Tangled is an apt description of this film. It jumps around in both time and point of view so that you never really have a clear view of what actually happens in the climax.
The one thing that kept going through my mind while watching Tangled was that if Rachel Leigh Cook's Lanie Boggs from "She's all That" had gone off to college convinced that she was now attractive to boys she would have grown into the neurotic, annoying Jenny Kelly she plays in this film. Like Lanie, Jenny is pretentious, arty, and self involved. She does however have a doting admirer in David, a shy boy planning to become a writer who appears to be charmed by Jenny's bohemian, pseudo intellectual ways.
David makes the mistake of introducing Jenny to his wacko ex-roommate Alan, one of those guys who is apparently irresistible to women. Alan is better, or at least more dramatic, looking than David. He also appears strongly inclined towards a criminal career, which probably makes him a 'bad boy'. In any case Alan moves in on Jenny, posing nude for her and dragging her off to 'adventures' in the woods. For some strange reason this dysfunctional group becomes a threesome, with Alan and Jenny tormenting David with their romantic activities. I have never seen a crueler scene in a film than when Alan asks David to give him and Jenny 15 minutes alone while they are walking back to their car from an adventure in an abandoned house where something nasty took place in the past involving a good son and a prodigal son.
At this point sunshine temporarily enters this dreary film as Alan sets up David with Elise (Estella Warren) a big, funny, sexy girl who originally thinks Alan is asking her out, but manages to respond well when she discovers she has made a date with David instead. Many people have disparaged Estella Warren as an actress, but in the scene in the café with David when she realizes he is her date, Estella Warren does more acting using her face alone than Rachel Leigh Cook does in the entire film. Watching Warren's look change from disappointment to embarrassment to pity to sympathy in the space of a minute shows a genuine sense of how human emotions work. Later as Elise and David walk and talk, Elise's self deprecating humor and ability to poke gentle fun at David's pretensions mark her as a keeper, at least to me.
(Spoiler alert) Instead of thanking his lucky stars that a girl like Elise would be interested in him, David remains obsessed with Jenny. Jenny catches Alan and Elise together in flagrante delicto (apparently like Ado Annie, Elise is a girl who can't say no), causing Jenny to throw a monumental, but very arty, hissy fit. This serves to draw David and Jenny together, especially after Alan is arrested for possession with intent to distribute.
Alan is convinced that Jenny set him up, out of jealousy,and he plots his revenge during his year in prison. Turns out however, that David is not quite the wimp he appears to be. He used Elise to set up Alan and then turns in Alan so he can have the rebounding Jenny to himself.
Everything culminates a year or so later in the abandoned house where David shoots Alan, either to protect himself and Jenny (the official version), or from anger (the apparent true version) because as he says, "After all I did for her, she still wanted the a**hole". At least at this point most men in the audience will feel sympathy with David.
The one thing that kept going through my mind while watching Tangled was that if Rachel Leigh Cook's Lanie Boggs from "She's all That" had gone off to college convinced that she was now attractive to boys she would have grown into the neurotic, annoying Jenny Kelly she plays in this film. Like Lanie, Jenny is pretentious, arty, and self involved. She does however have a doting admirer in David, a shy boy planning to become a writer who appears to be charmed by Jenny's bohemian, pseudo intellectual ways.
David makes the mistake of introducing Jenny to his wacko ex-roommate Alan, one of those guys who is apparently irresistible to women. Alan is better, or at least more dramatic, looking than David. He also appears strongly inclined towards a criminal career, which probably makes him a 'bad boy'. In any case Alan moves in on Jenny, posing nude for her and dragging her off to 'adventures' in the woods. For some strange reason this dysfunctional group becomes a threesome, with Alan and Jenny tormenting David with their romantic activities. I have never seen a crueler scene in a film than when Alan asks David to give him and Jenny 15 minutes alone while they are walking back to their car from an adventure in an abandoned house where something nasty took place in the past involving a good son and a prodigal son.
At this point sunshine temporarily enters this dreary film as Alan sets up David with Elise (Estella Warren) a big, funny, sexy girl who originally thinks Alan is asking her out, but manages to respond well when she discovers she has made a date with David instead. Many people have disparaged Estella Warren as an actress, but in the scene in the café with David when she realizes he is her date, Estella Warren does more acting using her face alone than Rachel Leigh Cook does in the entire film. Watching Warren's look change from disappointment to embarrassment to pity to sympathy in the space of a minute shows a genuine sense of how human emotions work. Later as Elise and David walk and talk, Elise's self deprecating humor and ability to poke gentle fun at David's pretensions mark her as a keeper, at least to me.
(Spoiler alert) Instead of thanking his lucky stars that a girl like Elise would be interested in him, David remains obsessed with Jenny. Jenny catches Alan and Elise together in flagrante delicto (apparently like Ado Annie, Elise is a girl who can't say no), causing Jenny to throw a monumental, but very arty, hissy fit. This serves to draw David and Jenny together, especially after Alan is arrested for possession with intent to distribute.
Alan is convinced that Jenny set him up, out of jealousy,and he plots his revenge during his year in prison. Turns out however, that David is not quite the wimp he appears to be. He used Elise to set up Alan and then turns in Alan so he can have the rebounding Jenny to himself.
Everything culminates a year or so later in the abandoned house where David shoots Alan, either to protect himself and Jenny (the official version), or from anger (the apparent true version) because as he says, "After all I did for her, she still wanted the a**hole". At least at this point most men in the audience will feel sympathy with David.