From Justin to Kelly
From Justin to Kelly is a 2003 American musical romantic comedy film written by Kim Fuller and directed by Robert Iscove. The film, starring "American Idol" first season winner Kelly Clarkson and runner-up Justin Guarini, won the Golden Raspberry Award for "Worst 'Musical' of Our First 25 Years" in 2005. This film is often regarded as one of the worst movies ever made. Plot. In Texas, Kelly Taylor gets by working at a bar, both as a waitress and a singer, where she is flirted with by many cowboy attendees, including Greg. She is invited  by her friends and fellow college students Alexa and Kaya to vacation in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for spring break. Although a generally reserved woman finding the usual spring break partying and sexual activities demeaning, she accepts the offer to escape from the miserable environment of her bar job. Meanwhile, Pennsylvanian college student, Justin Bell, is also in Fort Lauderdale with his friends Brandon, a sexually-promiscuous young man that constantly gets in trouble with patrolwoman Officer Cutler, and Eddie, a geek who tries to hook up with an internet girlfriend he has known for a year. When Kelly, Alexa and  Kaya arrive, they dance along with the crowd of a beach concert, where Kelly first encounters Justin. To escape the noise, they meet each other in a bathroom, where Kelly draws her phone number on a napkin and gives it to him. He accidentally drops it in a pond, prompting Justin to ask Alexa for it, which she draws on his hand. However, it is actually Alexa's phone number; she, developing an instant attraction to him, pulls this trick so that she can intercept Justin's messages and make him believe Kelly is not into him. Alexa and Kaya  force Kelly to take part in a whipped cream bikini contest, of which Justin is the host. Kelly initially is angry at Justin for being tricked into thinking he had more self-respect than she thought, but the two resolve the conflict via a boat ride, where further bonding occurs. Meanwhile, Kaya is into a busboy making minimum wage, Carlos. He is initially annoyed by Kaya, finding a wealthy college student's interest and concern for him condescending. Kaya visits Carlos at the place he works and complains to Carlos' boss about his management, which results in Carlos getting fired . Carlos then apologizes to Kaya and sets up a table for the two, floating on a pool. Eddie continues to look for his online date, getting beat up by a jock in a hotel room in the process. Alexa continues trying to keep Justin away from Kelly. When Justin and Kelly plan to meet at the beach one night, Alexa, as "Kelly", sends Justin a message stating she's not interested. She goes to the place Kelly meant to see Justin, lying that Justin told her he met Kelly just to get to Alexa. Alexa then calls Greg and informs  him Kelly is in Florida. Greg goes to meet Kelly to claim her as his girlfriend, and Justin negatively reacts to the situation. The two fight on hovercraft with each other in order to determine who will get Kelly. Kelly soon finds Alexa kissing with Justin at a bar. Later, Alexa confesses to an upset Kelly of her scheme, reasoning that she got jealous of all the attention from guys Kelly normally gets. Alexa brings Justin to Kelly. Both Justin and Kelly are together, as is Kaya with Carlos, Brandon with Cutler, and Eddie with his internet date Lizzie. Production . "From Justin to Kelly" was made in about two-and-a-half months; three weeks was spent for actor readings of the script (of which revisions were still going on) and rehearsals for dances and singing before the six-week shooting schedule. "American Idol" competitors R. J. Helton and Christina Christian visited the set but don't appear in the film. Release. Some theater chains threatened not to screen the film at all when distributor 20th Century Fox announced plans to rush it to VHS and DVD a mere six weeks after its opening weekend, but Fox ultimately relented and  pushed the release date back a number of months. After underperforming its first weekend, Fox reinstated the original release schedule and the film was released via home media on August 26, 2003. Reception. Box office. In its opening weekend, "From Justin to Kelly" grossed $2,715,848 in 2,001 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #11 at the box office. By the end of its run on July 24, 2003, the film had grossed $4,928,883 in the domestic box office. Based on a $12 million budget, the film was a box office bomb. Critical reception. The film  has a 9% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 64 reviews; the average rating is 3.2/10. The consensus states: "A notorious stinker, "From Justin to Kelly" features banal songs, a witless plot, and non-existent chemistry between its "American Idol"-sanctioned leads." The film has a score of 14 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 16 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale. "Entertainment Weekly" film critic Owen Gleiberman wrote in his review, "How bad is "From Justin to Kelly"? Set in Miami during  spring break, it's like "Grease: The Next Generation" acted out by the food-court staff at SeaWorld." "Time" magazine described the film as "a monstrous "Idol" movie musical that in the most generous light is the worst film so far this century". Reception from Clarkson. Clarkson has since stated that before the film went into production, she pleaded with the creator of "American Idol" to be relieved from the contractual obligation to star in the film and that she has always disliked "From Justin to Kelly". In an interview, she admitted she joined the film only because she was  contractually obligated to do so: "I knew when I read the script it was going to be real, real bad, but when I won, I signed that piece of paper, and I could not get out of it." Accolades. The film is listed in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book "The Official Razzie Movie Guide" as one of the 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made. The choreography was considered so bad that a special Golden Raspberry "Governor's Award" was created as an excuse to present the film with a Razzie. "Total Film" magazine ranked the film  at number 16 in their list of "66 Worst Movies Of All Time". Home media. The DVD release includes an extended version of 90 minutes which has two new musical numbers, "From Me to You" and "Brighter Star", additional lyrics, more sensual choreography to "Wish Upon a Star", and a scene involving a "Dare to Be Bare" contest. Soundtrack. A commercial soundtrack with studio tracks was produced but remains unreleased due to the film's negative reception and unsatisfactory box office returns. However, a version of the song "Timeless", sung by Clarkson and Guarini, and recorded prior to the film , was included on Guarini's self-titled debut album. The tracks of the unreleased studio soundtrack can be found on various Clarkson fan sites. Two songs, "From Me to You" and "Brighter Star", did not appear in the theatrical release, but were added to the extended version DVD release. Clarkson also performed "The Bounce (The Luv)", and "Timeless" during her shared (with Clay Aiken) "Independent Tour" in 2003 with her male backup singer performing the male vocals on "Timeless". Songs used in the film and soundtrack (in order of appearance):