''Just Married'' is a 2003 American
romantic comedy
Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...
film directed by
Shawn Levy
Shawn Adam Levy (born July 23, 1968) is a Canadian film director, film producer, actor, and founder of 21 Laps Entertainment. He has worked across genres and is perhaps best known as the director of the ''Night at the Museum'' film franchise an ...
, written by
Sam Harper
Sam Harper is an American filmmaker.
Career
Harper was born into an artistic family with a father who was a painter and a mother who was a writer. After college, he worked as a reporter and associate editor for the advertising industry trade ...
, and stars
Ashton Kutcher
Christopher Ashton Kutcher (; born February 7, 1978) is an American actor, producer, entrepreneur, and former model. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a People's Choice Award, and nominations for two Young Artist Awards, a S ...
and
Brittany Murphy
Brittany Anne Murphy-Monjack (; November 10, 1977 – December 20, 2009) was an American actress and singer. Born in Atlanta, Murphy moved to Los Angeles as a teenager and pursued a career in acting. Her breakthrough role was as Tai Fras ...
. Produced by
Robert Simonds
Robert Bruce Simonds Jr. (born 1964) is an American film producer, entrepreneur, and the founder & chairman of STX Entertainment, which creates, produces, distributes, finances, and markets film (as STXfilms), television (as STXtelevision), digi ...
, the film was successful at the box office despite generally negative critical reviews.
Plot
The film opens with Tom and Sarah in the airport, then flashes back from the moment they met up to the present.
Working-class Tom Leezak and upper-class Sarah McNerney meet up when Tom accidentally hits Sarah with a football on the beach. A few months later, despite opposition from Sarah's rich family, they get married. Each has kept one secret from the other: Tom doesn't tell her that he accidentally killed her dog and Sarah doesn't tell him that she slept with Peter Prentiss, a childhood family friend, after they started dating.
Flying to Europe for their honeymoon, they attempt to consummate their marriage by joining the
mile high club
The mile high club is slang for the group of people who have had sexual intercourse on board an aircraft in flight.
An alleged explanation for wanting to perform the act is the supposed vibration of the plane. Some theorize that people who enga ...
, but fail rather publicly. Arriving at their classy hotel at the foot of the Alps they find that Peter has sent them a bottle of cognac "with love", while Tom's friend Kyle has sent them a ''Thunderstick A-200''
sex toy
A sex toy is an object or device that is primarily used to facilitate human sexual pleasure, such as a dildo, artificial vagina or vibrator. Many popular sex toys are designed to resemble human genitals, and may be vibrating or non-vibrating ...
.
When Tom tries to force the toy's American plug into the European outlet, he shuts down the entire village's electricity. The newlyweds leave the hotel after Tom has a heated argument with the hotel owner and pays a large bill to repair the power. While trying to find another hotel they crash their mini car into a snowbank, stuck until daylight and once again unable to consummate their marriage.
They make their way to
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
, staying at a ''
pensione
A pension (, ; ) is a type of guest house or boarding house. This term is typically used in Continental European countries, in areas of North Africa and the Middle East that formerly had large European expatriate populations, and in some parts ...
'' recommended by Tom's father. It turns out to be a wreck, and they soon check out after a cockroach crawls over Tom when they try to have sex.
The couple secure a luxurious Venetian hotel with the grudging financial help of Sarah's father. They go sightseeing, but Tom quickly gets bored and abandons her to watch sports in a bar. Sarah runs into Peter, who is staying at their hotel on business. This prompts her to initiate a conversation with Tom in which they reveal their secrets about her dog's death and Peter. They each storm out of the hotel and go their separate ways: he going back to the bar, where he meets American tourist Wendy, and she going sightseeing, where Peter follows her.
Wendy flirts and dances with Tom, who escapes through a bathroom window when he realizes she wants to have sex with him. He returns to the hotel, learning that Sarah has gone out with Peter for the evening. Accosted by Wendy, he finds himself tricked into walking her to his hotel room, where she rips off her top before Tom blurts out that he's on his honeymoon, upon which she finally leaves.
