Crimes:
—
Casting the half-lidded, frozen-faced Paris Hilton as an idyllic beauty who
refuses to date any man until her hairy, dentally challenged friend Christine
Lakin finds love
—
Reducing "ugliness" to the kind of easily fixed cosmetic problems—a mole
here, an ingrown toenail there—that someone as beauty-conscious as
Hilton's character should've helped Lakin take care of years ago
—
Offering as a male romantic lead a dopey slacker (played by Joel David Moore)
who's really as much of a "nottie" as anyone else in the film
— Continually using the word "nottie" as though
it's an actual thing
Defender: Producer Hadeel Reda, recorded in one
commentary with screenwriter Heidi Ferrer, and in another with Moore and Lakin
(but not, notably, Paris Hilton)
Tone of commentary: Delusional. Moore says he
wouldn't have taken his role unless the characters in the film were "smart,"
which he apparently—and unaccountably—judged them to be. Completely
in thrall to the team-player spirit of Hollywood indies, Moore and Lakin praise
Ferrer's insights into the culture of the superficial, and talk at length about
their motivations from scene to scene. ("Does she know that I'm lying?" Moore
wonders, in all seriousness, about Hilton's character. "Does she care?") Reda
also oohs and aahs over Ferrer's comic genius. while making belated suggestions
for how the movie might've been even funnier. Her big idea is that when Hilton
says to Moore, "A life without orgasms is like a world without flowers," Moore
should've handed her a flower. (Ferrer politely agrees that would've been
neat.) And at one point, while Lakin's character is picking at her infected
toenail on a date, Reda has a moment of clarity and wonders, "Why didn't you
just cover your feet?" Isn't that the kind of question she should've asked
before they started shooting?
