It
wouldn’t be Stockholm Syndrome, but it would sort of be related. A rich but
painfully shy knucklehead contracts his own fake kidnapping, along with the
woman of his dreams, as a way to win her over. Unfortunately, things get more
real than he anticipated in Eric England’s Get
the Girl (trailer
here), which opens this Friday in limited release.
Clarence
Clark comes from money—as in the “Clark Fortune.” He should not have problems
with women, but Alexandra, the object of his affection is no longer swayed by
superficial guy stuff. The fact that he keeps coming back to the high-end
gentleman’s club where she works as a bartender, just to moon over her,
probably is not helping any either. Help is what he needs, so he hires Patrick,
a brash lady’s man and general life of the party, to help improve his game.
Soon Patrick hatches a bold plan, in which Clark pays off a desperate gang of
kidnappers, saving them both and confessing his love in the end.
Of
course, good old Patrick is a major sleaze, who needs money in the worst way. The
erratic behavior of his drug-addled crew quickly adds an additional element of
danger. Things really spin out of control when Alexandra proves to be far less
compliant than anyone assumed. If they are not careful, she might just save
Clark instead.
So
yes, it is sort of like O. Henry crossed with Quentin Tarantino. It will not
rock your world, but it is amusing. As Clark, Justin Dobies is necessarily
bland, but gamely navigates the bedlam surrounding him. Noah Segan’s Patrick
hardly looks like a virile force of nature, but he compensates nicely with
energy and attitude. Most refreshingly, Elizabeth Whitson plays Alexandra with
great strength and down-to-earth resiliency, making her nobody’s victim.
Arguably, she is far more together than Clark, which makes the fundamentally
creepy premise feel much less problematic.