{"id":1373,"date":"2024-07-27T23:25:40","date_gmt":"2024-07-27T23:25:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=1373"},"modified":"2024-10-13T19:23:49","modified_gmt":"2024-10-13T23:23:49","slug":"from-justin-to-kelly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/07\/27\/from-justin-to-kelly\/","title":{"rendered":"From Justin to Kelly"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"From Justin to Kelly <\/strong>(2003)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 20th<\/sup> Century Fox\/Musical-Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 81 minutes (Theatrical Version)\/90 minutes (Extended Version)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (thematic elements, sensuality, brief language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Robert Iscove\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Kim Fuller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Greg Siff and Michael Wandmacher\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Francis Kenny\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: June 20, 2003 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Kelly Clarkson, Justin Guarini, Katherine Bailess, Anika Noni Rose, Greg Siff, Brian Dietzen, Jason Yribar, Christopher Bryan, Theresa San-Nicholas, Toi Svane Stepp, Justin Gorence, Kaitlin Riley, Marc Macaulay.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $4.9M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *<\/p>\n

\u00a0The story behind the musical bomb From Justin to Kelly<\/strong> is more interesting than anything that happens during its 81-minute running time. It all began with the first season of American Idol. As part of the contract, the winner and runner-up of the singing competition had to star in a film. Given the enormous success of the show, the idea of making a movie was seemingly a no-brainer. Surely the millions of people who tuned in and voted each week would turn out en masse for an American Idol-related movie, right? WRONG! They turned away en masse instead.<\/p>\n

\u00a0From Justin to Kelly<\/strong> was hurriedly shot in early \u201903 and rushed through post-production to be ready for release by June 20, a primo spot on the movie schedule with school just letting out for the summer. Expecting big crowds, Fox opened it in over 2000 locations. It tanked BIG TIME, not even cracking the top ten with only $2.7 million opening weekend. Its final domestic gross fell just short of $5 million. The movie predicted to be one of the summer\u2019s biggest hits was already out on video by Labor Day. Is it any wonder that Fox execs removed the movie clause from the Idol contract after this fiasco?<\/p>\n

\u00a0So is From Justin to Kelly<\/strong> really that bad? Yes, I\u2019m afraid it is. It\u2019s bad on every single level imaginable starting with the Idiot Plot that serves as its story. As you know, this term describes a plot that it kept in motion solely because everybody involved is a complete idiot. If this were not the case, somebody would say something that would clear everything up and we could all go home. Unfortunately, nobody in From Justin to Kelly<\/strong> is particularly intelligent. Okay, they\u2019re all airheads. Take the two seemingly star-crossed leads played by Idol winner Kelly Clarkson and runner-up Justin Guarini. It\u2019s NOT fate that\u2019s keeping them apart for almost the whole movie. The real reason is right there in front of them. How do they NOT see it? Maybe if one of them spoke up about one of their many misunderstandings, they\u2019d figure it out sooner. But then we wouldn\u2019t have the Shakespearean-level love story that is From Justin to Kelly<\/strong>, would we?<\/p>\n

