....though he's supposed to be 25, Johnny physically looks and sounds like a whiny 14 year old. In their scenes together, the tennis girl looks more like his babysitter. No one does sweet, deftly written rom-coms like Edward Burns, but in this case...it looked to me like he lost his real lead actor at the last minute and replaced him with his paperboy.
shareTo be fair, Edward Burns did a great job in the movie, and Kerry Bishe is a very interesting young actress who deserves a good career.
Matt Bush did his best, and it was sometimes effective (at times he almost reminded me of a young Ralph Macchio), but yeah, he was a bit of a let down compared to two I just mentioned. Although at least he had a sure character and interesting lines. His fiancee was a better actress, but had a poorly written character.
I'm not going to pile more on Matt Bush. I liked his look, and I liked the fact the he seemed younger than 25. But I will agree, Edward Burns probably could have casted his leading man better.
I completely agree with BobStage, the fiancee was a better actress, but a poorly written character. Edward Burns has always said that he struggles with writing female characters. And apparently, now that he's in his 40s and isn't casting himself, he struggles with casting a leading man.
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completely agree...his voice was still changing for cripes sake. and on the radio?
plus the acting wasn't all that. i was more interested in the juliette lewis lookalike, she was good.
Hate to pile on the guy, but yea, Ed probably should have went with a different lead. Most of the supporting cast was excellent and they are what saved the movie for me personally. I did love the fact that the character truly was nice to fault, even when he had every reason to tell off his future father-in-law and fiancee. He even calls his Uncle Terry a scumbag, but quickly feels bad about it and takes it back leading to probably the best scene in the movie. This is probably better (and consistent) writing on Ed's part than acting from the lead though.
@BobStage: Good call on a young Ralph Macchio. Personally, I was leaning towards a really young Andy Garcia or even Pacino (though obviously without those acting chops) but I can see Macchio as well. He definitely looks way younger than his age though and that was the main issue (though I'm sure it'll help keep working beyond his expiration date).
Overall, enjoyable and funny movie though. Think the IMDb rating of 5-6 is probably pretty accurate.
To be fair, Edward Burns has his own acting niche down to a science. He wrote his part the best, with the free spirit at a close second. For all his supposed trouble writing female characters, he did a good job with Bishe's part, though her own acting was very good. Another example of good female characters would be the wife in "The Brothers McMullen" and Claudia in "No Looking Back".
I'm glad he got Kerry Bishe for his next film, she was the most promising young actor/actress in NGJ. Looking forward to seeing her in "Newlyweds".
Considering the poor grammar, eg 'could have casted'; 'should have went', etc. the people above, who have expressed their opinion, should be careful how they judge other people's casting or acting expertise.
I personally thought the acting and casting was perfect. A very real and very well acted characterisation, as far as I was concerned. Just like in real life, people don't always conform to sterotypes (except in typical Hollywood movies).
Did you mean e.g.?
What we have here is failure to communicate!share
I love it when people make mistakes while point out other people's mistakes.
Also, "should have went" is acceptable. So his whole rant was completely unnecessary to begin with. (uh-oh, I ended a sentence with THREE prepositions!)
Even casted, though out of style, is still proper. From English Language and Usage:
Casted
The verb cast is conventionally uninflected in the past tense and as a past participle. Casted is an old form—examples are easily found in texts from every century from the 14th to the present—but it has given way to cast in modern English. In current usage, however, casted is gaining ground, especially where cast means either (1) to assemble actors for a performance, or (2) to throw out bait and/or a lure on a fishing line. (Both these senses have extended metaphorical uses where casted is likewise used at least some of the time). Many people object to casted, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is catching on and not likely to go away soon.
What we got here is... failure to communicate! share
Actually there are alot of 25-year-olds that look really young. It's just that in Hollywood usually they are played by older actors. At 25 alot of people look and live Johnny, not yet ready to grow up and live in the real world.
shareYeah - it was my initial reaction. And having been in radio, I had some mixed feelings about casting him for that aspect. But there IS a guy who works one late night a week on the biggest sports talk station in the world - who has a high voice. If you'll recall when Johnny (Matt)was in the pool & his hair was wet/slicked back, he looked not only older, but much better. And half his lines seemed pretty natural & delivered the way I felt that character was meant to act. He reminded me more of young Dustin Hoffman than those actors, others here have mentioned. Still, I might've cast somebody else for Johnny - sorry Matt.
Kerry Bishé, however, who I'd liked very much on SCRUBS, is terrific.
I was under the impression that he was casted to look younger. just to really hit home he fact that he was "too young" to be getting married. that being said, i know 24 yr olds that look like they are still freshmen in highschool! so it happens...
"Choose NOT to be a d!ck." - Silas Botwin
Not only that but his face is sooo damn annoying. He looks like a frog.
Uggghhh....
Honestly, I hated every single character in this movie. All super boring shallow people. Even Nice Guy Johnny is shallow.
He did a good job.
shareThe kid just has no charisma. He's shrill, tiny and not attractive enough.
What we have here is failure to communicate!share
watched this last night. I have to agree that Johnny was miscast. Throughout the film, he reminded me of Chachi as in Fonzi and Chachi, as in Happy Days. Plus Johnny could not act mad to save his life. When he was mad, it looked like he was smiling or smirking. And he was way too short for the role, against the taller hot tennis chick. All girls want taller guys. Hello! And Johnny had a lollipop head for a body. Now I have to say, he did a decent job acting, not great, not amazing, just decent and it is admirable that he carried the film on his shoulders. But he was the wrong guy for the job. Sorry dude. Good luck on the next film.
shareI thought the same thing about the Johnny character, bad casting. When the leading lady is more that an inch or two taller than the leading man, its a problem. Also, there is very little in the way of character development. We never learn why Johnny was engaged his physcho girlfriend in the first place. Also, way too much time wasted on watching them drive around while we are treated to to dreary coffee house music.
This is not one of Edward Burns' better efforts.