BFFs

If you were to haphazardly throw Sideways, Withnail & I, and Dirty Work into a cocktail shaker, give it some elbows before pouring it out into a chilled glass, then the drink you’d be downing would taste a little like Constantine Paraskevopoulos’ BFFs.

Written by and starring Adam Rifkin as Henry Hartman, a man whose life is going pretty well until he reconnects with his childhood best friend, Jerry Klugman (Constantine Paraskevopoulos). Henry and Jerry were always trying to out-prank each other as kids. And it seems Jerry hasn’t aged up from there.

See Klugman heralds his coming by unleashing a barrage of seemingly harmless practical jokes. Henry, early on, enjoys the reunion and is even bolstered by the competition, joining in on the quest to deliver the cleverest goof on Jerry.

But then things get weird when Jerry introduces Henry and his wife to his girl Anita Goode Bonin (Aníta Briem), an exotic dancer posing as an innocent who works at a vet clinic and who lustily develops eyes for Henry after their first encounter alone together.

The experience rattles Henry and continues to as Anita sends him provocative videos declaring her secret passion for him. Even went so far as to pursue his desire to be a fiction writer to indulge his fantasy and cope with his mental dilemma. All the while, Jerry keeps brandishing prank after prank.

“Henry and Jerry were always trying to out-prank each other as kids.”

Soon, it reaches a point where Henry wishes he hadn’t reconnected with Jerry, who seems to have no control and shows no signs of relenting in this child-like battle of practical jokes. The pranks become more and more outrageous until finally Henry’s pregnant wife is ready to leave him; he has an angry co-worker trying to kill him, and he’s under threat of being fired as well as receiving a promotion. All the while, Jerry continues to mess with his friend.

As the war to deliver the best bullshit increases, the stakes go from high to searing as both friends discover the putrid depths and dizzying heights they will go to get the better of their best friend. Turns out, in the game of trying to one-up each other, these BFFs have made plans within plans to foil the attempt to foil the others’ plans.

Rifkin and Paraskevopoulos hold comedic court as this picture drifts from What About Bob into Very Bad Things. They littered the supporting players with names like Terrence Howard, Kane Hodder, Taye (who gave Stellar her groove back) Diggs, and even a brief appearance from Nick Stahl. Everyone is tongue-in-cheek, dependable, and balances out the playing field as the two leads duel for supremacy.

BFFs has something of an 80s comedy vibe to it. The depravity blended with absurdity has been absent for so long; it returns in the film like a cold beer when you’ve been dying of thirst. The balancing act the humor and drama take on is like that of the competitive jousting of the movie’s protagonists. The upper hand is never held very long, and with friends like these, who needs enemies?