Writer: Mark Mussina, Steven Sessions (Screenplay)
Starring: Geoff Stults, Mena Suvari, Jennifer Finnigan, Josh Hopkins, Eric Roberts, Kenan Thompson, Josh Cooke
Plot: A Bet’s A Bet tells the story of Vince, New England’s most successful divorce attorney. To Vince, life is one big competition, and losing is unacceptable. This also applies in his dating life with his love ’em and leave ’em approach. Then Vince meets Jane, who is beautiful, successful and also extremely driven. Together they enter into a series of entertaining wagers with each other where the winner gets to decide the fate of the loser. After all, “A Bet’s a Bet!”
Runtime: 1 Hour 37 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Nice Comedy That Misses Certain Jokes
Story: The Opposite Sex starts as divorce lawyer Vince (Stults) close yet another case, his reputation is growing and his nature is to search for women to sleep with, this doesn’t chance when he meets his best friend Kenny’s (Hopkins) girlfriend’s Stephanie (Finnigan) old friend Jane (Suvari) who is just as competitive as he is.
Vince wanting to prove he can be better than Jane at something all which will bring them closer together, while Kenny must learn to whether he can keep Vince in his life.
Thoughts on The Opposite Sex
Characters – Vince is a serial womaniser who happens to work as a divorce lawyer, he even sleeps with his clients, he has a competitive nature which gets shattered when Jane starts beating him at everything. he gets caught up in the middle of a string of bets, where he must learn to grow up. Jane is going through a hard time after a disastrous relationship, she has given up hope on men because of their behavior. She is used to men just wanting one thing and pushes them away with ease not wanting to let them in. Stephanie and Kenny are the couple that introduce the two, they are both the opposite of the other two which has been waiting for a change in their own lives.
Performances – Geoff Stults is good in this leading role, he can handle the comedy well even if the character feels like he is larger than life. Mena Suvari is always good for a leading lady in comedy and thrives in the competitive nature of her character. The supporting cast are all good too which add to the comedy.
Story – The story follows a divorce lawyer that falls for a competitive woman who he just can’t beat at anything, this gives him a chance to learn to grown up and move on with life and start taking life more seriously. This does follow a generic arc that works for the film and while we do get two main stories, the couple one does take a back burner through the film at times. Some of the story gets ignored because we are trying to get jokes in that don’t work for the most part when it comes to moving the story along.
Comedy – The comedy does work at times, but sometimes we just get too many thrown in that are there for extra jokes over moving the story along.
Settings – The film does keep us in the small city environment which does have clubs that out characters wouldn’t normal go to, to make sure they follow through with bets and try to prove their competitive nature.
Scene of the Movie – Game night.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Certain jokes are just here for no reason.
Final Thoughts – This is an enjoyable enough comedy, it does have a nice message while still getting the point across about treating people correctly even if you need to learn.
Overall: Comedy that works well.
Rating