Kutcher and Murphy spice up the screen with ‘Just Married’

Is it Valentine’s Day yet? Someone must have made a mistake with the release of the movie “Just Married,” which seems like the kind of film that people in marketing would love to put out closer to V-day.

Maybe it was because it leaned a little less toward the romantic side of a romantic comedy. Tom (Ashton Kutcher) and Sara (Brittany Murphy) had a wonderful relationship until they decided to get married. Sarah is from a very wealthy, very obnoxious family, while Tom is a working class guy attending community college.

Sarah’s family hates Tom. Though they let the marriage happen, they do everything in their power to discourage their daughter and make the union fail. Sara’s ex-boyfriend is also in on the breakup attempt, following the couple on their European honeymoon to try and steal the bride away. Nothing seems to be able to go right for these two, but it’s great fun watching both of them screw up so often. Lies, misunderstandings and just plain stupidity really put a strain on the bond between the newlyweds.

The only problem with the movie was the horrible flow of the first 10 minutes. Someone decided it was a good idea to have the whole movie be told in a sort of flashback mode, but didn’t bother to start with that at the beginning. First we see the end result of the honeymoon trip, Tom and Sara angry and fighting as they are leaving the airport coming home. We then skip over to Tom at his radio job, venting to his friend about what happened. The scenes jerk back and forth a little less than smoothly. This only lasts for a bit though; the rest of the movie is much easier to watch.

While it certainly has its hilarious verbal moments, this picture is mostly visual comedy, which Ashton Kutcher (also from “Dude Where’s My Car” and “That 70′s Show”) is great at. He and Brittany Murphy (“Clueless,” “Don’t Say a Word,” “8 Mile”) have excellent comedic timing, playing well off one another for great effect. Murphy’s movies have had a dramatic trend lately, and though she voices a character on “King of the Hill,” she doesn’t seem to go for comedy projects often in film. She definitely puts on a good performance in this one.

“Just Married” is a fun movie. The combination of lots of laughs and a minimum of over the top sweetness (the kind that makes your teeth rot right in the theater) make for an entertaining one and a half hours.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Jan 17 2003. Filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry