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Good advice

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Movie propaganda

From fixing stocks to fixing hearts.

Ryan Turner (Charlie Sheen) is a handsome, hustling stockbroker. He's got tons of money, an incredible apartment, a beautiful girlfriend and lovers on the side. Among these is Veronica (Lisa Rinna) - the gorgeous, young trophy wife of media mogul Donald Simpson (Barry Newman). Ryan is making love to Veronica one day when her husband calls on the phone. By the time Veronica hangs up, Ryan is out of bed and getting dressed. She tells him to stay. Her husband will be playing golf all afternoon. "I know," says Ryan. "I'm playing with him."

Ryan's up before dawn the next morning, calling his clients around the globe, getting them to invest heavily in Jasco. Simpson has a news conference later in the morning and Ryan is shocked to hear him announce that his company has no intention of acquiring Jasco. Immediately the stock price plummets.

Ryan gets fired from his job, is barred from future stock trading, gets evicted from his apartment and as a final insult gets dumped by his girlfriend, Cindy (Denise Richards), who is running off to Rio with her new, wealthy Brazilian boyfriend.

He's out of work, can't get a job and the rent is due on Cindy's apartment when the phone rings. It's Page Hensen (Angie Harmon), Cindy's boss, the editor of a small, struggling New York newspaper. Page has called to tell Cindy that her advice column is due and she'd better meet her deadline if she expects to receive a pay check. Ryan becomes a man with a mission. He pretends that Cindy is too sick to come to the office so he will bring the columns in for her.

Persons of interest

  • Charlie Sheen .... Ryan Turner
  • Angie Harmon .... Page Hensen
  • Denise Richards .... Cindy Styne
  • Jon Lovitz .... Barry Sherman
  • Rosanna Arquette .... Cathy Sherman
  • Estelle Harris .... Iris
  • Barry Newman .... Donald Simpson
  • Lisa Rinna .... Veronica Simpson
  • John de Lancie .... Ted
  • Francoise Surel .... Lucy Stone
  • Pete Gardner .... Carl
  • Troy Beyer .... Nancy
  • Andrew Berman .... Steven
  • Daniel Margosis .... Screenwriter
  • Robert Horn .... Screenwriter
  • Steve Rash .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Good advice has the feel of one of those films that was inspired by a newspaper headline (Man impersonates woman advice columnist) glimpsed from a moving bus. The concept gets your attention but has no grounding in reality.

Now, I can willingly suspend my disbelief as well if not better than the next starchy tuber, but there are too many co-incidences (although not quite as many as the underwhelming Serendipity). Ryan Turner just happens to lose his job at the same time as his girlfriend leaves hers. She just happens to have a boss who is sexy and attracted to her employee's boyfriend. Her employee's boyfriend just happens to be attracted to her. Her secretary just happens to be rich enough to subsidise his Trading places-style manoeuvring on the stock exchange. The woman with whom Ryan was cheating just happens to be Ryan's girlfriend's boss's business rival.

And then there's the problem of watching one of Heidi Fleiss's Most Valued Customers playing a romantic, loving, caring sweetheart.

If someone had stopped to read the rest of the newspaper story rather than skimming the headline then Good advice might have had the legs to support a feature film. They didn't: it doesn't.

Media intelligence (DVD)

  • Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
  • Languages: English
  • Picture: Widescreen 16:9
  • Special features:
    • Interviews: Cast and crew
    • Trailer
  • Subtitles: English

Security censorship classification

M (Sexual references, low level coarse language)

Surveillance time

90 minutes (1:30 hours)

Not for public release in Australia before date

Film: Undated 2003
DVD rental: 12 February 2003
VHS rental: 12 February 2003

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About the production
From the perspective of the writing team of Robert Horn II and Dan Margosis, Ryan Turner's transformation from a high-powered egocentric to a sympathetic character forms the backbone of this romantic comedy. "We wanted to create a character that has a distinct arc," says Horn, "someone who starts out in one place and ends up in another," adds Margosis. "Ryan is a totally misogynistic and egotistical guy who gets his comeuppance and is basically forced to get in touch with his sensitive, intuitive nature." What better way to connect to his feminine side than to pose as his ex-girlfriend? Ironically, by taking over Cindy's advice column, Ryan turns out more emotionally in tune than anyone ever imagined.

Charlie had fun playing the role of Ryan Turner. He enthuses, "I knew it would give me a lot of opportunity as an actor to try some different things, to have some fun and do something romantic, something old fashioned."

Involved with the project from its inception, Charlie and producers Randall Emmett and George Furla, who had always had him in mind for the role, were immediately drawn towards a story they felt had a lot of heart. "We've been involved with this project for a long time, grooming the script through to the actual filming stage," says Charlie, adding proudly, "it's a film that I would definitely go to see."

Denise was drawn equally to the script as she was to her character. "As soon as I started reading the script I found myself laughing out loud throughout the whole thing. I think all the characters are hilarious," she says. "I've never played a character like this. She is so flamboyant and fun, living in her own little world. She wants to get married badly, preferably to money, someone with a little cash," she laughs, "so it's just a fun part for me to play."

