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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
Mark Schwahn didn't really write Whatever It Takes; he more or less assembled it out of spare parts, pop-culture detritus, the best and worst leftovers available to a first-time writer on a school-lunch budget.
Still another movie arguing that the American teenager's IQ level hovers in the low 90s.
The only thing you won't see through the sparkling smiles of the fresh-faced, beautiful cast is an original thought or message.
The photogenic actors are charmless, and the whole thing has the look and feel of a cheap made-for-cable television movie.
Falls flat with unbelievably bad scenes that are also just plain unbelievable.
Although the film shamelessly rips off plot lines, characters and incidents from the play about Cyrano, TV shows and other movies... it still manages to entertain.
It serves as a platform for its filmmakers to use shallow teenagers to reflect their own tastes.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 66% 66% | Public Enemies |
| 83% 83% | Harry Potter and the H… |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 75% 75% | Julie & Julia |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 90% 90% | District 9 |
| 86% 86% | 500 Days of Summer |
| 63% 63% | Extract |
| 06% 06% | All About Steve |
| 78% 78% | It Might Get Loud |
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