Just Friends

Just Friends is a romantic comedy about Chris Brander, a Los Angeles music producer who has reinvented himself after an awkward, overweight adolescence. In high school he was close friends with Jamie Palamino, secretly in love with her while she saw him only as a friend. Ten years on, a business trip with his demanding client, pop singer Samantha James, forces a stopover in his New Jersey hometown over the Christmas season. There he runs into Jamie again and finds his old feelings returning, though winning her over proves no easier than it was a decade earlier.

Roger Kumble directed the film from a screenplay by Adam 'Tex' Davis, with Chris Bender, Bill Johnson and Michael Ohoven producing. It followed Kumble's earlier work on Cruel Intentions and The Sweetest Thing, and sits fourth in the directing credits listed for him. Ryan Reynolds plays Chris, with Amy Smart as Jamie, Anna Faris as Samantha, Chris Klein, Christopher Marquette and Julie Hagerty in supporting roles, among a credited cast of 55 and crew of 85. The film runs 94 minutes.

Released in November 2005, it took about 51 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.2 out of 10 from roughly 135,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.2 out of 10 from about 1,850 votes. A critics' rating of 5.2 out of 10 from 110 reviews places it somewhat below the audience scores.