The Life Scatological

In 2003, critics derided and audiences detested a comedy called A Guy Thing starring Jason Lee and Julia Stiles. But was it really so bad? Well, yes, but Jason Lee and Julia Stiles both have appreciable charisma, even if it's never utilised.

Selma Blair's in the movie, too. It seems to have attracted some smart people. It's a There's Something About Mary type of gross-out romantic comedy in which less emphasis is put on relationship mechanics and more on the increasingly embarrassing misadventures of the male protagonist. Julia Stiles is kind of wasted and has surprisingly little screentime. After she and Lee wake up together following his bachelor party, the only chance they have to bond is when they steal some photos from her psycho ex-boyfriend's apartment. It hardly seems enough for him to leave his fiancee, who's played by Selma Blair.

The best parts of the movie are the jokes related to the title. When Blair finds Stiles' bikini bottom in the toilet tank, Lee hastily concocts a lie about how he bought dirty underwear from a department store bin. Blair calls the store and is surprised when his story is confirmed by the clerk who automatically lies to her because it's "a guy thing". Since this movie was recommended to me by someone in Japan and I wonder if people in foreign countries think this is normal behaviour in the U.S. I feel compelled to note, no, this is not normal. But it is funny.

The more physical comedy is less effective. Lee discovering he has crabs in a business meeting and scratching his crotch or his increasingly embarrassing lie about having diarrhea during a family party are tedious and unimaginative.

Now, as I do whenever I see a Jason Lee movie, I will note again how sadly wasted his potential was. After his breakout role in Mallrats, he ought to have been the king of slacker comedy. But then Ryan Reynolds stole his shtick. In a better world, Deadpool would've been Jason Lee.

X Sonnet #1857

As reason takes the minivan, retreat.
A pair of saucers madly grasps the lane.
Evade the bull careening down the street.
A billion spitting stones contrive your pain.
The egret's shadow gulped a hapless fish.
No planning stops the hungry bird at large.
The angry Rieklings stole a pewter dish.
The drunken crew released an empty barge.
Dimension symbols truly show a map.
A myst'ry lunch divides horizon pangs.
A scribbled cloud was black beneath the cap.
'Twas fear and joy betwixt the spider's fangs.
The restless dead would track the goony bird.
Between the trees there sticks a magic word.