I know this film got terrible reviews and I would be hard pressed to say they were wrong but the truth is its kind of fun on a silly trashy level. First off Mia Kirshner is always good (Even here!) and Taye Diggs is totally unbelievable as a campus cop with or without the accent, it comes and goes. And there is sex, drugs, and nudity. Dominique Swain gets naked here and engages in lesbian sex. I also enjoyed the use of sound and music as its not used to be obnoxious but rather to enhance the mood of the scene. Is it junk? Sure! but I had a fun time and went with it.
37 Reviews
Not so bad.
insomniac_rod10 December 2010
Feels like "Cruel Intentions" but spicier. Mia Kirshner was the reason for me to watch the movie. I'm in lust with her. She's physically perfect. Her sexy acting in this movie is great. She even has a steamy but brief sex scene. I got all the Mia I wanted.
I terms of plot, it's very decent. It's one of those teen intriguing thrillers that deals with revenge, envy, sex, etc. The things you are used to live in high school. Heck, even a cop gets in the middle.
Taye Digss's accent has become some sort of cult classic.
I found this movie to be morbid but interesting. That's enough to fit in the teenage 2000's cinema. Don't expect a great plot but it should please your hunger for the "Cruel Intentions" type of movies.
I terms of plot, it's very decent. It's one of those teen intriguing thrillers that deals with revenge, envy, sex, etc. The things you are used to live in high school. Heck, even a cop gets in the middle.
Taye Digss's accent has become some sort of cult classic.
I found this movie to be morbid but interesting. That's enough to fit in the teenage 2000's cinema. Don't expect a great plot but it should please your hunger for the "Cruel Intentions" type of movies.
This Was a Pretty Good Movie.....
Bello-45 June 2005
I think that those who rated this movie as a really bad movie just expected to much. I mean this was released direct to home video, so that should say something right out of the video store. This movie is what it is, a simple mystery movie, a simple click movie about taking in a nobody and making her a somebody and then regretting your decision when it comes back to haunt you. Towards the end I really felt sad for Hadley (Meredith Monroe) and could totally see why she did what she did. She built her lab partner, with good intentions mind you, from nothing into a resultant someone, and watched basically as she took her life away from her, all not meaning to do so....
Now would this movie have made it in the theaters? No, I don't think so. But considering the usual quality of movies that go directly to video, this is one of the better ones.
Bello
Now would this movie have made it in the theaters? No, I don't think so. But considering the usual quality of movies that go directly to video, this is one of the better ones.
Bello
Trashy yet significantly better than average!
spiritedbree1028 May 2005
I would have to disagree on most of the user comments on this movie. Most insist it is a piece of trash, not worth viewing. And yes perhaps they're right about the trashy part but in my humble opinion, New Best Friend is in the same kind of league as 90210 - entertaining trash that as much as we hate to admit it, we actually find ourselves engrossed in.
Yes, the story is unoriginal and the script poor but the performances by the key actors are good enough to keep viewers interested. Mia Kirsher (Exotica, The Crow:City of Angels) delivers a stellar performance despite the bad material she was given to work with. An actress of her calibre should be choosing better parts in significantly better movies but I'm willing to forgive her for making one bad decision (but that's only because personally I didn't find New Best Friend a complete waste of my time). Meridith Monroe, Dominique Swain and Rachel True are all effective in their roles however one bad performance has to come from Taye Diggs as the officer in charge of investigating Alicia's (Kirsher) overdose which has suspicious circumstances. Diggs usually turns in fine performances but in New Best Friend he just looks bored. Perhaps that's due to the lack of good material he had to work with.
Overall I found New Best Friend to be an entertaining movie. Sure there was a lot of things wrong with it and it certainly won't go down as one of my favourite films of the year but it succeeds for what it is - great trash!
Yes, the story is unoriginal and the script poor but the performances by the key actors are good enough to keep viewers interested. Mia Kirsher (Exotica, The Crow:City of Angels) delivers a stellar performance despite the bad material she was given to work with. An actress of her calibre should be choosing better parts in significantly better movies but I'm willing to forgive her for making one bad decision (but that's only because personally I didn't find New Best Friend a complete waste of my time). Meridith Monroe, Dominique Swain and Rachel True are all effective in their roles however one bad performance has to come from Taye Diggs as the officer in charge of investigating Alicia's (Kirsher) overdose which has suspicious circumstances. Diggs usually turns in fine performances but in New Best Friend he just looks bored. Perhaps that's due to the lack of good material he had to work with.
Overall I found New Best Friend to be an entertaining movie. Sure there was a lot of things wrong with it and it certainly won't go down as one of my favourite films of the year but it succeeds for what it is - great trash!
Cruelly Intentional and a bit of a Wild Thing, but not a bad movie
TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews25 May 2005
This film may be a bit derivative of the two titles I hint at in my one-line summary, but it by no means a truly bad film. It's a tad misdirected, somewhat dragged out and definitely not all-around well-acted, but it is not bad movie. I won't claim I watched this for any other reason than the fact that it features some of the hottest young actresses in newer times, but I will make a point of what happened when I sat down to watch it. I didn't take my eyes off the screen. I didn't get up for a minute or two, and I never really felt like I was wasting time by watching it. For a while, the last couple of weeks, I have had trouble finding a film that really got my attention and kept it. Not since watching Requiem For a Dream have I been following a film so intensely. I didn't want to miss a thing watching this movie, and that says a lot, considering my almost ADD-like short attention span. The plot is not particularly original, but it is interesting. The pacing is mostly good, but around the middle and near the end, it seems to slow down, in order to drag out the material in order to reach the minimum limit for the length of a feature film, something that really hurts the film(it probably should have been a short... or maybe there should have been written more story or more characters). The acting isn't all good, but the four leads give good performances(even Meredith Monroe of Dawson's Creek fame... who saw that coming?). The twists and plot developments are interesting, but the mystery of who committed the crime is almost impossible to solve for the viewer until the very end, where it's revealed. Even worse, it makes said mystery seem very simple, since it turned out to be the very person I suspected from the very beginning. The non-linear time-line works fairly well, but it does get somewhat confusing in several parts, because it's not perfectly clear if we're seeing a flashback or something that goes on 'right now'. There is a fair amount of sex and drug use in this film, so it's not for the easily offended or the faint of heart. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I believe most people will too, if they give it a chance. I recommend this to fans of the genre, and I urge anyone watching it to give it a fair chance to win you over. It's uneven, but it's not a bad film. 6/10
Flat unengaging thriller
hippyhibby22 March 2005
Warning: Spoilers
Interesting idea and storyline which didn't quite work.
When you see the film, maybe you will feel as dissatisfied with the ending as I did. I didn't really know who to root for in the movie, Taye Diggs looked bored as the detective, the rest of the characters seem so one-dimensional and unpleasant.
If the victim Alicia(Mia Kirschner) had been more of a nice girl, we might actually have enjoyed seeing the plot unfold and the perpetrator brought to justice. The problem was that she was as bitchy as the other girls, turning from sweet girl to conniving opportunistic cokehead. I can't understand the moral message of this film, and as a detective story and thriller it doesn't work.
When you see the film, maybe you will feel as dissatisfied with the ending as I did. I didn't really know who to root for in the movie, Taye Diggs looked bored as the detective, the rest of the characters seem so one-dimensional and unpleasant.
If the victim Alicia(Mia Kirschner) had been more of a nice girl, we might actually have enjoyed seeing the plot unfold and the perpetrator brought to justice. The problem was that she was as bitchy as the other girls, turning from sweet girl to conniving opportunistic cokehead. I can't understand the moral message of this film, and as a detective story and thriller it doesn't work.
Not as bad as you might think...
VelmaKelly133 April 2003
Warning: Spoilers
Spoilers Herein
Not at all a bad movie - with decent acting by the four leads: Meredith Monroe ("Dawson's Creek" and "Minority Report), Mira Kirshner ("Not Another Teen Movie"), Dominique Swain ("The Smokers"), and Rachel True (frequent guest-star on "The Drew Carey Show"). Mira Kirshner is perfect as Alicia, the good girl outcast turned bad. She is great in the scenes with Hadley's father. Dominique Swain gives a good performance as Sydnee, the bisexual and deeply troubled and angry teenager. Meredith Monroe is believable as the "queen bee" of her clique. Taye Diggs ("Chicago") is horrible and not believable for a second as the sheriff investigating Alicia's overdose on cocaine.
This is a script that a talented high-school student could pull off - nothing special. But this movie is not so bad. The combination of the believable acting and directing make this movie almost good. This is definitely a girl movie - directed by a woman, written by a woman, produced by a woman, casted by women, and about women.
Watch this movie - it's refreshing after the stream of bad, bad movies like "Crossroads", "Not Another Teen Movie", "The Smokers", and "American Pie 2".
Not at all a bad movie - with decent acting by the four leads: Meredith Monroe ("Dawson's Creek" and "Minority Report), Mira Kirshner ("Not Another Teen Movie"), Dominique Swain ("The Smokers"), and Rachel True (frequent guest-star on "The Drew Carey Show"). Mira Kirshner is perfect as Alicia, the good girl outcast turned bad. She is great in the scenes with Hadley's father. Dominique Swain gives a good performance as Sydnee, the bisexual and deeply troubled and angry teenager. Meredith Monroe is believable as the "queen bee" of her clique. Taye Diggs ("Chicago") is horrible and not believable for a second as the sheriff investigating Alicia's overdose on cocaine.
This is a script that a talented high-school student could pull off - nothing special. But this movie is not so bad. The combination of the believable acting and directing make this movie almost good. This is definitely a girl movie - directed by a woman, written by a woman, produced by a woman, casted by women, and about women.
Watch this movie - it's refreshing after the stream of bad, bad movies like "Crossroads", "Not Another Teen Movie", "The Smokers", and "American Pie 2".
A hoot
sbatten196914 April 2002
This is the story of the investigation of a drug overdose by a college senior, played by Mia Kirshner. Did her "friends" from an exclusive rich girl sorority have anything to do with her untimely OD? Unfortunately, Alicia can't help explain things because she's in a near-death coma for the entire movie, so the story is told in flashback.
Kirshner's character came from the wrong side of the tracks, so she would ordinarily have no business associating with the well-to-do sorority girls played by Meredith Monroe, Dominique Swain and Rachel True (looking much like the "Clueless" trio updated to college age). But a chance sociology assignment throws her in with the rich set, and the less fortunate girl spends much of her time fretting about financial aid to pay for law school.
The cause of drug overdose is the central mystery. Was Kirshner's character not the "innocent, goody-goody" poor girl that she was made out to be, and did she bring this fate upon herself? Or did the rich girls have it out for this supposed "friend" but rapid rival (for both boys' and girls' attention), and did they push her into the dangerous situation? The audience may come to feel that it is a combination of both factors that led to accident -- or was it a crime?
I know that this movie is not being well-received by critics, but I think that's because the reviewers are taking it much too seriously. (The movie takes itself a little seriously as well, but that doesn't mean that you have to.) Think "Wild Things" with less intentional humor -- the laughs in "New Best Friend" do not seem to be intended by the director/writer. I would especially recommend it for boys or girls under 17 -- sneak into the theater if you have to; it could become a cult classic by the time you reach college....
Kirshner's character came from the wrong side of the tracks, so she would ordinarily have no business associating with the well-to-do sorority girls played by Meredith Monroe, Dominique Swain and Rachel True (looking much like the "Clueless" trio updated to college age). But a chance sociology assignment throws her in with the rich set, and the less fortunate girl spends much of her time fretting about financial aid to pay for law school.
The cause of drug overdose is the central mystery. Was Kirshner's character not the "innocent, goody-goody" poor girl that she was made out to be, and did she bring this fate upon herself? Or did the rich girls have it out for this supposed "friend" but rapid rival (for both boys' and girls' attention), and did they push her into the dangerous situation? The audience may come to feel that it is a combination of both factors that led to accident -- or was it a crime?
I know that this movie is not being well-received by critics, but I think that's because the reviewers are taking it much too seriously. (The movie takes itself a little seriously as well, but that doesn't mean that you have to.) Think "Wild Things" with less intentional humor -- the laughs in "New Best Friend" do not seem to be intended by the director/writer. I would especially recommend it for boys or girls under 17 -- sneak into the theater if you have to; it could become a cult classic by the time you reach college....
While sometimes tedious to decipher, still mildly entertaining.
madmagemc13 May 2003
One could certainly make the statement 'why should we care' about this film, and perhaps one should have posed that question to the director. Very little attention was paid, it seems, to anything which might endear any of this film's characters to the viewer. While the four female leads are intended to flutter between victim and villain as the story progresses, the performances ring hollow, contrived, and ultimately fall short of what I would hope started as a grand study of human sociology. Indeed this idea is suggested by their forced cooperation on a senior year project. Again, one is left with the feeling of too many tongs in the fire, and not enough hands to mind them.
While great pains are taken to show the villainy of Alicia Campbell (Mia Kirschner), the final upshot of all her ill deeds struck me as not only rediculous, but totally unfeasable, unattainable, and illogical. The broad strokes used to bring conclusion to the film failed to deflty weave together the many loose threads, instead preferring to shelack them to the table in an effort to prevent their fluttering away. It was nice to see the sidekick from "The Craft" continuing to make a name for herself as an out of control socialite.
Thankfully this film was not terribly long, although the music was surprisingly good. I'm still not sure why the director felt it was necessary to pepper the film with gratuitous breast shots, increasing in frequency as the film progress. My only thought is they began to suspect the film was failing as a concept piece, and chose the lowest common denominator for salvation.
Whatever your take on it, this film is still moderately entertaining, even if the ideology behind it has been beaten like a narc at a biker rally.
While great pains are taken to show the villainy of Alicia Campbell (Mia Kirschner), the final upshot of all her ill deeds struck me as not only rediculous, but totally unfeasable, unattainable, and illogical. The broad strokes used to bring conclusion to the film failed to deflty weave together the many loose threads, instead preferring to shelack them to the table in an effort to prevent their fluttering away. It was nice to see the sidekick from "The Craft" continuing to make a name for herself as an out of control socialite.
Thankfully this film was not terribly long, although the music was surprisingly good. I'm still not sure why the director felt it was necessary to pepper the film with gratuitous breast shots, increasing in frequency as the film progress. My only thought is they began to suspect the film was failing as a concept piece, and chose the lowest common denominator for salvation.
Whatever your take on it, this film is still moderately entertaining, even if the ideology behind it has been beaten like a narc at a biker rally.
The good kind of movies
missmuchachos15 May 2004
A lot of people told me about this movie before I finally got the time to see it. I really LOVED it! The story, all mixed up, is incredibly well directed. This is the story of a crime/accident/overdose that happened in a rich College School. A young brilliant poor student who tried to fit in with the rich chicks of her school... an overdose that first looked like an accident. That looked like a suicide. But did anyone mentioned that maybe it would be a murder? EVERYTHING in that movie was SIMPLY PERFECT, the confusion, that way they managed to keep you wondering, the music. Everything!! Of course, if all you do is looking for sex scenes, you'll be disappointed. There are erotic sex scenes but if all you do is looking for a big pair of boobs jumping out of the screen, i think you'd better look for something else... something more brainless. I'm telling you, New Best Friend is one of the BEST MOVIES I've ever seen!!!
Great movie!!! I love Mia Kirshner
stuart718572 December 2005
This was a surprisingly wonderful, but tragic movie. Mia Kirshner is an underrated actress and a gorgeous woman to boot. The entire cast turned in good performances. Mia Kirshner has always surprised me in her roles. It doesn't seem to matter what she is portraying. It can be a drug addicted college girl that is just trying to fit in with everyone else. It can be a highly paid free-lance assassin on TV's "Twenty-four". Does anyone remember the movie she made in which a man is fantasizing about her being a stripper, but I believe she was actually just a girl next door type person? I only saw the last few minutes of it and I have forgotten the title entirely.
Something to be studied...
surenm4 September 2002
I decided to watch a few "Indy" flicks on DTV the other day, "My New Best Friend" ended up being one of them. Needless to say, I didn't watch this movie for any chicks or dudes or Taye Diggs. First off, this movie is something cinema majors, film students, culture critics, and porn directors and producers should watch, everyone else should pretty much avoid it unless you're a high school student about to go away to some small college in some small town in near an ocean. Basically, the film intrigued me to the point of being dumb-founded enough to watch it all the way through. I was glad I did, because in the end the film at least makes linear sense and the story achieves some kind of closure and logic.
What I think is most peculiar is the fact that everyone is noticeably too old to be playing college kids. All the lead characters and most of the supports are basically actors in their early 30's trying to play 18 and 19 year olds. This is funny because reading IMDB profiles you'd think these people were actually 20 and 21 but in L.A. we all know better. This is a great example of bad casting, simply because there are 30 year olds that can play 18, and there are 26 year olds who can't, this film employs the later as opposed to the former.
The other interesting thing is the strange homoerotic almost misogynistic attitude the director takes with the sex scenes and relationships. When I saw the film I imagined some big burly very masculine male porn director type doing the directing, but instead it was very strange to find out the director was a woman. It's also interesting to note that although the film tries to market itself to a college, high school demographic based purely on female sex appeal, it fails as well because of its general B nature, lack of even soft-core sex, and unrecognized names.
So I thought, how could this movie have been improved? Then it dawned on me why it was so perfect! It wasn't really a drama or a failed unintentional comedy, it is a very A type porn! Someone simply forgot to tell everyone the sex scenes were supposed to be real and hardcore, and the movie was supposed to be distributed by Vivid or Wicked Pictures and play on the 590's (for those that don't know, those are the porn channels on DTV). Anyway, I think it's good to study this film as a model for the future of A list porn, a story with a solid beginning and end that makes good sense and rewards you slightly at the end, but has no real substance at all or meaning, yet instead, contains just the right amount of sex, if it was hardcore in the first place, this film would be making millions, at Adult Bookstores that is.
What I think is most peculiar is the fact that everyone is noticeably too old to be playing college kids. All the lead characters and most of the supports are basically actors in their early 30's trying to play 18 and 19 year olds. This is funny because reading IMDB profiles you'd think these people were actually 20 and 21 but in L.A. we all know better. This is a great example of bad casting, simply because there are 30 year olds that can play 18, and there are 26 year olds who can't, this film employs the later as opposed to the former.
The other interesting thing is the strange homoerotic almost misogynistic attitude the director takes with the sex scenes and relationships. When I saw the film I imagined some big burly very masculine male porn director type doing the directing, but instead it was very strange to find out the director was a woman. It's also interesting to note that although the film tries to market itself to a college, high school demographic based purely on female sex appeal, it fails as well because of its general B nature, lack of even soft-core sex, and unrecognized names.
So I thought, how could this movie have been improved? Then it dawned on me why it was so perfect! It wasn't really a drama or a failed unintentional comedy, it is a very A type porn! Someone simply forgot to tell everyone the sex scenes were supposed to be real and hardcore, and the movie was supposed to be distributed by Vivid or Wicked Pictures and play on the 590's (for those that don't know, those are the porn channels on DTV). Anyway, I think it's good to study this film as a model for the future of A list porn, a story with a solid beginning and end that makes good sense and rewards you slightly at the end, but has no real substance at all or meaning, yet instead, contains just the right amount of sex, if it was hardcore in the first place, this film would be making millions, at Adult Bookstores that is.
Not much of a mystery but a decent movie
hall89520 October 2014
Alicia Campbell is a good girl. Coming from a poor family this sweet, hard-working girl is focused on her education, determined to make something of her life. Hadley Ashton is a bad girl. Coming from a rich family this cold, bitchy girl doesn't want to work, she expects to have life handed to her on a silver platter. The two girls attend one of those colleges where the college runs the town. The college president makes this perfectly clear when the acting sheriff turns up on campus to investigate how sweet little Alicia ended up comatose in a hospital bed, fighting for her life. The president makes it very clear that he expects there to be no actual investigating done in this investigation. But Sheriff Artie Bonner keeps digging.
The movie unfolds largely in flashbacks as we see the oh-so-innocent Alicia lose her innocence which leads to her potentially losing her life. She and Hadley are paired up on a school project. Alicia is a social nobody, Hadley is one of the campus queens. Hadley and her rich, snotty friends take Alicia under their wing. Alicia starts to change. Not so innocent after all perhaps. Drugs and sex, and more drugs and more sex and what exactly has Alicia gotten herself into? Eventually she overdoses on cocaine. Accident? Hadley and her friends would like you to believe that. The college president would definitely like you to believe that. The sheriff does not believe that.
The movie sets Hadley and her two main cohorts, Sidney and Julianne, up as potential suspects, giving them each motivations for perhaps wanting to be rid of Alicia. Some other fringe characters get involved too but the focus is clearly on this gang of three. Truth be told this is not a particularly mysterious mystery. Those watching will probably put all the pieces of the puzzle together long before the sheriff does. The hint of obviousness drains away some of the drama but that doesn't necessarily make New Best Friend a bad movie. It's far from the greatest thing you'll ever see but it's reasonably compelling. Trashy but entertainingly so. Mia Kirshner turns in a very good performance in playing Alicia. The character evolves, not necessarily for the best, and Kirshner nails the transformation. You believe her as the sweet, innocent girl we first meet. And you believe her as the girl who ultimately proves to be something else entirely. The rest of the cast is not quite up to Kirshner's standard. Meredith Monroe is a little flat in playing ice queen Hadley, neither Dominique Swain nor Rachel True are particularly memorable in playing our other two would-be murderesses. And playing the sheriff Taye Diggs just appears to be going through the motions. A flawed movie to be sure but there are enough good things here, Kirshner most notably, to make it a decent viewing experience. Not a movie you'd regret missing if you didn't see it. But not a movie you'd regret seeing if you did.
The movie unfolds largely in flashbacks as we see the oh-so-innocent Alicia lose her innocence which leads to her potentially losing her life. She and Hadley are paired up on a school project. Alicia is a social nobody, Hadley is one of the campus queens. Hadley and her rich, snotty friends take Alicia under their wing. Alicia starts to change. Not so innocent after all perhaps. Drugs and sex, and more drugs and more sex and what exactly has Alicia gotten herself into? Eventually she overdoses on cocaine. Accident? Hadley and her friends would like you to believe that. The college president would definitely like you to believe that. The sheriff does not believe that.
