Eight Days a Week

July 12, 2006

Rated: R Runtime: 92 min Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I have to admit that when I’m handed a DVD for a movie that I’ve never even heard of, my expectations are going to be pretty much zilch. This reaction was greatly reinforced after I sat through the heinous and vile Diane Keaton flick “Plan B”.

When handed “Eight Days a Week”, however, I saw the goddess on the cover known to us mere mortals as Keri Russell. She was only 21 when this movie was filmed and she could easily pass for 18. It was then that I figured that, even if the film sucked bawlz, she would provide a lot of very nice eye candy.

And, before you ask, the answer is “no”. She doesn’t get nekkid. She does, however, show quite a bit of skin as she is fond of bikinis and wet t-shirts. And, if I may venture here for a moment, she’s got the best nips I’ve seen in ages. I can say this with authority because the movie spends so much time focused on them…even extended closeups. Hell, even the main character regales you with his intimate and detailed description of them. They are just…SO…perfect. Uh… I need to take a 5 minute break. Um. Make that 2 minutes.

Ok, I’m back. So, yes, the eye candy factor is definitely there. But then I noticed something else. This movie is actually pretty darn funny! Horny teenagers are always a potentially great source for laughs and Eight Days certainly delivers. The humor is, as you’d expect, bawdy and more than a little offbeat.

The premise isn’t entirely original, but it works. A teenage semi-geek named Peter (Schaefer) is in love..er..lust with Erica (Russell), the hottie version of the “girl next door”. He is convinced that he doesn’t have a chance with her so he fantasizes from afar. That is until his grandfather encourages him to try to win her love by standing beneath her window non-stop until she realizes that she, too, loves him. It’s a great setup for comedy and director Michael Davis works it well.

So, to this point, I’m actually enjoying this flick but I’m wondering when it will jump the shark and plummet into dreck. But it never does. Perhaps the movies greatest strength is not the humor or the babelicious Keri Russell, but instead is just that it treats everyone as a reasonably intelligent human being. Well, everyone except for maybe Peter’s best friend, Matt, who is addicted to exploring new masturbation techniques and methods. But this is ok since it is at his expense that many of the best laughs come.

In the end, Eight Days has walked a very fine and dangerous line between bawdy sex comedy and near chick flick-ish sweet teen coming-of-age movie. And, somehow, it pulls it off well. It gets a full and unapologetic four stars from me and is very definitely worth a rental or purchase.

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Posted by Alex | Filed Under 4 Stars, Buck Kartalian, Comedy, DVD, Joshua Schaefer, Keri Russell, R