Vague Visages’ Guy Friends review contains minor spoilers. Jonathan Smith’s 2024 movie features Kavita Jariwala, Katie Muldowney and Justin Clark. Check out the VV home page for more film reviews.

Guy Friends generously lifts from classic romantic comedies—the jazz score and black and white vistas of Woody Allen’s Manhattan (1979) and the fourth-wall-breaking interviews from When Harry Met Sally (1989). Much like Rob Reiner and Nora Ephron’s iconic love story, writer-director Jonathan Smith asks the age-old question, “Can men and women ever just be friends?” Guy Friends takes this idea even further — instead of a typical boy-meets-girl narrative, the 2024 film has a girl-meets-girl premise where the main female character learns how to be friends with women for the first time. However, the fact that the movie was written and directed by a man might make this premise seem less believable. Although such experiences can certainly happen in real life, Guy Friends’ premise feels somewhat implausible, given that female friendships are an integral part of girlhood and female identity. It’s difficult to believe that the protagonist, Jamie (Kavita Jariwala), would navigate most of her life without connecting or relating to other women. 

Jamie lives in New York City, where she works for a prominent architect. Her boyfriend, Patrick (Michael Dahlgren), is a typical bro with a perfectly punchable face and better-than-you attitude. Smith immerses viewers into the couple’s abrupt break-up, triggered in part by Patrick’s jealousy over Jamie only hanging out with dudes. This sets off a chain of events where Jariwala’s protagonist realizes that all the guys in her life want to be with her. 

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The main issue with Guy Friends is that the film hinges on Jariwala’s performance, which is heavy on histrionics and lacking in truth. Her line readings come off as clunky, as though she’s simply reciting the script with big expressions and a loud voice. Jariwala leans into this approach for the humor, but it would have been funnier if she had played it straighter and allowed the absurdity to come from everyone else around her. After all of Jamie’s guy friends learn about her break-up, they make grand declarations of love: a barista, an Uber driver (who secretly hacks the app to pick her up every morning) and even her older doorman. It’s all very convenient and extremely silly, but it would have been a lot more effective if Jariwala was not so one-dimensional as well. Most of her friends are bland, interchangeable white guys, played by actors who come across as non-professional and hyper-aware that they are performing. 

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Ted (Justin Clark) is Jamie’s only friend that isn’t enamored with her, as he cares more about his outspoken girlfriend, Sandy (Katie Muldowney). Jariwala’s character tags along with the couple on outings and they discuss how she should let her guy friends down easy. They have thoughtful conversations, led by Sandy, about standing up to Patrick and encouraging Jamie to pursue her own architectural dreams. The bold and sassy demeanor of Muldowney’s character begins to inspire Jamie. As they spend more time together, the protagonist becomes more comfortable with the idea of female friendship, appreciating how Sandy’s down-to-earth qualities provide a nice balance to her own flightiness.

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Guy Friends is mired in gender clichés, though. Ted just wants to stay home and play video games! The girls would rather be out drinking mimosas! Yawn. Aren’t we years past this type of stereotyping? It’s not funny, it’s just tired. Having a meet-cute story for a pair of female friends is a unique twist on the romantic comedy genre, and the friendship that eventually develops between Jamie and Sandy is sweet to watch, but when so much of the film echoes better rom-coms of the past, it’s difficult to see Guy Friends as anything but a paper-thin derivative.

Guy Friends released theatrically and digitally on May 31, 2024.

Caroline Madden (@crolinss) is the author of Springsteen as Soundtrack. She’s also a film critic who has written for Screen Queens, Reverse Shot, IndieWire and more. Caroline is the editor-in-chief of Video Librarian.

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