Tangled (2003)

Just as Dimension Pictures provided Kirsten Dunst with her best and sexiest role in the spider-free "Crazy/Beautiful" -- now Rachael Leigh Cook with a part in "Tangled" that brings out the full range of her talent as an actress, and her magnetic sex appeal.Two young men are best friends, but one has Rachael Leigh Cook for his girl friend. A common problem in real life but seldom in non-comedy movies, the other guy likes Rachael but of course he keeps this buried and quietly accepts the fact that Rachael wants and belongs to the other guy. But things can change.......There is a 1 minute 43 second scene which I've lifted from the movie and show people as "Almost Two Minutes in Paradise" --- one man's dream is fulfilled after a 2 year effort including betrayal and literally stabbing his best friend in the back: Rachael wakes up and after kissing the guy on the cheek begins a ragging fit screeching about her not finding her cigarettes. When her Marlboro's are found after numerous 4 letter words and slamming around, the seizure stops and she coyly smiles in the young man's face. True happiness! Great moments are NOT romantic moonlit walks on the beach. Such ideas are for shallow losers. Great romantic moments are being with a 90 lb spitfire, full of life, overloading your heart, ragging on a guy at 8 AM before the coffee's had time to drip.

The premise of "Tangled" is a promising one. It's the old story of unrequited love in a triangle of friends which leads to madness and violence. Could make for a thrilling movie, but for some reason "Tangled" was made more complex than it should be with its unnecessary flashback-storytelling and its "surprising" twist ending. A traditional approach would have made for a much more natural feel. Also, in the final third of the movie characters start to behave unbelievably, all for the sake of a more shocking "outcome". Leigh Cook and Rhys Meyers do their best to give their characters more credibility, but Shawn Hatosy and his wooden facial expressions make everything worse. "Tangled" is watchable if nothing else is on, but it's neither a good movie, nor a satisfying way to kill time.

The begin of this movie is really, really bad. It seems like just another story about a boy who doesn't have the guts to tell the girl that he is in love with her. And to make the situation worse, his best friend hooks up with that girl (Jenny). This of course means a lot of jealousy.The story doesn't seem to have any potential. I really found it difficult to just not turn off the TV. The only reason I had was the appearance of actress Estella Warren and that was still to come.However, this story without any potential, manages to put together a great climax at the end, a real surprising finish with a clear message and that is something that I didn't expect after seeing the first hour.Although there is a great ending, it still doesn't make up for the crappy first hour of this movie.

I´m sorry, what was I supposed to feel at the end of this movie? (spoilers ahead) Was I supposed to be shocked because Shawn Hatosy´s character wasn´t such a nice guy after all? Was I supposed to feel sorry for Johnathan Rhys-Meyer´s character? Well, it didn´t happen. He slept with the girl after all, no one put a gun to his head. He had the drug at his house, no one force him. So, Im not sure what was all about in the end. The guy was a creep, he had it coming. So, his friend wasn´t such a wimp after all, that was a relief. I don´t know, I enjoyed the movie, but the end was kind of a waste, trying to turn the good guy into a semi psycho when all I think he did was to get the girl he loved. All right, maybe he went a little bit overboard, but who hasn´t, one way or another? I give this movie a 6/10.