Product Description

America's favorite "Idols" Justin Guarini and Kelly Clarkson make the leap to the big screen in this high-energy comedy set during spring break in Miami-where the music, dancing, and fun in the sun never stop. It's love at first splash when a shy singer (Clarkson) from Texas hooks up with a cute Pennsylvania college student (Guarini) at the ultimate beach party, but a series of mix-ups and misunderstandings may prevent their budding romance from reaching the final round!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19902 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-08-26
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 81 minutes

Amazon.com
Kelly Clarkson's fresh-faced, small-town-girl charm--the charisma that led her to win the first season of American Idol--is on full display in From Justin to Kelly, a contemporary beach-party movie co-starring her former competition, Justin Guarini. The flimsy plot--Kelly and two gal pals go to the beach for spring break, where one of her friends gets jealous of Kelly and tries to ruin her budding romance with Justin--is just an excuse for glossy pop musical numbers, in which Kelly, Justin, and the rest of the cast exercise their glossy throats with lots of white soul vocal stylings. The best musical numbers suggest a new kind of disco-fueled pop operetta, with everyone singing the story along; you may wish that Kelly and Justin sang their way through the entire movie, never speaking at all. Plenty of skin--from girls and boys--is on display, but the overall tone is squeaky clean. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

"You're the one playing games Kelly!"
Okay, I admit I rented this movie. Yes, I am properly shamed. But you know what? It's actually not that bad. Sure, it's silly, improbable, and goofy beyond all belief (the outfits alone...) but "From Justin to Kelly" is also surprisingly sweet and good natured. Our favorite ex-Idolers star as "Justin Bell" and "Kelly Taylor", two young adults in Florida on Spring Break. Justin is supposed to be a wild party boy, and Kelly is the down home girl from Texas (she is described at one point as "one bonnet short of Amish"). They meet, have an instant connection, and spend the whole movie overcoming various obstacles (mostly Kelly's evil best friend) before finally finding true love.

The big surprise here is how natural Clarkson and Guarini are on screen; they read their lines with assurance and ease. There is one good musical number, a couple of decent ones, and one really bad one. The songs are pleasant, and made better by Clarkson's beautiful voice. The dialogue is better than we have any right to expect, and while the pace is leasuirely the film holds your interest.

I put this one at about 3.5 stars. If you love Clarkson or Guarini, rent it. If you're fifteen and having a slumber party, buy it. And if you're a Clay Aiken fan, hope for a sequel.
GRADE: B-

decent dance routines, but as a whole not very good
A Film by Robert Iscove

I read a professional review (Owen Gleiberman, EW) of this movie that called From Justin to Kelly "Grease: The Next Generation acted out by the food court staff at Sea World." I previously had no intention of ever watching this movie but when I read that review I felt that I just had to see the movie, just to see if it could possibly be *that* bad. I'm not sure any movie could be quite as bad as Mr. Gleiberman thinks this one is, and to be honest, From Justin to Kelly is not that bad. Make no mistake about it, it isn't a good movie, but by no means is it as bad as what the food court staff at Sea World could do.

Here's the plot: Kelly (Kelly Clarkson) is a waitress in a bar in Texas. She and two of her friends drive out to Miami for Spring Break. Justin (Justin Guarini) and two of his friends are also heading out to Miami, both for some fun as well as to promote some parties and events there. Justin and Kelly meet and are interested in each other but there is always some thing going wrong when they try to get together.

The movie is a musical, so every now and again they bust in to song and dance. None of the songs are that good, though they try hard. The movie has the kind of parties where everyone knows all the moves to the dance, and so we have Justin and Kelly walking along the beach when the start singing and everyone on the beach starts a choreographed dance routine. The dance routines are probably the best part of the movie, and I was a little impressed by Justin and Kelly's dancing. It's more than I can do. To be charitable, the movie's audience is probably not a twentysomething male, but rather the preteen crowd. On that level, it may work.

Nothing about this movie suggests that From Justin to Kelly is as bad as Mr. Gleiberman's review. The movie is not horrible. It is not an abomination, and it is not a crime against humanity (as I have seen some user reviewers state). From Justin to Kelly is just not a good movie. Nothing more, nothing less.

So bad that it's brilliant!
All I can say is wow. There were a total of 9 people in the theater. Three twosomes were seeing it as a joke, making fun of it as it went along. Then there were three people who were actually seeing it. Two of them walked out (not sure if it was because of us or the flick). Every time a person got up and left, the six fun people let out a "awwww."

As for the film...wow... I have never seen anything like it before. Because Justin and Kelly can't act, they made sure not to have any real actors that could upstage them in the movie. There wasnt a single drop of talent involved in any aspect. It was one of the most remarkable things i have ever seen.

And the songs??? They were worse than the script. They were mediocre rhymes repeated endlessly to mediocre beats. It made the music of Spears and Timberlake sound that Lennon and McCartney. Also, the song writers never learned how to write the ends of songs, so EVERY song just faded out during a chorus. I guess the director took a cue from this because in the middle of the final number, he just fades to black, and it was over.

I suggest everyone goes and sees this, because it is the best example of what you should not do. In fact, it is so wrong, that it becomes extremely entertaining in the process. Please see this!