the robert downey jr film guide

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Friends and Lovers (1999)

Tags: Supporting Role, Comedy, Last Resort for the Obsessive Fan, Independent, Career Trajectory: Troubled Actor, RDJ is the Only Good Thing About This Movie, Shirtless, Underwear (Or Less), The Other Kind of Action, Has an Accent, Weirdness, On DVD in Region 1, Rated R

Summary

A hormonally-charged group of friends spends Christmas at a ski house.

Director

George Haas

Downey Factor

Low to Medium.

Character

Hans, a German ski instructor / spiritual guru who’s trying to get some.

Looks

Different. Not in a bad way, but he has never looked anything like this: goatee, spiked hair with bleach blond tips.

Performance

Comical, but somethimes with the German accent, he’s hard to understand. You’ll wonder where it went when he sings.

Line

Smack my ass, even though I am done.

Sings

Carla, a song he wrote himself.

Accent

German.

Love & Sex

Sets his sights on Claudia Schiffer, and gets what he wants.

Dies, Gay or Villain

No, no, not necesarily.

Cast

Stephen Baldwin, Claudia Schiffer, Leon, David Rasche

Connection

Claudia Schiffer in Black and White. Ann Magnuson in Hugo Pool.

Availability

Released in theaters 16 April 1999. On DVD in Region 1.

Foreign Titles

Brazil: Amigos e Amantes (Friends and Lovers)
Croatia: Prijatelji i Ljubavnici (Girl and Mistress)
Finland: Villi Viikonloppu (Wild Weekend)
Spain: Amigos y amantes (Friends and Lovers)

Rotten Tomatoes

7% Fresh | 14 Reviews

Critical View

Dennis Lim, Village Voice: Robert Downey Jr., grotesque as a Bavarian ski instructor, does his best to elevate the movie to the level of train wreck, but the film, unbelievable as this sounds, is beneath him.

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Robert Downey Jr., the movie’s sole virtue, is in a handful of scenes. Everything he does lets the audience know that he’s slumming. Downey is funny as a German ski instructor with a thick accent — he mugs, purses his lips and rolls his eyes. Like some illegitimate son of Laurence Olivier, Downey makes a virtue out of shamelessness. But the movie can’t pull off the same trick.

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The only possible explanation for the film being released is that there are stars in the cast ... They should speak sternly with their agents.

2 Reasons to See It

1. For what it’s worth, he’s got a sex scene and blonde streaks in his hair.
2. Reason number one is a real stretch. You can’t possibly expect me to come up with another.

Overall

He is the only thing about this movie that is even remotely tolerable.

If You Like It

You might also like open mic nights, being slapped in the face, direct to video American Pie sequels.

Photos

Video