- Sometimes, in order to move forward, you have to go back. Jim does just that when he heads home for his high school reunion, in an attempt to relive the glory days with his boys and explore an old romance.
- Sometimes in order to move forward, you have to go back. And in this raunchy comedy, Jim Owens does just that when he heads home for his high school reunion. In an attempt to relive the glory days with his boys and explore an old romance, he nearly destroys his hometown and friendships.—michael rosenbaum
- The movie begins with Jim's commercial for All City Insurance.
In Los Angeles, Jim is not a successful insurance executive, or even a successful actor. He is known for those commercials, and people sometimes sit on his face because insurance ads are used on benches. When he returns home after a difficult commute on The 405, he checks his telephone messages. One is from his agent, who has more bad news for him. Another is an invitation to come back to Newberg for the Castle High School Class of 1994 reunion. He also got an invitation in the mail. The state where Newberg is located is not mentioned as far as I know, but the local mall has "Washington" in its name. It's not in California because it is mentioned that Jim left the state. Jim has not returned home in years because he feels like a failure. In a flashback, Jim is having a good time with his friends and someone is naked.
Jim has to fly to Newberg, and when he arrives, his loser friends are there to meet him. Actually, Len and T seem mature, but Skunk and Freeman might as well still be in high school.
The guys go to a bar called The Knob, where they meet Angie, who slept with everyone and is pregnant for either the third or fourth time, yet she smokes, drinks, and wears extremely short skirts and hates her kids. Then Laurie walks in. She dated Jim in high school but they lost touch. Now she's marrying Mark, and seeing Mark reminds Jim or a highlight of his high school football career.
The group gets together for a barbecue and the guys play some bizarre ball game. Skunk, who was drunk earlier, shows up having been the victim of a prank, which ended with him naked in a neighbor's pickup truck. Jim and Laurie have a good time together but they are just friends. Nothing more. It's not like Jim wants Laurie to stop the wedding.
At last it is time for the reunion, but Mark has his bachelor party. Jim picks up Laurie in his red 1969 Mustang, which actually belongs to Len. Skunk shows up with his wife Carol, who doesn't like her husband to be called that, and the guys have trouble remembering that his real name is Stuart. Principal Teagley is positively evil. Not a character one loves to hate, like J.R. Ewing, but evil. He makes a threat that cannot be said on broadcast TV, but even these guys are shocked by it. Jim and his friends are and always have been losers, and that's the way Teagley continues to treat them. The guys play a great prank on him later.
Jim and Laurie have a good time once again, and one gets the impression they might end up together. Mark has problems at his bachelor party, and there is reason for hope.
Both Skunk and Freeman show they are more than just losers.
So will Jim and Laurie get together again? As in most movies where the guy is marrying the wrong girl or the girl is marrying the wrong guy, there is one of those exciting and bizarre scenes.
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