The Rom Com Catalog

Tag: Jordan Bridges

  • ‘Drive Me Crazy’ (1999) Review

    ‘Drive Me Crazy’ (1999) Review

    Drive Me Crazy Synopsis: Nicole and Chase live next door to each other but are worlds apart. However, they plot a scheme to date each other in order to attract the interest and jealousy of their respective romantic prey. But in the midst of planning a gala centennial celebration, Nicole and Chase find that the one they always wanted was closer than they ever thought.

    Neighbors Nicole (Melissa Joan Hart) and Chase (Adrian Grenier) used to be friends, but now they run in different social circles. However, when Chase’s socially conscious girlfriend breaks up with him and Nicole’s crush falls for a cheerleader from another school, they team up to make their love interests jealous by pretending to date each other.

    I cannot recall watching Drive Me Crazy before, though it’s possible I saw it in 1999 when it was released. There are only a few teen comedies from that era that I actually remember because only a few were memorable; the rest are your typical copycat.

    In all honesty, I expected Drive Me Crazy to join the long list of forgettable teen rom-coms, but I was instead pleasantly surprised! I love fake dating stories, especially when there is a history between the two lead characters. Nicole and Chase grew up next door to one another. They were friends until a tragedy in Chase’s life caused Nicole to pull away.

    Now Nicole is into the star athlete in school, and Chase is dating Dulcie (Ali Larter), a punky girl who is into social activism. Nicole and Chase believe pretending to be a couple will catch Brad and Dulcie’s attention. We, of course, know better. Even if their plan is successful, it will be too late because Nicole and Chase will have developed feelings for each other.

    I thought Melissa Joan Hart and Adrian Grenier played well off of one another. They had decent chemistry with each other and the supporting cast surrounding them. There were no typical mean girls for Nicole to compete with, though that’s probably because that role was filled by Nicole’s supposed BFF, Alicia, played by Susan May Pratt. Alicia plays the supportive friend while being vindictive behind Nicole’s back.

    Chase’s friends, David (Mark Webber) and Ray (Kris Park) aren’t entirely sure what to think of Chase when he shifts from slacker to Nicole’s preppy boyfriend. David wants to be accepted by the popular crowd himself, so he’s envious of Chase’s sudden social upgrade. Ray is less dramatic and seems more focused on his own crush on Nicole than anything else. It’s teenage drama at its best, yet still so insignificant in the grand scheme of things, as most teen angst is.

    While I think Drive Me Crazy was attempting to show how wrong Brad and Dulcie were for Nicole and Chase, I’m not sure it succeeded, at least not in the way it may have wanted. Dulcie breaks up with Chase for not taking her interest in animal rights seriously. She is not an unlikable character. Not wanting to be with a guy who dismisses her passions is a legitimate excuse for breaking up, if you ask me.

    And when she begins to observe how Chase is changing himself for Nicole, it concerns her, which tells us she does care about him. Even if it wasn’t intended, I appreciated that Dulcie wasn’t a stone-cold B-word in order to convince the audience that Chase should be with Nicole instead.

    As for Brad, he doesn’t do anything wrong other than fall for another girl who seems nice enough. It’s Alicia who screws up that relationship, not Nicole. And Brad is probably the least interesting character in the movie. He’s bland with little character development or personality, so we honestly don’t care about him or Nicole’s crush.

    My biggest pet peeve with this movie was I preferred Chase pre-transformation. There was nothing wrong with him. He had curly hair and comfortable clothes that fit with his personality. Then Nicole gets his hair straightened, cut, and slicked back, and he begins to dress in plain clothes you might find on a mannequin in front of some preppy department store. It’s boring. Here’s hoping Chase reverted to his true style without issue after the two finally ended the fake dating charade.

    I’m nitpicking now, and I recognize that. Despite its flaws, I found Drive Me Crazy to be a cute movie. Grenier and Hart had decent enough chemistry to make me root for them. There were some genuinely funny moments, and who doesn’t love a school dance confession of love?

