I'm Begging Everyone to Watch From Justin to Kelly (2003)

Listen, man. There’s nothing I can say to sum up the glorious disaster that is From Justin to Kelly.

I could tell you that it’s the contractually obligated result of the first season of American Idol. I could tell you that FOX didn’t know what to do with their new mega-hit reality show and made the baffling decision to force their winner and runner-up to star opposite one another in a movie musical. I could tell you that they gave their performers three weeks to learn the script (which was still in revision) and choreography before filming for six weeks. I could point out the obvious: That Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini had no reason to like one another (much less pretend to be in love) after Clarkson handily smoked Guarini in the season 1 finale of AI, and that that negative chemistry seethes through the screen. That none of the core cast had significant acting experience at the time and it SHOWS. That the brother of the creator of American Idol perhaps didn’t have the writing chops to handle creating a brand new movie musical from scratch. That it’s sick as hell that there’s a beach hovercraft death race.

All of that gives inadequate, quicksilver flashes of the true majesty of From Justin to Kelly. Everything about this movie is wrong, and it comes together to create the most confusingly charming film experience I think I’ve ever had. Maybe our brains are fried from too many horrendous movies, but I would gladly watch this movie again—maybe more than once? Maybe once a year? I feel such a strange affection for it. I think this movie changed my brain chemistry.

Anyway, what are you still doing here? Don’t listen to the episode till you’ve seen it. It’s on Amazon Prime (or, ya know, the High Seas of Piracy). Watch it with friends and perhaps a fair level of inebriation. You won’t be sorry. Probably.