I admit this movie is silly, unnecessary, and throwaway. I still laughed in a lot of places. I also groaned in a few places too. Example: When Paul Coleman (Jason Lee) found Becky's (Julia Stiles) panties when his fiance was on the way over, he searched all over the apartment for a place to hide them, ultimately hiding them in the toilet. You knew what was going to happen, and what did happen. Also, there was a running joke about pictures of Becky and Paul, which we never got to see, being found by a minister's son, who also happened to live in the same apartment building. The son kept finding the pictures and the minister kept bringing them back. *sigh*.

The tale is a bit hackneyed as well. Girl and guy are prepared to be married, seemingly the perfect couple. Guy meets another girl, girl meets another guy, everyone wonders what's wrong with this picture; guess how it all turns out? SURPRISE!!! NOT!!!

In spite of a re-tread plot, and in spite of the groans, there were places that this movie was creative and humorous; not many, but enough that I felt that watching the movie wasn't a complete waste of time. I felt a bit guilty watching this movie because I knew the premise had been done (and done, and done), and many of the jokes were weak, and yet, I like the movie. I think that one thing that really saved this movie was Julia Stiles. She really is not centrally involved in all the happenings, occasionally appearing aloof, and she manages to escape this movie leaving everyone watching with a positive impression. Julia saves this movie from being a waste of time. I look for Julia to get better parts and bigger roles in the future.

I won't go so far out on the limb as to give this movie any more than 3 stars (and perhaps a low three at that). Watch the movie for the interaction of everyone with Julia Stiles, and accept the groans as payment for watching those interactions.

The movie is about Paul. Paul is an ad salesmen who is getting ready to be married in one week to Karen. He works for her father, Ken, and he is ready for his bachlor party which is being thrown by his brother Pete, and his friend Jim. The entertainment for the party are hula girls, and among them is Becky. Paul gives his groom hat to Jim, and the next mourning he finds himself in bed with Becky, because she doesn't know that he is the groom to be. Paul doesn't remember what happened between the two, rushes Becky out, and then finds Karen coming in seconds later. This begins a seris of lies that start by Jim telling him never to tell Karen what happened between him and Becky. The problem really starts at a dinner party with Paul's parents, Karen's parents, her Aunt Budge, and Karen's cousin who happens to be Becky. Paul has to have Becky assure him that she will never tell anybody anything about what may or may not have happened between them, but the situations gets complicated when Becky's crazy cop ex-boyfriend and gets jealous of him. As Paul's wedding day comes closer and closer, he tries to cover up everything that he lied about, so that this whole thing could end.

"A Guy Thing" is a pretty good movie, but has the ability to make it be better. It follows the three rules for a romantic comedy.

1)The main characters best friend needs to be the dumbest person in the cast.
2)There always has to be one character that knows everything that is going on.
3)The main character's othr half is always clueless until the end.

Those three things are in every romantic comedy including "A Guy Thing." It is alright for movies to be different. I enjoyed the movie and it was a great way to spead an hour and a half. It was funny, smart, it was well acted, and it had some original material, but other than that it was the same old thing. "A Guy Thing" was in the theatre, and I saw it there, but this movie is better to watch on DVD.

ENJOY!

Rated PG-13 for language, crude humor, some sexual content and drug references.

Yes the first thing you will notice is that this is formula. The whole reason we pick a genera is because we like to see variations on a formula; who can do it better and what different twist can be placed in the story and keep it on track. If this had been played with some actor that had to rely on past films reputations like Adam Sandler the film would not work.

My favorite scene was the one where Paul (with a strait face) tells Karen that the panties (obviously used) she is holding came from a bin at a discount store. She dials up the store for verification.

One added plus to the movie is Larry Miller as Minister Ferris who knew or suspected everything and could not tell. See him again when he can really branch out in "Radioland Murders" (1994) and "Undercover Blues" (1993).