There’s always that one person. That untouchable someone you admire and worship from a distance while the drool drips from the corner of your mouth. Watching them becomes an obsession that more often than not disappears into the past.
Imagine that reality overslept one morning and life continued to exist in a dream world. And in the dream world the girl can be yours if you are willing to do whatever it takes to get her.
Welcome to Ryan Woodman’s (Shane West) world in David Raynr’s newest endeavor, Whatever it Takes. Graduation is less than four weeks away and Ryan has spent the past four years of his life along with every other male on campus worshiping the resident sex goddess, Ashley Grant (Jodi Lyn O’Keefe).
Luckily for Ryan, the school heart throb and Ashley’s comrade, Chris (James Franco), is drooling over Ryan’s best friend and next door neighbor, Maggie (Marla Sokoloff).
The boys strike up a deal and decide to tempt fate. With each other’s help, they hope to catch the girl of their dreams. Their task however is easier said than done.
Ryan and Chris are mismatched from the start with their desired female counterpart. Ryan spends his nights mastering the accordion while Chris divides his time pounding beers and sweating on the practice fields.
Maggie and Ashley similarly exist on opposite ends of the spectrum. Ashley’s sole concern in life is her appearance as the Sesame Street-intro to the movie creatively depicts in her morning beautifying ritual.
Maggie on the other hand grabs a tank top and a pair of jeans on her way out the door to volunteer at the nursing home.
Through fake e-mails, a three-way phone call and whisper-prompted conversations, Ryan manages to create a nice guy facade to the dumb jock Chris really is. Chris similarly converts Ryan into Brian the jerk in hopes that Ashley will deem Ryan worthy of a second look. By some cinematic miracle, Chris sweeps Maggie off her feet and Ashley decides that Ryan is her new boy toy.
Keep your hopes up ladies. Good guys don’t turn bad overnight.
With time, Ryan begins to see past Ashley’s skin-deep beauty and realizes that beyond good looks she has nothing else to offer other than a whimpering pretty face and an insensitive heart.
Across the yard, Maggie believes she’s found what she’s been waiting for, a sensitive guy who shares his intimate thoughts and feelings and thinks she’s beautiful.
Ryan wakes up from the dream world and realizes that reality has much more to offer and this time it’s not Ashley but the girl next door. Unfortunately, Ryan learns where his heart truly lies just as Chris explains his “nail `em and bail `em” plan to the guys. The knight donned with an accordion must save his lady from her Prom night tower.
In a masterfully schemed senior prank, Ryan’s best buddy, Floyd (Aaron Paul) initiates a highly amusing series of events, which concludes the movie and lands Ryan in his true love’s arms.
Whatever it Takes takes the simple story of boy likes girl-boy doesn’t stand a chance and runs with it stopping at every humorous pothole along the way from a Sex Ed. demonstration with a human sized penis to a cheesy parody of Titanic.
The movie delivers a solid hour and a half of simple, yet enjoyable entertainment. The humor doesn’t require a genius IQ to stimulate a chuckle and there’s a happy-ever-after ending for the feel good moviegoers.
Sometimes, simple is good and, if nothing else, fun to watch.