Sarah gets drunk so Peter takes her back to the hotel. When he kisses her at the entrance, she slaps him, reminding him that she's on her honeymoon. Tom sees the kiss from the balcony but not the slap. When he confronts her in their room, Sarah finds Wendy's
bra
A bra, short for brassiere or brassière (, or ; ), is a form-fitting undergarment that is primarily used to support and cover breasts. It can serve a range of other practical and aesthetic purposes, including enhancing or reducing the appear ...
. Peter bursts in to ask her to run away with him to
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, leading to a fight that lands Tom and Sarah in jail – still without consummating their marriage. Peter bails them out and the couple angrily decide to go home to Los Angeles, returning to the opening moments of the film.
Sarah has moved out and Tom wants to get back with her. Receiving advice from his father, he attempts to see her at her family's estate, but is unsuccessful trying to ram the gate. However, Sarah opens it herself after seeing Tom make a romantic speech to the camera and they rush together to proclaim their love for each other. Sarah's family finally accepts Tom and Sarah's relationship.
Cast
*
Ashton Kutcher
Christopher Ashton Kutcher (; born February 7, 1978) is an American actor, producer, entrepreneur, and former model. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a People's Choice Award, and nominations for two Young Artist Awards, a S ...
as Tom Leezak
*
Brittany Murphy
Brittany Anne Murphy-Monjack (; November 10, 1977 – December 20, 2009) was an American actress and singer. Born in Atlanta, Murphy moved to Los Angeles as a teenager and pursued a career in acting. Her breakthrough role was as Tai Fras ...
as Sarah McNerney
*
Christian Kane
Christian Kane (born Christopher Michael Short) is an American actor and singer-songwriter. He is known for his roles in the television shows ''Angel'', ''Leverage'', '' The Librarians'', and '' Into the West'', and the movies ''Just Married'', ' ...
as Peter Prentiss
*
David Moscow
David Raphael Moscow (born November 14, 1974) is an American actor, producer and activist. He is best known for his role as the young Josh Baskin in the 1988 film ''Big (film), Big'' and as David in the 1992 musical film ''Newsies.''
Career
In ...
as Kyle
*
Monet Mazur
Monet H. Mazur (born April 17, 1976) is an American actress.
Life
Mazur was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Ruby Mazur, an illustrator known for creating the "tongue" logo for the Rolling Stones' "Tumbling Dice" single jacket, a ...
as Lauren
*
David Rasche
David Rasche ( ; born August 7, 1944) is an American theater, film and television actor who is best known for his portrayal of the title character in the 1980s satirical police sitcom ''Sledge Hammer!'' Since then he has often played characters ...
as Mr. McNerney
*
Veronica Cartwright
Veronica Cartwright (born April 20, 1949) is a British-American actress. She is known for appearing in science fiction and horror films, and has earned numerous accolades, including three Primetime Emmy Award nominations.
As a child actress, sh ...
as Mrs. McNerney / Pussy
*
Thad Luckinbill
Thaddeus Rowe Luckinbill (born April 24, 1975) is an American actor and producer best known for playing J.T. Hellstrom on the CBS soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'', from August 1999 to November 2010. He reprised the role of J.T. in Decem ...
as Willie McNerney
*
Taran Killam
Taran Hourie Killam (born April 1, 1982) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is known for his television work on ''The Amanda Show'', ''How I Met Your Mother'', ''MADtv'', ''New Girl'', ''Saturday Night Live'', and ''Single Parents''. ...
as Dickie McNerney
*
Raymond J. Barry
Raymond John Barry (born March 14, 1939) is an American film, television, and stage actor. He was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his performance in the film ''Steel City (film), Steel City''.
