A cinematic sour ball posing as bubblegum teen comedy.
Whatever It Takes (2000)
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Reviews Counted:62
Fresh:9
Rotten:53
Average Rating:3.4/10
Consensus: Whatever It Takes is another run-of-the-mill teeny-bopper romance flick. Cliche jokes and a tired plot capture few laughs.
Runtime: 1 hr 34 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis:
High School senior Ryan Woodman and every other male student at Gilmore High has a massive crush on the most luscious knockout ever to walk its hallowed halls, Ashley Grant. The only problem? Ryan...
High School senior Ryan Woodman and every other male student at Gilmore High has a massive crush on the most luscious knockout ever to walk its hallowed halls, Ashley Grant. The only problem? Ryan is persona non grata in the popular set and hardly worthy of Ashley's attention. Enter Chris, resident babe magnet, who's pining to no avail after Ryan's best friend Maggie, a girl with beauty, brains and a big heart. It's four weeks till graduation, and the clock is ticking for Ryan and Chris to snag their respective dreamgirls.
In the hilarious romantic comedy Whatever It Takes, Chris and Ryan, flanked by bumbling buddies Floyd, Cosmo and Dunleavy, go to outrageous lengths as they hatch a plan which, if successful, will land them both with the right girl-or so they think.
Weaving a web of fake e-mails, plotted phone calls, contrived double dates and mistaken identities, Ryan helps Chris hide his dumb-jock personality under a façade of fake sensitivity, and soon Maggie is smitten. At the same time, Chris convinces Ashley that Ryan is the new cool kid in school and worth a second look. But messing with fate just ends up messing everything up, and in this tale of mismatched love, Ryan discovers that being yourself is always the best scheme, and that sometimes the love of your life is the girl next door-your best friend.
Starring: Shane West, Marla Sokoloff, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, James Franco
Starring: Shane West, Marla Sokoloff, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, James Franco, Christine Lakin, Aaron Paul, Colin Hanks
Director: David Raynr
Director: David Raynr
Screenwriter: Mark Schwahn
Producer: Paul Schiff
Composer: Edward Shearmur
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Reviews for Whatever It Takes
Although the leads are appealing, you're better off watching them for free on the little screen, in Once and Again....
An assembly-line high-school comedy that flunks miserably in all three subjects.
The unoriginal plot mixed with the apparent inability to land a single joke doom the production for expulsion from the ranks of decent cinema.
The unoriginal plot mixed with the apparent inability to land a single joke doom the production for expulsion from the ranks of decent cinema.
With a running time of 92 minutes, Whatever It Takes is too long by an hour and a half.
What was that movie that finds humor in someone barfing on someone else? Give me a minute, it's on the tip of my tongue! Whatever It Takes.
Despite its formulaic plot and all-too-tired themes, this John Hughes-movie wannabe has just enough quirky charm to compensate for its generic story.
West, Franco, O'Keefe and Sokoloff are fine. It's just the dynamic of the callous jock/lovable oddball/stuck-up slut/sweet kid that reeks like a stale gym locker.
Emotional falsehood permeates the picture, but at least the young actors are appealing.
This is the cinematic equivalent of those over-the-hill jocks who show up at their high school's game wearing a mothballed letter-jacket.
Another lowest-common- denominator high school romance made from the cannibalized parts of equally unambitious teen fare.
The geeky sidekicks in Whatever It Takes are no better or worse than those in a dozen other teen movies of recent vintage, but they get the job done.
You -- yes, you -- can write a teen comedy. Whatever It Takes is proof.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 77% 77% | The Hangover |
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 66% 66% | Public Enemies |
| 24% 24% | G-Force |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 82% 82% | Paranormal Activity |
| 58% 58% | 9 |
| 44% 44% | Jennifer's Body |
| 58% 58% | A Perfect Getaway |
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