Angie plays the role of the beautiful but guarded editor of the paper in which Cindy's column runs. Diverging from playing a more serious character, Abbie Carmichael in Law and order, her comedic role as Page in Good advice was a refreshingly different character for her to play. "I think the great thing about making a comedy is that if you make a mistake it's funny, if you do it right it's funny. Everyone laughs all the time, so it's a lot lighter than a drama, plus we're getting paid to make people laugh and I think that is fantastic."

One thing everyone on the film agreed upon was what a pleasure it was to work with Steve, who has several successful comedies to his name, including Can't buy me love and Eddie with Whoopi Goldberg. Randall had nothing but praise for Steve. "When you work with a director like Steve, it's just a treat," he says emphatically. "It's almost like watching live theatre while you're shooting because you're sitting behind the camera with the headset on as the magic unfolds on this little two-inch (5 cm) monitor. The performances come to life and you just know there's a movie."

Denise, who worked with Steve for the first time on this film, shared her high regard with the other members of the cast regarding his style as a director. "He's very accessible and allows us to try things. He's very open to doing different things. I really like working with him." In terms of the whole movie making process she notes that, "Steve really added something to it and he is very much an actor's director."

For Charlie, Good advice also marked the first time he had worked with Steve. Charlie agrees with Denise that Steve offers a type of freedom on the set, which really allowed the actors to feel comfortable. "He's very good at working with the actors, getting them to fine-tune their performances, but if he feels something needs to be changed he doesn't get in the actors' way. He doesn't claim to be able to do what the actors do. I'm very impressed."

Steve has also garnered praise from the writers who were involved throughout the filming of the movie. Horn describes working with Steve as something of a rarity. "The great thing about this experience is that we have been working with a director who has definitely wanted our input. A lot of the time writers don't get that chance. We've been on the set re-writing and honing the script because it is so dialogue driven and the comedy is very stylised to the way that we write. It has been great that they wanted us here to be a part of that process."

The writers, whose past writing credits include the tv series designing women, know how to create memorable characters. For Good advice they admit, "we based a lot of the characters on people we knew and took a little bit of this, a little bit of that." They laugh together, "our mothers are in every single character!"

One of the most colourful characters in the movie is Iris, Page's outlandish secretary who is constantly flirting with Ryan as well as other men half her age. Steve feels that "Iris is probably the most completely realised character in terms of every little nuance. It was so obvious to us all, including Estelle, who made the character her own, that it is a wonderfully written and hilarious part." Estelle muses, "I hadn't played anything like this in a long time and I liked it."

Jon, who is known for his comedic roles in Happiness, The wedding singer and City slickers II, felt at ease in the role of Ryan's best friend, Barry. Comedy comes naturally to Jon. When Ryan asks to borrow money from him, he warns Ryan, "You're a bad stock broker." When Ryan retorts that he's no longer a stockbroker, he responds, "Exactly, I'm not giving my money to an ex-stockbroker who thinks he is a female columnist." Good advice marks the first time Jon has worked with Charlie, which he truly enjoyed. "Charlie Sheen is great. I've worked with his brother Emilio before and they are both just really nice guys so it's fun to get to work with the other brother." His role as Barry wasn't that much of a stretch from his other roles. When Ryan, now humbled from losing all his funds, asks Barry, "Was I that big of an asshole?" Barry answers him with a laugh, "Big? How about huge? Maniacal?" Barry, however, isn't that much better than Ryan's character, walking into a bar and asking an unassuming lady where she got her nose job done. Embarrassed, she asks how he knew and he hands her his card and says he can fix it. Endlessly trying to promote his plastic surgery business, he even tries to push Ryan into plugging it into Cindy's advice column. Steve comments, "a big laugh always has to have a good element of truth and Jon has that ability to be truthful, even when he is being outrageously odd."

Even more "outrageously odd" is Barry's wife Cathy, who at one moment is sweetly demure and the next a screaming shrew. Nothing means more to Cathy than going shopping at New York's finest stores. As Rosanna bluntly describes the character she plays, "I'm the archetypal spoiled American princess, so spoiled that all she thinks about is money and the next plastic surgery her husband can perform on her, the latest acquisition being her 'new ass', an anniversary gift from Barry."

Jon says working with Rosanna was "terrific" and clearly the chemistry between Rosanna and Jon as characters, as well as actors, proves hysterical. "Comedically, I guess Jon and Rosanna in bed together was probably one of my favourite scenes, though to be honest, at first I didn't know if it would work," declares Steve. He is referring to the sequence where Cathy literally squeezes the information she wants out of Barry through the moves she learned in yoga. The timing between Jon and Rosanna, coupled with Steve's natural flair for directing comedy, makes for an unforgettable scene.

Adds Rosanna, "Steve really understands the importance of timing and movement where comedy is concerned. He knows intuitively what is funny and what is not." A modest Steve has other ideas about what makes Good advice work, "it's basically a good cast in the right roles, they just work and I had a ball watching them."

Mark Burg, one of the producers, had previously collaborated with Steve on Can't buy me love and Eddie and knows there is more to the process than Steve's modesty will allow. "He has a unique talent for comedy. I think he has such a grasp of films in this genre. He made it really, really easy for us."

"It was probably the most fun I've ever had making a movie, says Steve. "The cast worked well together, they enjoyed each other, there were no agendas, no conflict, they just had fun playing with each other and I had fun watching them."

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