In high school, Chris (Ryan Reynolds) was perennially cast as "best friend," never "coolest guy." Thus he could not -- though his heart pined for it -- ever become romantic object to "school's coolest girl," Jamie (Amy Smart). She liked him just the way he was: fat, clumsy, funny, unthreatening. In "Just Friends," the brief, pre-credits vision of the hell that high school can be is convincing, particularly the fat suit Reynolds dons.

But the movie takes place in that happier place known as "10 Years Later" as Chris, who has shed a thousand or so pounds and invested heavily in wardrobe, mousse and attitude, tries to face his past. His past, largely, is ex-coolest girl Jamie, now a bartender. What Chris seems most interested in might be called a revenge tryst: Now cool, he thinks he can sweep her off her feet and get out of town having achieved a lifelong goal and having settled some issues.

Of course he falls in love again.

The director, Roger Kumble (who wrote and directed "Cruel Intentions," the excellent teen version of "Dangerous Liaisons"), doesn't have great material, and only a few sequences of shtick really work.

But the movie gets surprisingly better as it progresses and Chris puts his annoying cool-dude mannerisms aside. Smart is the best thing in the film: She plays that American perfect girl grown older and wiser, though not without some anger as well. In all, it's not too bad and it's not too long.

-- Stephen Hunter