    Watched: 01/25/2024
    Notable Song: Keep on Loving You by The Donnas 

    Rating:
  • ‘Holiday Engagement’ (2011) Review

    ‘Holiday Engagement’ (2011) Review

    Hillary (Bonnie Somerville) is a reporter for a small, underfunded newspaper, essentially writing puff pieces. When the paper goes under, she finds herself unemployed but still eager to take Jason (Chris McKenna), her successful lawyer boyfriend, home to meet her parents. When Jason tells Hillary that he’s likely to be promoted to his firm’s Pittsburgh office, their different dreams for the future come to a head, and he breaks off the engagement.

    Devastated and unwilling to face her mother’s disappointment when she shows up alone to Thanksgiving, Hillary hires an actor named David (Jordan Bridges) to play Jason for the weekend. In return, he’ll get two tickets to a resort in Mexico that Hillary had won from a radio contest.

    So Hillary introduces “Jason” to her dysfunctional family, and things don’t go as planned. TV veteran Shelley Long plays Hillary’s overbearing, judgmental mother, Meredith, and her portrayal can only be described as “phoning it in.” Sam McMurray is Hillary’s councilman father, Roy, and he spends most of the movie hinting at buying and selling votes as he tries to get some free legal counsel from an attorney named “Jason.” This plot point is never addressed or resolved, so I imagine it was shoved into the script for a few mediocre jokes.

    Haylie Duff plays Hillary’s spoiled sister, who has a new baby, a nanny, money, and an absentee husband. Duff received top billing in this movie after Somerville and Long, though I’m not entirely sure why. She’s barely in the movie, and Carrie Wiita, who plays Hillary’s other sister, has more screen time and a broader plotline. I imagine it was a recognition of the Duff name.

    In any case, I watched Holiday Engagement on my flight back from Orlando last weekend to pass the time and distract me from the fact that I’m terrified of flying.

    I am also not a lover of Hallmark movies by any means, but Holiday Engagement was on Netflix, and I had no idea it was initially a Hallmark original until after the fact. It was a silly movie, with a lot of silly drama and silly jokes. I like Somerville, probably because she played Ross’s girlfriend, Mona, on Friends, and I found her quite funny. But there’s not much to this movie at all. Hillary and David fumble around, pretending David is Jason, as they fall in love with one another.

    Hillary gets caught up in wedding plans with her mother – she even buys a wedding dress in a highly odd and out-of-place scene with Jennifer Elise Cox (Jan from The Brady Bunch Movies) – and David/Jason has to remind her that they’re not actually getting married. There’s also some weird drama with David’s ex-girlfriend and Hillary’s sister, who is engaged but in love with a waiter at a Spanish restaurant. That’s essentially the plot of Holiday Engagement…if you can call it a plot.

    Of course, the real Jason shows up to win Hillary back, and of course, he’s a first-class jerk, etc., etc., forcing Hillary to figure out what she really wants and who she loves.

    Look, While You Were Sleeping is one of my all-time favorite romantic comedies, and I could completely buy that Sandra Bullock fell in love with Bill Pullman (and his family) in a week or so. That’s the kind of chemistry they had. But I couldn’t get behind Hillary falling in love with David/Jason over three days. They spent most of the time awkwardly dancing around one another, and frankly, Hillary’s family is not likable like the Gallagher bunch in WYWS. Somerville and Bridges were fine, but their romantic chemistry was non-existent. They seemed completely uninterested in each other until the movie’s end.

    Ultimately, I came away with it thinking, “that was okay, I guess,” but that was about it. I have read quite a few rom-coms this year that deal with “fake dating” trope. If it’s executed well, I can get behind it. But Holiday Engagement was just a mess. However, the house was pretty, and you guys know I’m a sucker for gorgeous homes in rom-coms.

    Watched: 12/08/2019
    Notable Song: Gloria in Excelsis Deo (Angels We Have Heard on High) by Bonnie Somerville and Jordan Bridges

    Rating: