Ed Burns’ latest film now out on DVD, Nice Guy Johnny is such a fun romantic comedy to have in your collection. It’s always great to be able to catch the independent films that I never get to see during the Tribeca Film Festival, so I was looking forward to watching Nice Guy Johnny and was not disappointed.

Release Date: October 26, 2010
Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 92 minutes

Award winner Burns (director of The Brothers McMullen and She’s the One, star of Saving Private Ryan and 27 Dresses) returns with NICE GUY JOHNNY, his most romantic comedy in years. Twenty-four-year-old Johnny Rizzo (Matt Bush of Adventureland) is engaged to a girl who demands he quit his gig as an overnight sports radio deejay in Oakland and take a soul-killing job in her dad’s cardboard box company back home in New York. Johnny loves Claire (Anna Wood, Cold Case), and being a nice guy, has agreed to give up his sputtering career if he is not making $50,000 by his 25th birthday. He flies to New York to meet her dad and hooks up with his Uncle Terry (Burns), a fun-loving, horndog bartender who wants to help Johnny “get some strange” – i.e., have free-wheeling sex with girls in order to dissuade him from marrying too young.

Johnny isn’t interested in cheating on Claire, but he accepts Terry’s offer of a ride to his mother’s house in the Hamptons and tags along as his uncle visits a married girlfriend. The woman, it turns out, has a beautiful young tennis instructor, Brooke (Kerry Bishé, Scrubs, Sex and the City: The Movie), who takes a liking to Johnny and represents a free and easy alternative to his hard-edged, demanding fiancée. NICE GUY JOHNNY finds Burns delivering another gem in the tradition of his heroes Woody Allen and Francois Truffaut.

What I love about Nice Guy Johnny is that Johnny is genuinely a nice guy and that is his conflict. The character of Johnny has been crafted in such a realistic way, it makes it that much more intriguing and entertaining to follow his story and see when and how he puts his foot down. There are so many people who are driven to succeed in a certain career but let those around them walk over those dreams. This is a prime example of such being as how Johnny’s incredibly annoying fiancee is all about prestige and has no regard for Johnny’s career desires.

Johnny is very much likeable for his level of self respect, which grows once he re-evaluates his priority in his loyalty to others as opposed to himself. He doesn’t allow the limitations that others see in life to determine his happiness. His new friend, Terry helps him to take the step that he had always wanted to make and is a lifesaver in a way. It’s a great journey of self discovery and simply standing your ground on one’s heart’s desires. It has such a warm tone and has just enough romance and comedy mixed into the mix. The characters are simple and the story predictable though less is so much more and it’s not so much about the outcome as it is the journey to the outcome. So while not a must see, if you have the chance to see this film, I would say to watch it!

Bonus Features:

Original Casting Footage (3:28 minutes) – Watch Matt Bush and Kerry Bishe sitting quite closely on a small couch in a casting room, conducting a scene from the film having as much awkward and yet sweet chemistry that is portrayed between the two in the beginning of the film. It’s a fun feature to watch but not necessary to watch.

Extended Scene (4:19 minutes) – This extended scene is when Johnny meets Uncle Terry at the bar before he heads to New York. I personally like the scene that made it into the film, but if you like extra footage, watch!

Deleted Scenes (3:03 minutes) – There are 2 deleted scenes; The first scene shows Johnny & Uncle Terry on the road to the Hamptons and the second scene shows the two leaving Johnny’s mother’s house. I can definitely see why both scenes were cut as they did not progress the story along at all.

Commentary – This commentary is conducted by writer/director/actor, Ed Burns. He shares an abundant amount of behind the scenes facts, the first of which being that the film was shot in ten days! Ed also shares plenty of low budget film tips and tricks to aspiring film makers, which I found to be incredibly helpful. This is probably the most beneficial commentary an aspiring film maker can watch because Ed goes above and beyond discussion about the film. He gives his viewers as much advice as he can based on the experiences he had while filming. There are not too many well detailed commentaries in this manner, so props to Ed Burns for carrying such a informational and beneficial commentary. I’m looking forward to listening to commentary for his future films.

Own Nice Guy Johnny on DVD today.