Christina Reviews Boys and Girls

Forlani and Prinze play friends-to-lovers in this
little-known dumpster fire called Boys and Girls

I found Boys and Girls (starring Freddie Prinze Jr. and Claire Forlani) on Amazon Cinemax.  I like FPJ.  He's cute in a non-threatening way.  So I decided to check it out.  About three minutes in, I realized I'd seen this movie before.  But I'd completely forgotten.  You know that's got to be a bad sign.  

It didn't take me long to figure out why I'd blocked the movie from my memory.

Boys and Girls starts with two twelve-year-olds meeting for the first time when they get placed next to each other on a plane.  The girl is the sort who gives TMI to complete strangers.  It's an embarrassing, awkward first meeting.

Jennifer and Ryan meeting at age 12 on a plane

That could have been the end of it, but then they get thrown together again when they run into each other at a football game in high school.  I'm not sure how they didn't know they went to the same school before that night.  Maybe this was an away game?  They have a similar conversation at about age eighteen as they had on the plane at age twelve.  "You're dumb, no, you're dumb, na na na."  I'm thinking the writer is of the mindset that the more nasty they are to each other early on in the movie, the more fulfilling the love scenes will be later on when they do come (freudian slip).  So we're treated to the antics of a couple of two-year-olds.

Anyway, they keep running into each other over the next few years.  For example, he's dating her roommate, yadda yadda.  At this point, I'm just fast-forwarding through the movie, not invested in it at all.   I'm pretty sure I watched the whole thing years ago.  Once was more than enough.

I decided to check out Ebert's review, hoping for a little vindication.  I was a tad miffed that he gave this dumpster fire more stars than Hocus Pocus.  But, other than that, I agreed with the general content of his critique.  Here's is a quote from him that's spot-on:

"[The two main characters] are so lovable that we earnestly wish they'd grow up and develop more interesting and complex personalities. We are reminded of the theory that American society prolongs adolescence far beyond its natural life-span. If these characters were French and engaging in the same dialogue and behavior, we would guess their age at about 13."

Actually, I'll correct him on one point.  We'd guess their ages at about two.  So, I give this movie two stars.  I'm feeling generous. 

This isn't even good fluff for Valentine's Day.