\u00a0ANYWAY, in fair Ft. Lauderdale where we lay our scene, two young people both alike in good looks find themselves to each other attracted. Texas girl Kelly, who we first see singing the ironically titled \u201cI Won\u2019t Stand in Line\u201d to the empty bar where she works as\u00a0 a waitress, accepts a last-minute invitation from her best friends, party girl Alexa (Bailess, Hit the Floor) and sensible Kaya (Rose, Dreamgirls), to join them on spring break in Ft. Lauderdale. Justin, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Sideshow Bob with that hair of his, is there to make money as an event promoter with his two best buds Brandon (Siff) and Eddie (Dietzen, NCIS). They call themselves \u201cThe Pennsylvania Posse\u201d. Brandon is your typical d-bag frat boy-type who consistently objectifies women. He keeps having run-ins with the same female police officer (Nicholas), encounters that always cost him whatever money he just made from events like his \u201cWhipped Cream Bikini Contest\u201d. Eddie is there to meet up with a girl he\u2019s been talking to on-line for a year. You guessed it, they keep just missing each other.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The main story, of course, focuses on Justin and Kelly. They like each other. Kelly gives him her number so he can text her. He loses the number. He runs into Alexa and asks her for it. Alexa, being the back-stabbing bitch she is, gives him hers instead and pretends to be Kelly blowing him off. Justin can\u2019t understand Kelly\u2019s changing attitude and Kelly can\u2019t understand why Justin doesn\u2019t call. They both thought they had a connection. At this point, one or both of them should have realized something was amiss. Instead, they wander around confused, angry and hurt. It never occurs to Justin to show Kelly the texts she supposedly sent to him or show her the number Alexa gave him. Wow, just wow.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Obviously, the makers of From Justin to Kelly<\/strong> intended it to be this generation\u2019s Grease. Allow me to introduce into evidence a number included only in the extended version called \u201cBrighter Star\u201d in which Justin and Kelly express their feelings about their newfound to love to their friends and a few dancing extras. It jumps back and forth between them. It\u2019s such a blatant rip-off of \u201cSummer Loving\u201d, I kept waiting for the extras to sing \u201cTell me more, tell me more!\u201d Another added number \u201cFrom Me to You\u201d is this movie\u2019s version of \u201cSandy\u201d except it takes place on jetty instead of a drive-in movie. It\u2019s just as well From Justin to Kelly<\/strong> rips off Grease as it\u2019s the only memorable thing about the music. The best songs are merely forgettable. Others, like covers of \u201cVacation\u201d and \u201cThat\u2019s the Way I Like It\u201d, are awful. In some numbers (e.g. \u201cThe Bounce\u201d), the choreography is best described as controlled chaos. Some of the dancing is okay but it\u2019s a long, LONG way from Fred and Ginger or John and Olivia.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The acting is absolutely awful. In their defense, Justin and Kelly are singers not actors. They both have incredible voices but neither of them can act to save their lives. And forget about any chemistry between them. There is none. I didn\u2019t buy their characters and I definitely didn\u2019t buy them as a couple. When you get right down to it, all of the acting in From Justin to Kelly<\/strong> is bad. While it\u2019s impossible to single out the movie\u2019s worst performance, I can easily say that Alexa is the character I wanted to strangle the most. I honestly don\u2019t understand why Kelly is friends with this girl. She\u2019s known her for years and must know what she\u2019s capable of. Is she really this freaking stupid? It doesn\u2019t make any sense. Again, wow.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Those who know me know of my affinity for bad musicals like Can\u2019t Stop the Music, Xanadu and Grease 2. As terrible as it is, From Justin to Kelly<\/strong> is on the list. It\u2019s annoying at times but I simply can\u2019t dismiss this mess of a movie. Whereas some movies are timeless, this one passed its expiration date long ago with the way it recalls the Frankie and Annette Beach Party movies of the 60s. The plot is basically a rehash of the original Where the Boys Are. None of these movies are known for their intellectual content yet the makers still find a way to dumb it down even more.<\/p>\n

\u00a0From Justin to Kelly<\/strong> is short enough that certain plot threads, like Kaya\u2019s romance with a local (Yribar), go underdeveloped. At the same time, it feels like an extended promotional music video for Kelly and Justin. Directed in flat-footed style by Robert Iscove (She\u2019s All That), From Justin to Kelly<\/strong> is pure bad movie heaven. From the music that won\u2019t leave you with a song in your heart to the woeful dialogue the players are forced to say, it\u2019s the kind of movie that wouldn\u2019t even benefit from a rewrite by the Bard himself. For never was a movie of more woe than this of Kelly and her Justin-O.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Justin to Kelly (2003)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 20th Century Fox\/Musical-Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 81 minutes (Theatrical Version)\/90 minutes (Extended Version)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (thematic elements, sensuality, brief language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Robert Iscove\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Kim Fuller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Greg Siff and Michael Wandmacher\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Francis Kenny\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: June 20, 2003 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Kelly Clarkson, Justin Guarini, Katherine Bailess, Anika Noni Rose, Greg […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guilty-pleasures","category-musical"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/From-Justin-to-Kelly-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1373"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1956,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1373\/revisions\/1956"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}