by Thomas Ferguson

Relationships can be rough business, especially when you are in love with someone who is not in love with you. We’ve all been there, but in the new Lionsgate comedy My Best Friend’s Girl, we find out the lengths at which some people will go to land the love of their life.

Self proclaimed a-hole Tank (Dane Cook) has an interesting hobby. He goes out with woman and treats them like dirt.  His bad actions seem to send these ladies running back to their exes. The trick is, the exes are the ones who have hired him to be such a jerk. He is emotionally detached from women, using them for sex and games only. That is until he meets Alexis (Kate Hudson), a smart, beautiful, and fun girl that changes his opinions on male-female relationships. He slowly begins to fall in love with her, but there is a small problem.

His best friend and roommate Dusty (Jason Biggs), is also in love with Alexis and has actually hired Tank to work his magic on her for him. Now, Tank must try to keep his feelings for Alexis a secret or risk losing his best friend who is hopelessly in love with the girl Tank already has.

I must be honest, going into this movie I had the lowest of expectations. I like Dane Cook as a comedian, but his film track record has not been very impressive. Plus, “R” rated romantic comedies are usually an excuse to show half naked women and depict the most sophomoric sex jokes. Not that those are bad, but it's unique when you get those elements attached to an interesting story.

Although treading on material  we’ve seen before, My Best Friend’s Girl  has some unexpected heart, something I really didn’t expect.  Dane is definitely falling into that leading man role with great ease. Hudson is as charming as ever, but this time around, she gives us a bit of the naughty girl we have rarely seen from her.

Biggs also shined as the hopeless romantic, but it was relative newcomer Lizzy Caplan (Mean Girls) who plays Alexis’ sex-starved roommate and Alex Baldwin who plays Tank’s sex-starved father that steal the show.

Like I said earlier, this movie isn’t breaking any new ground in the genre, they all can’t be When Harry Met Sally right?  It’s not  the greatest romantic comedy in the world, but one that is entertaining enough to see in theaters.