixture of raunchy comedy and romantic comedy, and both aspects worked well for me. I found myself laughing out loud more than once, and the only thing that was predictable about the plot was the ending, and they even managed some surprises there.

The Critics Vote ...

  • No major reviews online

The People Vote ...

The meaning of the IMDb score: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence equivalent to about three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, comparable to approximately two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, equivalent to about a two star rating from the critics, or a C- from our system. Films rated below five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film - this score is roughly equivalent to one and a half stars from the critics or a D on our scale. (Possibly even less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. (C+ means it has no crossover appeal, but will be considered excellent by genre fans, while C- indicates that it we found it to be a poor movie although genre addicts find it watchable). D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well. Any film rated C- or better is recommended for fans of that type of film. Any film rated B- or better is recommended for just about anyone. We don't score films below C- that often, because we like movies and we think that most of them have at least a solid niche audience. Now that you know that, you should have serious reservations about any movie below C-.

Based on this description, this is a solid C. This belongs on the list of straight-to-vids that don't suck.

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