2 Stars
"The Sweetest Thing" is kind of like those colored, sugar-coated Easter eggs with the marshmallow filling ... disgusting yet satisfying. Or just disgusting.
Directed by Roger Kumble ("Cruel Intentions"), this raunchy romantic comedy is the first feature film penned by Nancy Pimental of "South Park" fame. The gross comedic flair Cameron Diaz used sparingly in "There's Something About Mary" makes a second appearance, this time with her in the starring role of Christina.
Christina Applegate offers a convincing performance as Courtney, Christina's slightly promiscuous, breast-implanted partner in crime whose quick wit and readiness for joking make Applegate, not Diaz, the main producer of laughs.
Periodically diverting attention from this pair, Selma Blair offers a believable portrayal of Courtney and Christina's best friend, Jane. Her bizarre sexual escapades make the two leading ladies' frequent hook-ups somehow look a little more G-rated.
After a sappy revelation in the local club, the three end up on a search for pretty boy Peter Donahue/Mr. Right (Thomas Jane), who is, like the film's other male characters, interchangeable. That, in essence, is the story; needless to say, the plot doesn't matter much.
The interesting parts stem from these three 20-something single gals' social lives, caught somewhere between an issue of Cosmopolitan and a less intelligent episode of "Sex and the City." Making a cameo is a weak message about the undying bond of female friendship and its superiority to anything male.
But what carries the film is the succession of slapstick humor scenarios, most of which involve either bodily fluids, Christina and Courtney's road trip (naturally spawned from the Mr. Right quest) or Jane's bewitching affinity for oral endeavors.
