Thickest Friends

Ron Howard, director of such diverse films as "A Beautiful Mind", "Apollo 13" or "The Da Vinci Code - Sacrilege", actually has his roots in comedy, ...as the actor in the cult sitcom Happy Days and as the director of the fantasy comedy Splash with Tom Hanks. With "Biggest Friends", Howard returns to his roots. At least that's how it seems at first glance, because both the German title and the cast lead viewers to hope for a typical buddy comedy. But in reality, the film, whose original title "The Dilemma" is much more appropriate, is a drama that is only occasionally lightened by comedy elements.

Ronny (Vince Vaughn) and Nick (Kevin James) have been best friends for years. Both privately, as well as professionally, the two, together are inseparable. And everything seems to be going well, their small company B & V Engine Design is about to close a lucrative and enormously important deal. But then, by chance, Ronny sees Nick's wife Geneva (Winona Ryder) kissing another man. Now he's faced with a difficult decision, knowing that this discovery will hurt his best friend immensely - which would also put the big deal in jeopardy. And so Ronny decides to get to the bottom of the supposed affair on his own. But not only does he risk his friendship with Nick with each passing day, but his own relationship with Beth (Jennifer Connelly) increasingly suffers from the mystery. A real dilemma that can only end in disaster....

The premise of "Thickest Friends" is really interesting. I'm sure you've wondered how you would react if you caught your best friend's partner cheating on you. The answer seems obvious, but as the movie beautifully shows, each alternative has major downsides and really no upsides at all. Because whether you decide to break the bad news right away or hesitate first, either way you will have to suffer the consequences as a confidant and messenger.

This dilemma is conveyed quite well in the comedy. There is a scene between Ronny and Geneva that, especially thanks to Winona Ryder's great acting, shows in an extremely biting and nasty way how quickly the tide can turn in such situations. But unfortunately, the movie has to struggle with two big problems that don't really do justice to the good basic idea. On the one hand, there is the half-baked staging. That Ron Howard is a good director, he has proven often enough. But since he can't really decide between drama and comedy and can't really get the right mixture, his production seems awkward and completely overloaded.

The second problem is Vince Vaughn, who doesn't leave much room for his co-stars and obviously wants to make a hectic one-man-show out of "Biggest Friends". In doing so, he shows little talent for variation and really only presents the umpteenth variation of all the characters he has embodied in films like "The Wedding Crashers", "Breakup with Obstacles" or "All Inclusive". In itself, this is not so bad, because Vaughn has enough fans who appreciate his very special style.

But since all his co-stars in "Biggest Friends" deliver more than decent performances and especially Channing Tatum can really surprise with his small supporting role, it is simply annoying how penetratingly Vaughn plays himself into the foreground here again and again. Here it would have been up to Howard to rein in his leading man a bit and also give the other actors the opportunity to leave a lasting impression on the viewer.

But that succeeds so unfortunately neither the actors, nor the film itself. In itself, the comedy offers nice entertainment with some very funny and also thought-provoking moments. But considering the potential that has been given away by the mentioned weak points, it's really a shame that "Thickest Friends" didn't get much better. Therefore: for Vince Vaughn fans a must see, for lovers of US comedies with cutbacks just worth seeing

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp