Again, it's from an email list by someone named "Dr. Scott," whom I answered some questions for. If you'd like to join his review list, his email address is until_dark@yahoo.com.

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FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS

A Dr. Scott Special Report

Howdy, folks. It’s been awhile since anyone’s visited the Doctor’s Office, but that’s all my fault. Some hooligans gave me an XBOX for Christmas, and I turned into a complete gaming junkie for the last several weeks. As I mentioned to my friend Patrick, I could level entire cities with my thumbs at this point.

You know. From the gaming. And stuff.

Anyhow, I wanted to bring in the new year with a look at a film that I’m willing to bet none of the Doctor’s patients have seen: FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS. First of all, let me tell you how I came across this little gem.

One of the websites I frequent on a daily basis, Ain’t It Cool News, has message boards for all of the articles that get posted there. I was checking out the reader comments for...something, doesn’t matter what, and I noticed a message that ended with "...FriendsWithBenefits.Com". Being the single, going-through-a-dry-spell-with-the-ladies-and-yes-that’s-all-it-is guy, I assumed this was one of those "pornographic websites" that I’ve been hearing about recently. Imagine my utter dismay when...it wasn’t. Foiled again.

Instead, I found a non-professional webpage being run by the maker of a "student film" (more on that phrase in a minute) called FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS. From the website, which I encourage all of you to visit (yes, even though there’s no nudity; Trust me, it’s worth your time), I learned that the film was available online– for free!!!– in four easy-to-download installments, and that the movie is based around relationships in college. Needless to say, I’m the target audience for this kind of movie, so I figured, What the hell? I’ll give it a shot.

I am here to spread the word about FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS. This isn’t a flashy movie. There aren’t any explosions. There aren’t any bared breasts. There aren’t any exploding breasts. There are no car chases. Sadly, Angelina Jolie doesn’t star in the film. All of that said, I was seriously charmed and entertained by this film. I referred to it earlier as a "student film", but that’s not to say that it was made to fulfill any kind of classroom requirement. Rather, it’s a student film in the sense that it was made by, for, and about students. For the most part, all of you on the Doctor’s List are college students (with the exception of some of our older readers– Rio’s dad; What’s up?), and I can honestly say that FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS is worth however long it takes to download. It is filled with sharp dialogue (with a sizable debt to Kevin Smith in many scenes), hilarious circumstances, and the kind of college-humor that doesn’t make all college students look like blithering idiots.

Not at all. The characters in FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS are all multi-dimensional, and while the acting isn’t always Oscar-caliber-- the script makes up for the rough spots– I identified with many of them. Take, for instance, J.T., the wannabe ladies’ man who will spit any kind of game he can in the direction of any females in his vicinity. Do we not all know an overbearing, pseudo-stud like this (usually in a frat t-shirt)? J.T. is the foil and best friend of Toby, who’s pretty much the main character. Toby spends the better part of the film getting into a relationship with Jessica, which causes problems on several fronts with Debbie, a friend with whom he enjoys "benefits" (read: blowjobs). J.T. finds his manhood and ego tested by the scheming Kim, while trying to score a date with the girl he’s infatuated with that frequents the school library where he and Toby work. There are several subplots involving, among other things, a creepy old man named Stu who preys on sorority girls from his house just off campus, and the creepy guy who seems to live in the school cafeteria. Any of this sounding familiar?

Again, this isn’t wildly exciting material, and it’s certainly nothing that we haven’t seen before, but it’s dead-on enough to warrant your attention. Come on, have I ever steered you wrong before?

And, yes, Krystal, I’m sticking with my "GLITTER sucks ass" review. Besides that.

Thought so.

So, let’s hear a little from the director of FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS, Patrick Buonincontri (Take that, spell checker.) The first thing I wanted to know, since I’m a writer, was when the script was written. There’s an obvious attention to detail in the dialogue of FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS, and while the characters are cartoonish at times, they’re never completely unbelievable. Patrick told me, "The script was starting to be written in the summer of 2001. At that time, I had no idea I was planning on shooting anything, since I had no experience at all. I banged out 30+ pages by the early Fall, and it was garbage." Patrick considered the script "pretentious" and "self-indulgent", so he took a break from writing for awhile until he had some ideas that agreed with him. "By the time my college winter break came around, I realized I had to rewrite the whole thing, and do it quickly if I wanted the option to shoot it", something he hadn’t yet decided on.

The writing process continued, and I’d like to interject here by noting that it’s very easy to get discouraged when writing a long project, such as a script or novel. For the fellow writer’s in the Doctor’s Office, let me impart a little advice: I’ve found that, when writing something of substantial length, it’s best to write it in small bursts, and give yourself ample breaks between. If you just sit and sit and write and write, it’s easy to second-guess yourself. I don’t know– maybe that’s not best for some of you, but it’s what I’ve found to be the best way to go about things. But, what do I know? I’m just some yutz on a computer in Texas, right? Yep.

Anyhow, Patrick revised his script all the way through the auditioning process and throughout filming. Things went in front of the camera "around mid-March", Patrick told me. As he said, "The original, and more horrid concept, was first thought about in July" while "The less horrid script to shooting phase would be about four months".