Personal life ...
as Mr. Leezak
*
George Gaynes
George Gaynes (born George Jongejans; May 16, 1917 – February 15, 2016) was a Finnish-born American singer, actor, and voice artist. Born to Dutch and Russian-Finnish parents in the Grand Duchy of Finland of the Russian Empire, he served in the ...
as Father Robert
* Alex Thomas as Fred
* Valeria Andrews as Wendy
Reception
Box office
''Just Married'' was successful at the box office. On a modest budget of $18 million, the film went on to gross $56,127,162 domestically and earned an additional $45,437,773 in foreign box office receipts, giving it a total worldwide gross of $101,564,935.
Critical response
''Just Married'' was released to generally negative critical reviews. On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, it has a 20% approval rating based on 106 reviews, and the website's consensus states: "''Just Married''s plot is predictable, and the overdone pratfalls get tiresome." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a score of 28 out of 100 based on reviews from 27 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". It got two out of five stars from
MSN
MSN (meaning Microsoft Network) is a web portal and related collection of Internet services and apps for Windows and mobile devices, provided by Microsoft and launched on August 24, 1995, alongside the release of Windows 95.
The Microsoft Net ...
.
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
gave the film stars out of 4, and called it a dumb sitcom.
The film earned three nominations at the
24th Golden Raspberry Awards
The 24th Golden Raspberry Awards, or Razzies, were held on February 28, 2004, at the Sheraton Hotel in Santa Monica, California, to honor the worst films the film industry had to offer in 2003.
Late summer box office flop ''Gigli'' led the pack ...
including
Worst Actor for Ashton Kutcher (also for ''
Cheaper by the Dozen
''Cheaper by the Dozen'' is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, published in 1948. The novel recounts the authors' childhood lives growing up in a household of 12 children. The bestsell ...
'' and ''
My Boss's Daughter
''My Boss's Daughter'' (originally titled The Guest) is a 2003 American romantic comedy film directed by David Zucker. It stars Ashton Kutcher, Tara Reid and Terence Stamp. The film revolves around a man housesitting for his boss and getting into ...
''),
Worst Supporting Actress for Brittany Murphy and
Worst Screen Couple for both Kutcher and Murphy (also for ''My Boss's Daughter'' with
Tara Reid
Tara Donna Reid (born November 8, 1975) is an American actress. She played Vicky in the films '' American Pie'' (1999), ''American Pie 2'' (2001), and ''American Reunion'' (2012), and Bunny Lebowski in ''The Big Lebowski'' (1998). In 2013, she ...
), but failed to win in each of these categories, losing to
Ben Affleck
Benjamin Géza Affleck (born August 15, 1972) is an American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Volpi Cup.
Affleck began his career as a child when he starred in the PBS educationa ...
(''
Daredevil
Daredevil may refer to:
* A stunt performer
Arts and media Comics
* Daredevil (Lev Gleason Publications), a fictional 1940s superhero popularized by writer-artist Charles Biro
* Daredevil (Marvel Comics character), a Marvel comic book superher ...
'', ''
Gigli
''Gigli'' ( ) is a 2003 American romantic comedy crime film written and directed by Martin Brest and starring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bartha, Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, and Lainie Kazan.
Despite popular media giving attention a ...
'' and ''
Paycheck
A paycheck, also spelled paycheque, pay check or pay cheque, is traditionally a paper document (a cheque) issued by an employer to pay an employee for services rendered. In recent times, the physical paycheck has been increasingly replaced by e ...
''),
Demi Moore
Demi Gene Moore ( ; née Guynes; born November 11, 1962) is an American actress. After making her film debut in 1981, Moore appeared on the soap opera ''General Hospital'' (1982–1984) and subsequently gained recognition as a member of the Bra ...
(''
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle'') and both Affleck and
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...
(''Gigli'') respectively.
References
External links
*
*
*
{{Shawn Levy
2000s French-language films
2000s German-language films
2000s Italian-language films
2000s American films
20th Century Fox films
2003 romantic comedy films
2003 films
American romantic comedy films
2000s English-language films
Films about honeymoon
Films about weddings
Films directed by Shawn Levy
Films scored by Christophe Beck
Films set in the 1990s
Films set in Los Angeles
Films set in Venice
Films shot in Austria
Films shot in Los Angeles
Films shot in Venice