Best Friends/Review

From The Grindhouse Cinema Database

< Best Friends
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Best Friends is a great example of the 'bait and switch' marketing tactics that exploitation advertising employed. Based on the poster, the story appears to be about a group of four youths who stumble into a community of vengeful Native Americans trying to get compensation for the oppression of their forefathers. While this might make for a premise of a good film if it were the case, the story in Best Friends is quite different. In fact, the closest thing the movie comes to in regards to the event depicted in the poster is a slight tussle at a Native American bar.

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What the story of the film really contains is a tale of two friends reconnecting after the Vietnam War. The plot circles around four central characters: Jessie, Pat, Kathy, and Jo Ella. The movie begins with a title sequence over old photographs of Jessie and Pat through different parts of their lives. This shows the close relationship the two "Best Friends" have, and that they have been together through both times of peace and war. The story essentially begins with Jessie, accompanied by his girlfriend, Kathy, and Pat's old girlfriend, Jo Ella, as they pick up Pat from the airport. Pat is finally back home from Vietnam, and is glad to be back with his friends. When Pat inquires about a return flight home, Jessie surprises him by saying that they are going to rent a camper, and drive back home to have a double wedding. Thus begins the road trip. As time progresses, Pat slowly starts to sour to this notion and is afraid that he will lose his friend forever. As the film continues to play out, the viewer gets to see Pat slowly losing it, and watch him take more and more drastic measures to make sure he and his best friend's relationship remains intact.

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The film has some interesting ideas, but overall it suffers from mediocrity. It is neither very bad nor exceptionally good, it simply walks the line in between. It's not a movie to shut off half way through, but it also doesn't beg to be re-watched. While watching Pat's character slowly descend into madness, it feels like there could have been more to it all. The core story is interesting enough, but the overall package just feels a bit lacking.

Reviewed by DeadlyDeadite

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