I wanted to know about Patrick’s shooting style, which reminded me of, again, Kevin Smith. Think about the camera set-ups in CLERKS or CHASING AMY, where there wasn’t much movement to the filming, and you’ll get a good idea of the way things are presented in FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS. To be fair, though, Patrick does make many attempts to cover the action from several angles, and to shoot from varied distances, which is a little more "adventurous" than anything in, say, CHASING AMY. Patrick told me that, as far as influences go, that he admires "Sam Raimi’s kinetic style, Sergio Leone’s lingering dramatic moments" and the glorious Peter Jackson for "jump-starting my ass to shoot the damn thing" after he had seen FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING. " If he could accomplish that, then I knew I could shoot my vision, too, however short-sighted and slight it is."

Is anyone really surprised by this? If I had to guess, I’d say that when my kids become film geeks, they’ll be seeing movies made by people my age or younger who were inspired by Jackson’s amazing trilogy. Sure, the films are already considered classics, but the effect that they’ll have on the film industry will last for years to come.

Patrick went on to tell me that GLORY is his favorite film. I asked him to tell me why in 50 words or so, and this is what he had to say: " Majestic directing by Edward Zwick, great performances by Broderick, Freeman, Washington, Braugher, Elwes, hell everyone was outstanding. The battles are some of the most realistic depictions of war in a movie, particularly from the Civil War era. And lastly, the film respects that the viewpoints of the various characters concerning war and slavery are all related, different, yet valid from each character’s personal experience and perspective."

While GLORY isn’t usually a film cited as a favorite amongst my generation, it’s definitely a strong piece of film-making. Some of you may by unfamiliar with the director, Edward Zwick, although you may have seen his most recent film, THE LAST SAMURAI, which I haven’t got around to checking out yet. The word on the street that I’ve been hearing is that the film is very solid, so I look forward to checking it out. I was very impressed with Patrick’s decision here for best film; Picking GLORY over fan favorites PULP FICTION, THE GODFATHER, or APOCALYPSE NOW was an inspired choice, in my opinion. All my readers can tell you that FIGHT CLUB is my pick for "Best. Film. Ever.", and I was happy to see the FIGHT CLUB poster pop up in a scene or two during FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS.

So, has the film won any awards? " It has won the award of being rejected from every festival it has been submitted to," Patrick replied. " I stopped submitting it when I started to lose count." This is unfortunate, because I feel that the film– while amateurish and not highly budgeted– showcases a future talent with a great ear for dialogue. Where would we all be without someone having taken a chance with Kevin Smith, or Quentin Tarantino? Imagine a world without CLERKS or RESERVOIR DOGS, and when you stop crying, try and tell me I’m wrong. Patrick told me that his next project(s) would likely be something more "artsy", and that having spoken with several directors in charge of film festival selections, he realized that "something a little rough around the edges like FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS would not fit into their...ummm...more mature (?) mindsets."

My next question for Patrick involved the actress who plays Kim, Carrie Tolles. I thought she was very cute, and was interested in how she landed the role. Patrick told me, "This is a pathetic story, but it’s true: I actually asked her to audition as an excuse to hit on her. She was in the school library, so I walked up to her and said, "I’m sorry to bother you, but I think you’d be perfect for a role in a movie I’m shooting." Ah, yes: The Casting Couch. Robert Evans’ legacy lives on in subsequent generations, and may it never cease. Patrick added, "For once (my hormones) did me right."

This concluded my brief interview with Patrick, and I thank him for the opportunity. So, what are you waiting for, people? Get over to FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS.com and check the flick out! I’ll be doing a formal review of the film sometime in the next week. Until then, I remain:

Your Medicator,

Dr. Scott

i watched the first section and i was planning on watching the rest but i dont feel like giving realplayer my CC info, anywhere to get realplayer without doing so and i'll jump on it. at least you got my attention enough to want to finish watching it, props there.

i give you props also for finishing a feature length film of this nature, and although somewhat excusable, the acting is one of the main downfalls of this film. but its your first? who cares... you're likely to get better directing later.

and in regards to the 'mature' content being a reason for film festival denial? are you kidding me? i've seen and/or heard of some pretty off-color stuff showing up in festivals. i think there are other reasons for it not being accepted, again in regards to the acting and maybe unoriginal plot (given the part i did see).

but good job overall and good luck in the future.

-B

quote:

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Originally posted by BSPEED:
i watched the first section and i was planning on watching the rest but i dont feel like giving realplayer my CC info, anywhere to get realplayer without doing so and i'll jump on it. at least you got my attention enough to want to finish watching it, props there.

-B

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Hey BSPEED,

You should be able to view it with the free version of Realplayer, the "pay" version is not needed. I would have encoded it in quicktime, but the quality of my encoder wasn't nearly as good for that format.

-patrick

when i try to get the free one they still ask for the CC info, and say that if you dont want to upgrade after so many days than you can just keep the free version, but i'm still wanting to just get the free version w/o any CC info being put out... just a pet peeve, they dont need it, i dont want to give it for no reason? feel me?

got it all good, no CC info given out, thanks i'll watch the rest of your film later on today for some final thoughts