Just Married (2003)

Undescribable Perfection

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

This is a story of a newlywed couple that goes on honeymoon and has to deal with all the issues marriage and personal differences bring.I thought the movie was alright. Loved the actors, they did a good job, very well portraying their characters and made many moments that weren't all that funny worth laughing. They also have great chemistry, apparently they did even date for a while after the movie, I guess real life chemistry helped them in portraying that sweet couple.Now when it comes to problems. I think the movie started getting funny only after the marriage and it took a while until then. While most jokes were predictable and done before it didn't bother me as I enjoyed watching Ashton and Britney do it. My main issue that I think some things were just not too well thought through, like the reason Ashton's character was mad was kind of senseless. Other than that not a bad light movie, nothing special but I had a good time watching it.

This is a great film, if you're a 30 something year old girl who thinks she's still 18. You can tee hee hee all the way through it, and OH isn't that Ashbucket Koochie so adorable! The female lead is typical of the kind of childish woman that is a detriment to society, played by a talentless spoiled brat to boot. But you 40 somethings-going-on-twenty will relate to her, so have plenty of fattening snack foods on hand, we wouldn't want you to have to walk to the kitchen and miss anything.An extremely predictable and boring light pop film, I'd call it a "chick flick" but most of the "chicks" I know are far too intelligent for this dribble!

Just Married does little to surprise its audience. It caters to all the clichés of people marrying impulsively, as well as many old regurgitated classics of Hollywood's idea about romantic comedy. Arguably, it's still entertaining, because it's based on a tried and true recipe, but don't expect anything else. However, don't be shocked, the scenario calls, many times, on the "lie" trick to push the story from one drama to an other.Ashton Kutcher wears his over the top comedy style of That's 70s Show, but Brittany Murphy seems to want to stay away from her hysterical persona that are part of many of her romantic films. It makes the piece watchable.You want brain dead entertainment, you've never seen it, and you have a free night, this might be for you.

...due largely to Brittany Murphy it is highly entertaining. I can't say I disagree factually with the scores of dire reviews this movie has received. Yes it is banal, clichéd, unoriginal, predictable and soppy. But the amount of gusto Brittany Murphy put into her performance (probably knowing in her heart that the script was pretty ropey) made this film fun to watch.Meet The Parents and Meet The Fockers each have twice as many quality jokes in the same running time as Just Married, while covering a lot of similar themes (the litany of accidents and catastrophes that happen to the happy couple, the below-par guy who has to impress the snooty parents of the bride, the clingy ex who gets on great with her dad etc). But whereas the Meet... films show gradually changing interpersonal dynamics as trust is slowly earned, or respect gradually lost (eg how Mr Focker starts off full of love and excitement but gradually gets more and more freaked out and annoyed by "El Stiffo"!), in Just Married one minute the groom's dad is threatening him down the phone, the next he is congratulating him and wishing him well! Similar about-turns and random changes of heart abound in this film resulting in a lack of continuity. Our young lovers jerk violently back and forth between arguing acrimoniously and cooing over each other romantically. It's almost like a series of disjointed sketches with no real flow between them.But maybe a film can survive on a threadbare, inconsistent plot, if the individual sketches are good and the characterisations appealing. I think that's the case here - as Brittany and Ashton were a real-life couple, the chemistry between them is more authentic than any scripted contrivances, and I think that shines through and makes the film feel good.So what we have here is a technically mediocre at best movie, but still an entertaining one, if you're dragged along to see it by your better half. Scarface it is not though! And finally, after seeing this film I felt genuinely upset and tearful thinking about the tragic loss of Brittany Murphy. No matter what people think of Just Married, it's a great way to remember her as a funny, lively, very attractive young actress who virtually saved this movie. God only knows what this would have been like without her.