From Justin to Kelly (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

From Justin to Kelly is a 2003 film starring Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini, the winner and runner-up, respectively, of the first season of American Idol.

Plot

The movie is set during spring break in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Texan singing waitress Kelly Taylor (played by Clarkson) meets Pennsylvanian college student Justin Bell (played by Guarini), and they fall for each other.

Various romantic complications ensue. Kelly's friend Kaya falls in love with charming bus boy Carlos; Kelly's other friend, Alexa (Katherine Bailess), schemes to keep Justin and Kelly from meeting; Justin's friend, Brandon (Greg Siff), is always getting on the wrong side of a sexy beach patrolwoman; and Justin's other friend, Eddie (Brian Dietzen), tries to hook up with a cyberpal.

Criticism

The critics began mercilessly deriding the movie upon news of its making, and the movie was the box office bomb they predicted (grossing a mere $5,000,000) despite its association with the popular television show. In an interesting twist, theater chains threatened not to show it at all when distributor 20th Century Fox—in a similar move to the rushed production of the film to capitalize on Idol's popularity—announced plans to rush the movie to VHS and DVD a mere six weeks after its opening weekend. Conceding to theater owners, Fox pushed the scheduled video date back a number of months. When the movie tanked in its first weekend of theatrical release, Fox reinstated the original VHS and DVD release schedule.

Users of the Internet Movie Database have voted the film a prominent position on the site's "Bottom 100": it is now #14 on the list, with a score of 1.8 out of 10 . Other listing systems also rate it among the worst movies ever made. The movie was equally attacked by critics and comedians alike:

The film's choreography was considered so bad that a special Golden Raspberry "Governor's Award" was created just so From Justin to Kelly could win it.

Clarkson's already rising musical career was unaffected by the movie's failure, but Guarini's was hurt as the movie's bad buzz coincided with the release of his long delayed debut album.

If there was one success story to come out of this film, it was Anika Noni Rose, who played Kaya. She won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for the Broadway musical Caroline, or Change the very next year. Coincidentally, her next big movie role was opposite another American Idol contestant, Jennifer Hudson, in Dreamgirls.

The movie was nominated for four Teen Choice Awards, including Choice Summer Movie and Choice Chemistry. Kelly Clarkson was nominated for Choice Breakout Movie Star, Female and Choice Crossover Artist.

From Justin to Kelly

From Justin to Kelly (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Plot

Criticism

See also