The movie sets Hadley and her two main cohorts, Sidney and Julianne, up as potential suspects, giving them each motivations for perhaps wanting to be rid of Alicia. Some other fringe characters get involved too but the focus is clearly on this gang of three. Truth be told this is not a particularly mysterious mystery. Those watching will probably put all the pieces of the puzzle together long before the sheriff does. The hint of obviousness drains away some of the drama but that doesn't necessarily make New Best Friend a bad movie. It's far from the greatest thing you'll ever see but it's reasonably compelling. Trashy but entertainingly so. Mia Kirshner turns in a very good performance in playing Alicia. The character evolves, not necessarily for the best, and Kirshner nails the transformation. You believe her as the sweet, innocent girl we first meet. And you believe her as the girl who ultimately proves to be something else entirely. The rest of the cast is not quite up to Kirshner's standard. Meredith Monroe is a little flat in playing ice queen Hadley, neither Dominique Swain nor Rachel True are particularly memorable in playing our other two would-be murderesses. And playing the sheriff Taye Diggs just appears to be going through the motions. A flawed movie to be sure but there are enough good things here, Kirshner most notably, to make it a decent viewing experience. Not a movie you'd regret missing if you didn't see it. But not a movie you'd regret seeing if you did.
Cut Them Some Slack - New Best Friend Rocks
danceability-14 December 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Cut Them Some Slack - New Best Friend Rocks! As both a big fan of this movie and a film student, I feel that critics have been quick to judge this film as bad trash. This film has a sexy edge to it, that many other films in the "teen film" genre dare to exhibit. New Best Friend fullfills a fantasy for those girls who secretly desire to live dangerously and party every night, without it actually becoming a reality. The house is every girl's dream, and these girls are alluring and suavely tempting. The acting is far from terrible, and it was great to see Meredith Monroe in a more sophisticated and darker role than her role as Andie in Dawson's Creek. Dominique Swain once again puts in an A+ effort for her role as the cheeky deviant Sydney. For anyone who loved films like Tart and Cruel intentions,this is the film for you.
Actors: Taye Diggs, Mia Kirshner, Meredith Monroe, Dominique Swain, Scott Bairstow, Rachel True.
danceability-1, Amsterdam Holland
Actors: Taye Diggs, Mia Kirshner, Meredith Monroe, Dominique Swain, Scott Bairstow, Rachel True.
danceability-1, Amsterdam Holland
A who-done-it mystery well acted but with an unpolished feel.
bmcbride-215 May 2003
I caught this movie on HBO Signature and almost turned it off after the first 10 minutes, but then I got caught up in some of the interesting performances of the actors. The movie is a not-so-surprising who-done-it involving a college girl who overdoses under suspicious circumstances surrounding her new bad-girl friends.
The plot line is solid though not hugely interesting or imaginative. What kept me watching this movie were the performances of Taye Diggs and Meredith Monroe. This is one of those movies where the characters could easily fall into cliche: black cop with an attitude in a rich college kid town; rich bitch girl who's daddy does not understand her.
Some of the credit might have to go to the scipt, but Taye Diggs is just great in putting a Gary-Cooper manner into his character of the Sheriff, giving him far more depth than you'd expect from this movie. It was impressive the way that the character was played as completely indifferent to the obvious racial juxtapositioning.
Meredith Monroe is absolutely terrific in this movie. I'd seen her before on Dawson's Creek and never would have suspected she could play a role as subtly brilliant as this one. She never overplays a role that has all the earmarks of a formula character. Monroe is enchanting here and I think she's going to be a star.
Some of the sex scenes seemed out of place in this movie. I don't understand the reason for all the girl-girl kissing and implied sex after the point was made that the central character was not what she seemed. (Other than the obvious, I mean.)
Overall, this movie was not a spell-binder or a must see, but it is absolutely worth watching just for the interesting character portrayals by Taye Diggs and Meredith Monroe.
The plot line is solid though not hugely interesting or imaginative. What kept me watching this movie were the performances of Taye Diggs and Meredith Monroe. This is one of those movies where the characters could easily fall into cliche: black cop with an attitude in a rich college kid town; rich bitch girl who's daddy does not understand her.
Some of the credit might have to go to the scipt, but Taye Diggs is just great in putting a Gary-Cooper manner into his character of the Sheriff, giving him far more depth than you'd expect from this movie. It was impressive the way that the character was played as completely indifferent to the obvious racial juxtapositioning.
Meredith Monroe is absolutely terrific in this movie. I'd seen her before on Dawson's Creek and never would have suspected she could play a role as subtly brilliant as this one. She never overplays a role that has all the earmarks of a formula character. Monroe is enchanting here and I think she's going to be a star.
Some of the sex scenes seemed out of place in this movie. I don't understand the reason for all the girl-girl kissing and implied sex after the point was made that the central character was not what she seemed. (Other than the obvious, I mean.)
Overall, this movie was not a spell-binder or a must see, but it is absolutely worth watching just for the interesting character portrayals by Taye Diggs and Meredith Monroe.
Wrong Substance in Colorful Folder
tedg9 December 2002
Warning: Spoilers
Spoilers herein.
I'm absolutely amazed at how many bad films seem to have had good beginnings. The scriptwriter is a graduate of USC Film School. And while her first script is unimaginative, it has many intelligent notions: the self-reference of the film-within-the film which here cleverly also becomes the fulcrum of the plot; the `Rashomon'-like alternative truths; the murder by failing to act; the device of invented identity (an actor's dream). It even has the literal folding metaphor (in the paper). I believe that this very script with a few adjustments, and in the right hands could have made a very good movie.
But here, the director is so clueless and so unskillful, one's eyes water. I cannot understand why such people expose themselves like she does in her director's commentary. Without that damning commentary, we might blame this on lobotomized studio executives.
But there is some fun to be had here. You can watch many films at three levels at once: the film that is unfurled, the drama that the actors bring from their `real' lives (for instance any Arnie or Wayne movie), and the inference that comes with the actor from prior roles.
This last is the most fun. Ms Doubtfire is really Mork. Julianne always has shades of Yelena, Cate of Elizabeth.
In this case, we have two of the most interesting film girls I know. Dolores Haze (Lolita) already was the center of imagined reality in film even in the novel. Dominica didn't create a deep character -- that's the point -- instead her fey, passionate androgyny gave a face to the fantasy. Wherever she goes in film now, she carries that magic.
Mia Kirshner's fate is more directly cinematic. Possibly the best written film of the 90's was `Exotica' where she plays sort of a folded Lolita, a palliative fantasy. Putting the two on screen together -- regardless of how inepty -- has real power for a filmlover.
Ted's Evaluation: 1 of 4 -- You can probably find something better to do with this part of your life.
I'm absolutely amazed at how many bad films seem to have had good beginnings. The scriptwriter is a graduate of USC Film School. And while her first script is unimaginative, it has many intelligent notions: the self-reference of the film-within-the film which here cleverly also becomes the fulcrum of the plot; the `Rashomon'-like alternative truths; the murder by failing to act; the device of invented identity (an actor's dream). It even has the literal folding metaphor (in the paper). I believe that this very script with a few adjustments, and in the right hands could have made a very good movie.
But here, the director is so clueless and so unskillful, one's eyes water. I cannot understand why such people expose themselves like she does in her director's commentary. Without that damning commentary, we might blame this on lobotomized studio executives.
But there is some fun to be had here. You can watch many films at three levels at once: the film that is unfurled, the drama that the actors bring from their `real' lives (for instance any Arnie or Wayne movie), and the inference that comes with the actor from prior roles.
This last is the most fun. Ms Doubtfire is really Mork. Julianne always has shades of Yelena, Cate of Elizabeth.
In this case, we have two of the most interesting film girls I know. Dolores Haze (Lolita) already was the center of imagined reality in film even in the novel. Dominica didn't create a deep character -- that's the point -- instead her fey, passionate androgyny gave a face to the fantasy. Wherever she goes in film now, she carries that magic.
Mia Kirshner's fate is more directly cinematic. Possibly the best written film of the 90's was `Exotica' where she plays sort of a folded Lolita, a palliative fantasy. Putting the two on screen together -- regardless of how inepty -- has real power for a filmlover.
Ted's Evaluation: 1 of 4 -- You can probably find something better to do with this part of your life.
Uninteresting Whodunit
purpobandit3 April 2003
Not very interesting teen whodunit saved from being a turkey from some decent performances. The main cast consisting of Taye Diggs, Mia Kirshner, Dominique Swain and surprisingly Meredith Monroe are all good but the story is not very original.
Waste of Time
hay_hay24 July 2002
I rented "New Best Friend" hoping for a movie similar to enjoyable teen thrillers such as "Gossip" and "The Curve". Instead, "New Best Friend" is much more like "The In Crowd", in which there are no thrills and the acting is incredibly phony. "New Best Friend" is boring, and the events during the movie are the same. Skip this movie...it's a waste of time.
A lot of money spent on this one, but jerky, TV style direction ensures it doesn't work!
JohnHowardReid16 June 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Confused and confusing who-dun-it filmed in a relentlessly jerky TV style with at least 95% close-ups that make it even more difficult to follow the action. Just about everyone in the whole cast of about ninety people receive a close-up. The viewer has no idea whether they are important to the plot or not. Only the investigator himself and the headmaster – in a much smaller role – make any impression. Even the victim herself is not firmly delineated. Nor are her friends – if they are "friends"! It's impossible to tell who is who! Who are the "good" people and who are the rotten apples? And at the end of the movie, we are just left in a state of complete confusion. In fact, we are even more confused than we were while the plot was jerkily unfolding. Who was the best friend of who? As far as the principle plot and all the sub-plots were concerned, virtually nothing was explained, nothing was made clear. The only plot item that was made quite emphatically was the small and rather insignificant point that the racist headmaster didn't cotton to the sheriff. As a result, the headmaster sought to have the sheriff sacked, and possibly did so – but even this was not made crystal clear!
great
mohamednasraat11 August 2005
this movie is really interesting. it explains how rich parents students pass their time and how other students do for fun. the movie starts when Alicia, who is quite poor and had to struggle with her life, was impressed by higher class or rich students. so when the chance came to her to explore rich life, as a professor asked her to partner Hadley Ashton who is a rich girl. as time goes on Alicia became obsessed by her new experience of doing friendship with the rich girls. she started doing like them binge drinking, taking drugs specially coke, and sleeping with any guy who is interested. so Hadley started to feel like Alicia had stolen her own life as she discovered her flirting with Alicia's bf. and even Mr Ashton, Hadley's father, started to help Alicia. so Hadley tried to get rid of Alicia by fixing her with pure over doze coke. but at the graduation day the young detective discovered the whole story.
S10 Reviews: New Best Friend (2002)
suspiria1011 March 2005
Bonner (Taye Diggs) is the sheriff of a sleepy New England town. The major attraction of the town is an exclusive college for the rich and trust-fund babies and when an OD happens he must get to the bottom of it as "quietly' as possible. The girl at the epicenter is Alicia (Mia Kirshner), a poor financial-strapped girl trying to make it as a law major who suddenly finds herself in the circle of the rich kids. Everyone becomes a suspect of wrong-doing as she cuts her way through the group taking what she wants and playing them against each other.
"Wild Things" meets "Cruel Intentions" would be the easiest way to summarize "New Best Friend". It plays pretty well as a mystery. The script itself is nothing original or special but the sexy cast (Kirshner, Meredith Monroe, Rachel True, and the always cute Dominique Swain.) pull it off. The direction is pretty decent. The film uses the camera well with interesting angles and lighting but the music is really fairly standard with it being mostly "hip and trendy" songs by no-name bands. If you like "Wild Things" and "Cruel Intentions" give this one a shot.
"Wild Things" meets "Cruel Intentions" would be the easiest way to summarize "New Best Friend". It plays pretty well as a mystery. The script itself is nothing original or special but the sexy cast (Kirshner, Meredith Monroe, Rachel True, and the always cute Dominique Swain.) pull it off. The direction is pretty decent. The film uses the camera well with interesting angles and lighting but the music is really fairly standard with it being mostly "hip and trendy" songs by no-name bands. If you like "Wild Things" and "Cruel Intentions" give this one a shot.
A Decent film
Club Kid13 July 2002
"New Best Friend" is a pretty decent film. I would have to disagree with the other comments on this about it. I really enjoyed watching this film. I will admit that I rented it because of the gils in the film, mainly Mia Kirshner and Dominique Swain. But I was surprised when I found that the movie was not bad at all. The film stars Kirshner, Swain, Rachel True and Meredith Monroe. Kirshner playes the "outcast" at their college, and the other three girls are the pretty, popular and party girls. When Monroe and Kirshner's characters are partnered up together to work on a project, Monrose's character gets more than she thought she would. The three "pretty" girls take Kirshner's character under their wings and give her a make-over both physically and mentally. But when Kirshner's character is more than she seems, the other girls get a whole different girl. The storyline to this film is pretty basic, ugly girl turns pretty, then turns out evil. But the film direction is great and there are some pretty good twists and turns to the plot line. Great performances by Kirshner (as usual), Swain and True. I wasn't expecting Monroe to give a good performance and I was right. She can't really portray the character well, and her's was the only bad performance in this film. All in all, a pretty good film. ****/out of 5 p.s. there is a GREAT sex scene between Swain and Kirshner that will get any guy excited and if you like girl on girl, rent this movie! you won't be disapointed by that part.
Un-wild wild things meets not so cruel intentions
movieman_kev16 May 2005
Unentertaining, uninvolving hybrid of "Cruel Intentions" and "Wild Things", but it isn't nearly as good as either of those trash min-classics. It's about the acting sheriff, Artie (Taye Diggs) being called in to investigate a near-fatal drug overdose at a posh upper-class Univesity, but to keep it on the down low. As he digs deeper he thinks it's much more than it at first glance seems to be. We follow Alicia, the girl who overdosed in flashbacks as well. At about 90 minutes, if this film was welcomed to begin with, it would have worn it out. This film brings absolutely nothing new to the table. But it IS the only movie thus far that has Miss Swain topless so the grade is higher just for that.
My Grade: D
Eye Candy: Dominique Swain gets topless( fixing a mistake of "Happy Campers"); another girl is topless
Anti-Eye candy: more men ass than girl tit
My Grade: D
Eye Candy: Dominique Swain gets topless( fixing a mistake of "Happy Campers"); another girl is topless
Anti-Eye candy: more men ass than girl tit
Ridiculous but fun (minor spoilers)
jayl0ve3 September 2002
Warning: Spoilers
Mia Kirshner and Meredith Monroe star in this accidentally comic mystery about a drug overdose at the fictional Colby University in North Carolina. Alicia Glazer (Kirshner) lies in a hospital bed in a coma as the new sheriff (Taye Diggs) in town investigates the strange circumstances surrounding her OD.
As unbelievable as this sounds, this movie falls prey to one my least favorite cliches in attempting to portray Kirshner as a homely girl who needs only the mid-party ministrations of her co-stars to transform into a gorgeous starlet. One of Kirshner's recent movies (Not Another Teen Movie) lampooned this ridiculous plot device to great effect. Even with her hair in a pony tail and a slightly less put together look, it is obvious that she is a very beautiful woman which makes the subsequent "transformation" much less striking.
The movie suffers most in its structure. The plot is developed through a series of flashbacks told from multiple points of view and mostly in reverse order. Flashbacks within flashbacks further complicate matters to the point of ridiculousness. In one particularly artificial twist, Alicia stirs from her coma momentarily to reveal a crucial plot point in flashback form that we would have otherwise never have known only to drop back conveniently into oblivion shortly thereafter.
Additionally, the character of Acting Sheriff Artie Bonner presents another dilemma. He is alternately concerned and indifferent, professional and lascivious. He is also saddled with some of the worst lines of dialogue in the movie ("Sometimes you do what's right because you can't not"). His character is slapped with a sexual harassment suit at one point, but this seems only to be a technicality to him. Luckily, none of the other characters ever mention it again, nor does that loose end get tied up in the overly long denouement which consists mostly of Diggs staring at the sunset while dreamy voice-overs recap the plot to that point.
In spite of these problems, this movie is entertaining. I'd recommend it to anyone who knows not to expect too much from it. The shots of the College of Charleston are great. 6 out of 10.
As unbelievable as this sounds, this movie falls prey to one my least favorite cliches in attempting to portray Kirshner as a homely girl who needs only the mid-party ministrations of her co-stars to transform into a gorgeous starlet. One of Kirshner's recent movies (Not Another Teen Movie) lampooned this ridiculous plot device to great effect. Even with her hair in a pony tail and a slightly less put together look, it is obvious that she is a very beautiful woman which makes the subsequent "transformation" much less striking.
The movie suffers most in its structure. The plot is developed through a series of flashbacks told from multiple points of view and mostly in reverse order. Flashbacks within flashbacks further complicate matters to the point of ridiculousness. In one particularly artificial twist, Alicia stirs from her coma momentarily to reveal a crucial plot point in flashback form that we would have otherwise never have known only to drop back conveniently into oblivion shortly thereafter.
