For any Boy Meets World fan, it’s probably weird seeing Will Friedle in a role like this. But the more you think about it, he’s not as far from Eric Matthews here as you might think.
Trojan War is essentially about the extent a guy will go to have sex–even to the most ridiculous extremes.
The film follows Brad (Friedle), a bookworm high school student, who has an unrequited obsession over popular girl Brooke (Marley Shelton) that’s gone back years. One day she comes up to Brad and asks him to come over to her house to tutor her for school.
Brooke is one of those superficial types you see in movies. But Brad truly believes that she’s his soul mate and that she’s truly good deep down. Brooke romanticizes true love just like Brad, but only on a conceptual level, convincing herself that she wants what she sees in all those romantic movies. Brooke condemns people who are shallow, and Brad’s blind to the fact that she’s just as shallow as those who she criticizes.
One thing leads to another and Brooke ends up wanting to get intimate with Brad. But when she asks him if he has “protection”, he tells her he’ll be right back as he runs to the store to get a condom.
But then everything starts going wrong. He forgets his wallet, his car gets stolen, but that’s just the beginning. Brad’s night turns into a caper. The series of events is pretty entertaining and he meets some really memorable characters throughout his adventures.
Brad’s best friend, Leah, is played by Jennifer Love Hewitt. It’s obvious that she’s in love with him, but he has his sights set on Brooke. Leah is transparent, but Brad can’t see it, even though the audience can spot it miles away. This is one of those classic–and instantly predictable–tropes where the protagonist’s true soul mate is the one right under his nose, even though he doesn’t realize it. He still prefers Brooke. The problem is the other girl is Hewitt…in her prime. Not sold yet? Me either.
The movie doesn’t ever stray far away from the unrealistic. It’s sitcom farce. But trying to pass Jennifer Love Hewitt off as the ugly duckling is a bizarre choice.
Brad is the good guy who gets caught being shallow by the audience. He’s a hopeless romantic who confuses love with infatuation, but then this is constantly contradicted with his lusting for Brooke and one-track-mind for sex. Throughout his journey, he’s constantly putting on this “Haven’t you ever been in love?” or “I’ve already found my soulmate” thing. He wants to have sex with Brooke because he actually thinks he loves her. But other times he just wants to have sex with Brooke because he’s a sex-crazed teenager.
The end result is predictable, but the journey there is adventurous–albeit laughably stupid at times. Trojan War overuses slapstick during a time when nobody wanted it anymore. At least not anyone who was going to watch Trojan War.
Hewitt’s performance is surprisingly impressive and filled with unexpected conviction from the young star. And Friedle’s charisma is magnetic as always. You can’t take your eyes off him. It’s a shame he didn’t do more with his talents on the big screen.
The Twizard 
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