Tom (Ashton Kutcher) and Sarah (Brittany Murphy) meet, get married, go on a honeymoon and then run into problems and get into fights. After the honeymoon they break up but soon decide they really do like each other after all. That is as substantial as Just Married gets.

The largely slapstick comedy actually has a good premise, but never gets off the ground with it. For example, Tom is a blue-collar kid and Sarah comes from an upper class family, but Just Married doesn’t do much with the contrast and the humor surrounding the matter is not nearly as developed as it could be.

Similarly, Tom and Sarah get engaged without really knowing each other, but the film never leads to saying anything significant about preparing for marriage either. In fact, Tom and Sarah are so immature; I don’t think “getting to know each other better” would have done much good anyway.

Indeed, their immaturity makes up what is perhaps the most annoying aspect of the film. Thought there are only traces of any alcohol use, Brittany Murphy acts as if she’s perpetually drunk and Ashton Kutcher seems to think he’s playing a mentally handicapped character.

Just Married is constantly silly and only occasionally funny. Tom and Sarah’s fights and arguments are absolutely stupid and their resolutions hardly redeeming. The character’s immaturity might be somewhat acceptable were the film self-conscious of the fact the way Adam Sandler’s films are, but its insistence on trying to present a serious comedy results only in its exposure as a seriously immature movie.

Year: