a thriller set in modern day seattle , that marked marky mark's migration from the " good vibrations " and " calvin klein undie ad " guy , to mark wahlberg , thespian-at-large , and a mighty good one at that . 
plot : boy ( wahlberg ) meets girl ( witherspoon ) . 
boy likes girl . 
girl likes boy . 
boy and girl begin dating . 
parents of girl aren't crazy about the boy . 
girl steps to boy's defense . 
family problems occur . 
girl learns more about the boy . 
boy goes nuts . 
fun ensues . 
critique : ever wonder what would happen if your better half turned out to be someone other than the person that you had come to cherish and love ? 
well , if you ever have , then this film is definitely for you . 
it isn't the most original premise in the world , but it is handled pretty well here , and pretty quickly for that matter ( a speedy 90 minutes ) . 
i think one of the main reasons this film worked for me is the groundbreaking performance by mark wahlberg ( of boogie nights infamy ( 7 . 5/10 ) . 
he completely captured all the goodness , and badness , of the main character of this film , and always kept me wanting to see more and more of him ( his performance scored him a solid nomination from his core target audience , as " best villain " at the 1997 mtv movie awards ) . 
the soundtrack is also very effective in this setting , and of course , the slutty performance by alyssa milano is something we could all indulge in ( look for the nice bikini and butt shots . . . if 
you're into that kind of thing , that is : ) . 
i didn't much care for the father/david relationship which seemed to be a little too contrived , but for the most part , i was really into this movie . 
then again , daddy dearest did have one of the coolest lines in the movie when his wife is asking him what the " big deal " was about his daughter dating david . 
his reply : " the big deal is that the guy gives me the creeps , and the girl is my daughter . " 
good point . 
all in all , the movie kicked some fun ass , mindless as it was , and effectively demonstrated every parent's worst nightmare . 
mind you , i still can't tell if reese witherspoon is good looking or a douchebag , but hey , life goes on . 
and on a personal note , we finally decided to add some taco meat onto our nacho fiesta of usual , and let me tell you all . . . it was a flaming success ! ! 
another firm recommendation by joe schmoe ! 
little known facts : director james foley was the man responsible for the critically acclaimed glengarry glenross ( 8/10 ) back in 1992 , at close range ( 7 . 5/10 ) in 1986 , and even directed an episode of twin peaks in 1990 . 
mark wahlberg stands 5 " 9 , is born in massachusetts , dropped out of highschool ( later got his ged ) , and was convicted of several minor felonies before starting his career as the lead singer of marky mark and the funky bunch . 
his brother is donnie wahlberg of new kids on the block fame . 
he is also testing the waters on the acting front . 
