A couple of schools of thought come into play with the new Dane Cook comedy "My Best Friend's Girl." Start with "If at first you don't succeed" and maybe work your way down to "The definition of madness is to do the same thing over and over, expecting a different result."
Thus does Hollywood hurl Cook, the most divisive comic since -- who? Andrew Dice Clay? Carrot Top? -- at the screen, time and again, hoping something will stick.
Cook remakes his "Good Luck Chuck" with "Best Friend's Girl," playing a guy so good at being obnoxious that he charges other guys to date their exes and send them screaming back into the arms of Mr. Cast Aside.
Kate Hudson remakes "Failure to Launch" as the woman who falls for Mr. Jerk-on-Purpose, right down to casting Lizzy Caplan as a Zooey Deschanel look-and-sound-alike as her sassy, sexy roomie/best friend.
Jason Biggs remakes every movie he's done since "American Pie," playing the poor, dull sap who can't get the girl because he's a dull sap.
And Howard Deutch ("Pretty in Pink") remakes his '80s oeuvre with an '80s pop-riddled romp about realizing that "I'm not the best she can do."
Think of this as an R-rated "Pretty in Pink," with Cook throwing himself at this character, Sherman (Tank) Turner, with a vulgar vengeance. He courts. He dances. He charms. He curses. He insults. He drinks. He smokes. He does a little gay bashing (OK, a LOT).
Tank's the heavy artillery, dragging dates to strip clubs and health inspector-flunked restaurants, bombarding them with coarse come-ons. They call the ex, and Tank collects his pay. He doesn't want to help Dustin (Biggs) with his stuck-in-the-friend-zone problem with Alexis (Hudson) because he's like family. But he does.