Additionally, the character of Acting Sheriff Artie Bonner presents another dilemma. He is alternately concerned and indifferent, professional and lascivious. He is also saddled with some of the worst lines of dialogue in the movie ("Sometimes you do what's right because you can't not"). His character is slapped with a sexual harassment suit at one point, but this seems only to be a technicality to him. Luckily, none of the other characters ever mention it again, nor does that loose end get tied up in the overly long denouement which consists mostly of Diggs staring at the sunset while dreamy voice-overs recap the plot to that point.
In spite of these problems, this movie is entertaining. I'd recommend it to anyone who knows not to expect too much from it. The shots of the College of Charleston are great. 6 out of 10.
If You Want to See Soccer Moms Playing Undergraduates
aimless-462 October 2005
"New Best Friend" is another entry in the "steal another woman's life" sub-genre; the best of which are "Single White Female" and "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle"; the worse of which you can catch almost any afternoon on the Lifetime Channel. For some reason this type of identity theft happens exclusively to women.
There are just two basic ways to play this type of story. You can make the woman evil at the beginning and let the audience watch knowingly as she hatches and implements her evil scheme. Or you use misdirection to make her appear a good person, as a seemingly unplanned series of events break in her favor until she is revealed to be evil in the climatic scene. Unfortunately the makers of "New Best Friend" could not decide how they wanted to play it and things crash and burn early. We first meet Alicia (Mia Kirshner) scamming the college's financial aid office for scholarship money. We now know that she is a bad person and will view all her subsequent activity with suspicion. But the director and editor apparently forgot that this revelation had been made and spend the next 50 minutes laying misdirection to make us think that Alicia is a good person. This introduces the only element of suspense, not about whether she is evil but about when the director and editor will wise up and stop wasting our time with transparent misdirection.
"New Best Friend" suffers more than most from the teen movie curse of a cast too old to be portraying undergraduate students. There are really only two big parts, Hadley (Meredith Monroe) and Alicia (Kirshner). They were 31 and 26 respectively at the time of the production. It almost works for the 26 year-old Kirshner when she plays the mousy version of Alicia but it becomes glaring when she is transformed into the glamed-up version of Alicia. Monroe's casting is simply a joke, about like having Nicholette Sheridan try to pass as a classmate on "Lizzie McGwire". She looks much closer to a mid-life crisis than to a term paper.
The producers must have owed a lot of favors because this age issue extends to most of the supporting characters. Taye Diggs who plays the town sheriff is younger than most of the students.
The basic setup is that Hadley and two other rich party girls (played by Dominque Swain-age 21 and Rachel True-age 35) are undergrad roommates at college. They share (as their student residence) a mansion that is nicer and better furnished than the mansion on Real World-New Orleans (a premise more believable than soccer moms playing students). Alicia moves into the mansion and begins to take over Hadley's life. At least that way Swain finally gets a roommate from her own generation so the two can have a lesbian scene. Swain's supporting performance is the only good thing about "New Best Friend" and her love scene with Kirshner is fantastic, so cool and artsy that it doesn't fit with any of the other segments, maybe it was subcontracted out to a good director and cinematographer.
The unintentionally hilarious story is presented in a series of dreary flashbacks of rampant sex and nonstop parties, each proceeded by a shot of a comatose Alicia in a hospital bed. About half of Kirshner's screen time is spent lying motionless with a tube in her mouth. Not a good career move Mia.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
There are just two basic ways to play this type of story. You can make the woman evil at the beginning and let the audience watch knowingly as she hatches and implements her evil scheme. Or you use misdirection to make her appear a good person, as a seemingly unplanned series of events break in her favor until she is revealed to be evil in the climatic scene. Unfortunately the makers of "New Best Friend" could not decide how they wanted to play it and things crash and burn early. We first meet Alicia (Mia Kirshner) scamming the college's financial aid office for scholarship money. We now know that she is a bad person and will view all her subsequent activity with suspicion. But the director and editor apparently forgot that this revelation had been made and spend the next 50 minutes laying misdirection to make us think that Alicia is a good person. This introduces the only element of suspense, not about whether she is evil but about when the director and editor will wise up and stop wasting our time with transparent misdirection.
"New Best Friend" suffers more than most from the teen movie curse of a cast too old to be portraying undergraduate students. There are really only two big parts, Hadley (Meredith Monroe) and Alicia (Kirshner). They were 31 and 26 respectively at the time of the production. It almost works for the 26 year-old Kirshner when she plays the mousy version of Alicia but it becomes glaring when she is transformed into the glamed-up version of Alicia. Monroe's casting is simply a joke, about like having Nicholette Sheridan try to pass as a classmate on "Lizzie McGwire". She looks much closer to a mid-life crisis than to a term paper.
The producers must have owed a lot of favors because this age issue extends to most of the supporting characters. Taye Diggs who plays the town sheriff is younger than most of the students.
The basic setup is that Hadley and two other rich party girls (played by Dominque Swain-age 21 and Rachel True-age 35) are undergrad roommates at college. They share (as their student residence) a mansion that is nicer and better furnished than the mansion on Real World-New Orleans (a premise more believable than soccer moms playing students). Alicia moves into the mansion and begins to take over Hadley's life. At least that way Swain finally gets a roommate from her own generation so the two can have a lesbian scene. Swain's supporting performance is the only good thing about "New Best Friend" and her love scene with Kirshner is fantastic, so cool and artsy that it doesn't fit with any of the other segments, maybe it was subcontracted out to a good director and cinematographer.
The unintentionally hilarious story is presented in a series of dreary flashbacks of rampant sex and nonstop parties, each proceeded by a shot of a comatose Alicia in a hospital bed. About half of Kirshner's screen time is spent lying motionless with a tube in her mouth. Not a good career move Mia.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
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