Ryan Woodman (Shane West) and Maggie Carter (Marla Sokoloff) are best friends and neighbors. Floyd (Aaron Paul) is their slacker friend. Ryan is obsessed with high school goddess Ashley Grant (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe). Big man on campus Chris Campbell (James Franco) wants to get the one he can't get, the virginal enigmatic Maggie. So he needs Ryan to Cyrano DeBergerac for him. In return he proposes to do the same for Ryan with his cousin Ashley.
The biggest problem is that Shane West is way too good looking for the loser role. They need somebody much more geeky, and a bad haircut really doesn't make it. It's nothing offensive, but it just can't rise above the clichés. It's obvious where this is going, and it has an uncomfortable time getting there.
Whatever It Takes
2000
Action / Comedy / Drama / Romance
Whatever It Takes
2000
Action / Comedy / Drama / Romance
16% - Critics
45% - Audience
5.5Plot summary
Ryan (Shane West) is a bit of a geek with eyes for the school sex bomb, Ashley (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe),which induces cringing in his neighbor and best friend, Maggie (Marla Sokoloff),a cute intellectual girl. But popular jock Chris (James Franco) has his eye on Maggie, and he offers to help Ryan win Ashley if Ryan will help Chris with Maggie. So begins a two-headed variation on Cyrano de Bergerac; Ryan composes soulful e-mails for Chris, and Chris advises Ryan to treat Ashley like dirt, which seems to be the only way to get her attention. At first, neither finds it easy to change their ways; Chris comes on too strong, and Ryan is too nervous to be a jerk. But as they start to succeed, Ryan begins to see Maggie in a new light and wonders if he's pursuing the right girl. He realizes Ashley is not meant for him, and tries to convince Maggie about Chris's affection for her. Maggie is reluctant to take him "back" at first, but then realizes Ryan has a change of heart.
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Shane West too good looking for loser role
Another Very Predictable and Full of Clichés, But Funny, Teen Movie
Ryan Woodman (Shane West) and Maggie Carter (Marla Sokoloff) are neighbors and best friends. Ryan is a very sensible guy, his nerd friends are very weird and has a crush in Ashley Grant (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe). Ashley is a shallow but popular, beautiful and sexy girl in their high school. Her cousin Chris Campbell (James Franco) is a brainless and dumb American football player, who wants to have a date with Maggie. Ryan and Chris make a deal: each one of them will introduce and help the other to be with the girl of their dreams. This movie is so predictable that around six minutes of story I could foresee the end. The story is full of clichés, but there are some funny (but also expected) situations. The teen cast is not bad and in the end it becomes a reasonable and forgettable entertaining. My vote is six.
Title (Brazil): `Correndo Atrás' (`Running After')
It Takes a Motif
Hunky, handsome Shane West (as Ryan Woodman) thinks he's a "nerd". Mr. West persuades popular James Franco (as Chris Campbell) to help him get into sexy Jodi Lyn O'Keefe (as Ashley Grant); in return for Mr. Franco's assistance in seducing West's sweet 'n' sexy neighbor, Marla Sokoloff (as Maggie Carter). Think
"Cyrano de Bergerac!" Eventually, Franco strips to his thong, and gets tied up. All of these characters act like they are in high school
and they ARE in high school. Obviously, they have been kept back a few years. You could laugh along with them, if they did anything funny. So, how is West able to sleep at night with someone like Ms. Sokoloff that close? And, visa versa...
I'd be up all night.
** Whatever It Takes (3/31/00) David Raynr ~ Shane West, Marla Sokoloff, James Franco, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe