Freddie Prinze Jr. punches like a twelve year-old girl. Fortunately his latest film, Head Over Heels, is best suited for that very same Teen Beat-reading audience... and absolutely no one else.
Prinze plays Jim Winston, an asthmatic FBI agent who unexpectedly bumps into Amanda (Monica Potter), an art restorer looking for a man to make her go weak in the knees. First knee-weakening rights actually go the massive Great Dane Jim is dog-walking, and the pooch becomes the catalyst for Jim and Amanda's initial meeting when he gets looses, runs down Amanda, and begins humping her. Along that line, Jim and Amanda's ensuing relationship can best be described as "love at first hump."
After finding her previous boyfriend (Timothy Olyphant) in bed with another woman, Amanda has just left him and moved into an absolutely gorgeous apartment with "the last four non-smoking models in Manhattan." Jim, conveniently enough, lives in an apartment just across the way--and within view of Amanda's new pad. In fact, Amanda and her rail-thin roomies spend a great deal of their time watching Jim, who despite being a tough, undercover agent, is apparently deathly afraid of closing his blinds. Then again, in a city as friendly as The Big Apple, why would anyone want to close their blinds?
During one of these Jim-ogling sessions, however, Amanda watches Jim and a lady friend return and (gasp!) shut the blinds. She then sees what she thinks is Jim clubbing his companion to death. Did her dream just brutally murder a young woman? Could this dog-walking stud be a cold-hearted killer? And where did he get those cute eggshell blinds?
Since this movie is definitely a contender for Best Picture... well, at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, perhaps... I won't spoil the ending, though it does involve smuggled diamonds, a fashion show, car chases, some yelling, and the Russian mob. What I will say is that this movie misses several opportunities to cash in on hi-quality laughs, and instead often resorts to toilet humor.
Amanda's model roommates (played by real-life models Shalom Harlow, Sarah O'Hare, Tomiko Fraser, and Ivana Milicevic) provide some of the funniest moments of the film. For instance, Candi (O'Hare), the blond Aussie bombshell, has several cosmetic surgeries throughout the film at the requests of her handlers. First her earlobes are asymmetrical, then there's something wrong with her nose, and finally her eyes... from which comes some delightfully silly slapstick humor. It is obvious that all four of the models are having fun with their roles, knowing full well that this isn't exactly Casablanca that they're co-starring in. Hell, it's not even Clueless.
Unfortunately, this sense of over-the-top fun and self-ridicule displayed by the models is not used enough. Instead, it is passed over in favor of gross-out humor, such as in an unfortunately memorable scene in which Amanda and three of the four models break into Jim's apartment to search for evidence that might reveal his suspected homicidal tendencies. Of course, Jim returns earlier than expected and the three runway gals hide in the shower. Jim then spends considerable gastro-time in the bathroom himself, odoriferously exorcising his digestive demons. The models treat us to a good thirty seconds of cringing, nose pinching, and squirming. Personally, I would have preferred more outrageous "Worship me, pity me... sigh... I'm a model" banter--or even another operation for Candi. Incidentally, if Prinze was hoping to make the career transition to "grown-up actor" with this role, as has been suggested, someone definitely should have advised him that impressive cinematic flatulence does not constitute growth as an actor.
All of that said, if Ace Ventura: Pet Detective is one of your favorite movies, give Head Over Heels a try. If you're too young to remember Reagan's presidency, give Head Over Heels a try. If you're pre-bed ritual involves kissing all of your Freddie Prinze Jr. posters goodnight, give Head Over Heels a try. Otherwise, you can wait until this bonanza of often-gross humor, occasionally laughable lines, and missed opportunities comes to cable.
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