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This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.

Aloha

A Guy Thing on IMDb

Plot Overview

flute and drumThe Buddy Scott Trio is playing their original jazz number, Brand New Car in Seattle's Hula Lounge when partier Pete Coleman (Thomas Lennon) tells younger brother Paul (Jason Lee) to “loosen up a little.” Paul doffs his groom hat and gives it to (“You be the groom”) his buddy Jim (Shawn Hatosy) making him the designated groom at Paul's bachelor party … much in the vein of a jazz group passing off the lead. Jim scores with the head Tiki dancer Tonya (Lisa Calder) while side­lined Paul is thrown together with (“You sure suck”) new hire Becky Jack­son (Julia Stiles.)

dinnerIn the aftermath of the party, Paul is seen breaking in a new pair of dress shoes. Paul's father-in-law-to-be Ken (James Brolin) is driving a “New Benz” with a problematic alarm. They hire a first-time chef who spikes the gravy. Paul's fiancée Karen Cooper (Selma Blair) gives him a new sweater to wear at the rehearsal dinner. And they tap a new minister Ferris to fill in for the one who was indisposed after the meal. Becky having been fired from her dancing gig Sunday has a new job Monday manning a toll booth, which she sucks at, too. Then she lasts two days as stock girl at Zulu Records. On Thursday she's tending bar. Friday in the wee hours she and Paul burgle her psycho ex-boy­friend Ray Donovan (Lochlyn Munro)'s apartment to retrieve the compromising photos he has of them. And Saturday she finds a new “some­thing” at her cousin Karen & Paul's story­book wedding.

Ideology

vigilant kidWhen minister Herris is apprised through his observant boy that Paul's been carrying on with another woman in the week of his wedding, he's in a quandary (“I've got my eye on you.”) Paul may not yet be ready to settle down with Karen “for all eternity,” but it's the minister's pastoral duty to wed eligible couples for the sake of stable married life. Permit me to draw an analogy from the deleted “You, Me and Jesus” scene and the good book the minister carries.

ChurchBibleI Corinthians 7In a single (cut) scene Karen learns that Paul wants to incorporate his fundamental Christianity into their married life, and she's not too keen on it. The apostle Paul back in the day spent two or three years preaching in the bustling city of Corinth where Christianity had been unknown until then. He got a lot of converts, not all of them as wedded pairs, and some converts were espoused to non-christians as well. Marital conflicts over religious mismatch led some to write him for advice, and he responded telling them to try to convert the unbelieving spouse, to stick with it regardless, but to let the other have a divorce if wanted. In a follow-up letter, an oblique reference is made to such circum­stances in a rhetorical question: (2Cor. 6:15) “And … what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?” Applied to going through with a particular wedding, it is up to the principals to decide if it is right for them; many but not all Christians decide not to marry unbelievers, and it is their personal decision, not the apostle's. As J.R.R. Tolkien's grown grand­son put it, “We're not Hindus. People have to be allowed to decide who they want to be with” (45.) The apostle, however, uses the example of mismatch strife to forbid incorporating heathenism into church services: (2Cor 6:14) “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: ...” Note: he forbids to a congregation (“ye”) what he at most suggests to an individual (thou.) In this movie a lot of controversy was generated when a rock 'n' roll band was booked for the wedding, but it was not in the minister's purview to forbid it. How­ever, he could use that as an example to justify forbidding rock 'n' roll music in church services proper.

If Paul bales on Karen, what will happen with him and Becky? Good question. Hard to say. It's probably along the lines of, (Prov. 30:18-19) “There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not: The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid.” An eagle is hard to track because of its unpredictable swoops, a serpent because of its slithering, and a ship moved by unseen winds and currents. “A man with a maid” is triply tricky. Here we see Paul climbing out a window and down a tree, he and Becky trying to navigate a fire escape, and them crouching in a bath­tub under scrutiny of a police-trained guard dog. Who knows how or if they'll turn out as a couple?

Production Values

” (2003) was directed by Chris Koch. Its story was written by Greg Glienna and developed into a screen­play by Pete Schwaba & Matt Tarses. It stars Jason Lee, Julia Stiles, Selma Blair, and Thomas Lennon. The acting was credible in a plot that seemed to move every which way. Julia Stiles was hot stuff and Selma Blair appropriately scary.

MPAA rated it PG–13 for language, crude humor, some sexual content and drug references. It was in part filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It has a runtime of 1¾ hours. Good camera work contributed to an expectant feel. The humor was genuine and not overplayed.

Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation

I thought AGT was altogether enjoyable and engaging. It's not the funniest movie I've ever seen, but it did the job. It's a great one to fill in the gaps of your movie experience.

Movie Ratings

Action factor: Decent action scenes. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Average special effects. Video Occasion: Good Date Movie. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five.

Works Cited

Scripture quotations from the Authorized Version. Pub. 1611. Rev. 1769. Software.

Tolkien, Simon. The King of Diamonds. Copyright © 2011 by Simon Tolkien. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2011. Print.