From Justin to Kelly (2003) User Reviews

I don't want to live anymore.

[tipplerunkus · 1/10 · 1 April 2004]

And I only watched the first 25 minutes. It is inconcievable to me that anyone could make a film this hopelessly, endlessly, mind-meltingly bad. This is not a bad movie - it's a war crime. Somehow the producers actually managed to cast supporting players bad enough to make Kelly Clarkson and even the talent free Justin Guarini seem good by comparsion.

The alleged "choreography" ammounts to nothing more than frantic flailing of limbs. Accents come and go with wild abandon. The songs are, to put it charitably, forgettable. I'm surprised "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson isn't credited as a writer, because the dialouge is that witless and badly phrased.

This is the worst thing humanity has ever done.

Oh. My. God.

[beerslayer80 · 1/10 · 12 February 2004]

There are bad movies. There are really bad movies. And then there's this one. Morbid curiosity compelled me to seek it out, just so I could see for myself exactly how dreadful it was. I got about eight minutes into the 'film' before I suddenly developed an overwhelming urge to run around hitting things very, very hard. Still, 'From Justin To Kelly' really is a must see flick if you have any dreams of breaking into the movies, because believe me, if utter garbage like this can be solicited, then quite literally anybody's got a shot.

Awful. Simply awful.

[CTS-1 · 1/10 · 7 July 2004]

Yes, it finally came on cable. And, in order to keep up my credentials as an expert on badfilm, I had to deal with this monstrosity sooner or later. So, without further ado...

Oh...my...God...

Who thought this was a good idea? Trying to make a quick buck off of a flavor-of-the-week TV show I can understand, but who thought this had any chance of success? Too retarded for anyone over 14; too campy and too much like a "Gidget" remake for the 9-14 set; too much skin for the "Barney the Dinosaur" crowd. Not enough plot for a 30 minute sitcom, and every teensploiter movie cliché ever, without either the humor (the saving grace for the good ones) or the nudity (sometimes, the saving grace for the bad ones). Anyway, a few random notes:

1. One of the first songs was Kelly Clarkson's remake of "Vacation" by the Go-Go's. I always considered this to be a light, bouncy pop song. That was, of course, until Kelly and her overproduction team sucked the life out of it. Now as bouncy as a Complin Service, this one made me wish for a brief return of the early, punk, Go-Go's, who probably would have roughed up anyone who did one of their songs this badly.

2. Justin, teen heartthrob? He is so thin I might be able to tie a string to him and fly him on a high wind day! With that 'fro, he looks a little like a pipe cleaner. Note to the Director: having Justin wear a black shirt when all the other guys in a song set are shirtless is not hiding anything; he sticks out like, well like a black pipe cleaner in a sea of artificial tan.

3. Aw, look: the obvious backstabbing friend/ nemesis slut girl with the hee-haw southern accent is trying to steal Kelly's scenes away from her by overacting in contrast to Kelly's underacting! Sorry, young lady obviously chosen for your ability to pack a small swimsuit: nobody who cares is watching.

4. Justin's "nerd" friend/ sidekick: you can almost see the lineage trace lines, going back through far superior nerd/ sidekicks ("Better off Dead," "Ferris Bueller's Day off"), all the way back to the early "Beach Party" movies and Rebel Without a Cause. In fact, his clothes seem to be lifted from the outfits from the early "Beach Party" movies' nerd/sidekick wardrobes; if they actually date from the early 1960's, they might be considered retro/cool in some circles and thus worth more than the rest of this film.

5. Oh, the intense chemistry between Justin and Kelly... Really, I am serious. Oh, yes. Alan Rickman and Kate Winslet, in Sense and Sensibility, were an overflowing cauldron of unrestrained sexual passion compared to these two. If Justin was trying to dispel those "man's man" rumors, this did nothing to help.

How to get the movie to go from sluggish to dead in the water: Justin and Kelly, alone, in a scene for more than five seconds.

6. Kelly's nice black friend is being taken to a ritzy Latin nightclub, which is located in...an abandoned corrugated metal shack??? I need to check that abandoned building on the next block; the Cotton Club might have started a branch there. Mitigating factor: the Latin dancers were way more talented than the blandly white beach dancers in the other scenes.

7. OK, Kelly, so you admire Bjork. I can see you appreciate her independence, willingness to go her own way, and most of all given your situation, her career longevity. If you want to do a homage to Bjork, altering your bland, middle-of-the-road song delivery would be a good place to start. Your hairdo was, in fact, not a good place to start.

8. Hee-haw girl does a bad impersonation of Madonna's "Material Girl" video. Which means, of course, she is doing an even worse second-derivative impersonation of Marilyn Monroe. This has no purpose other than to satisfy some requirement in her contract that she got to be the lead in one song number.

9. Telepathic singing? Oh, no- "Glitter" flashbacks!

10. Justin in a game of hovercraft dodge-ball? The stunt double must be a girl to get the sizes right. Oh, look, the danger: he has lost control of a motorized inflatable hovercraft in three feet of warm water!

11. Hee-haw evil girl is proud of notching up various studs, and now she is hitting on- Justin???

12. THAT was how evil hee-haw girl's plots were discovered? Did the budget get pulled, and they needed a way of wrapping up the plot faster than you could say "Deus Ex Machina?"

13. The final massive musical number: a K.C. and the Sunshine Band cover! While deeply painful on so many levels (including watching nerd-boy dance), at least they mangled an already bad song, rather than torture a once respectable song.

Anyway, yes, this movie is just as bad as you have heard.

Zero

[StubbyGimp · 1/10 · 15 August 2004]

IMDb should consider creating a "0" rating below the current "1".

The description should read "dreadful".

Truly, a complete waste of time and resources.

This is the one aspect of being a father I can do without: Having to sit through an 82 minute eternity of this garbage.

The acting by these two American Idol "stars" is naturally primitive, however, one would think ("one" being the producers who are responsible for the millions of dollars it takes for a major motion picture) that someone would have given these kids acting lessons.

What may even be more frightening is that this picture probably made oodles of money.

Sometimes it is embarrassing to be an American.

Miss this one.

If You Read Only One User Comment On Here, Uh, This Is Probably About The Same As It

[georgebobolink · 1/10 · 5 April 2005]

Before Kelly Clarkson actually started producing some decent pop, this was pretty much the only product of American Idol for a bit. And what an product it was. The sheer lack of enthusiasm put forward in this movie is, to say the least, daunting.

Set during a spring break, Kelly, the clichéd Texan girl who wants to be a big singer but is stuck in a lowly bar, runs into Justin, who smiles an abnormally large amount and has a really, seriously ridiculous perm. I mean, come on. It looks like cotton candy. They both go to Florida, and watch loads of "babes" and do a bunch of PG-13 related spring break hi-jinks, of which there aren't many. Hence why they're college hi-jinks. Doi.

Anyway, after a rather dumb meet cute between Justin and Kelly, the plot, which would have difficulty filling up a 22 minute sitcom let alone this 90 minute trash fest, begins to unfold. Basically, Kelly's blonde friend wants Justin, and he wants Kelly, so to get revenge on him, she gives him her phone number, and then makes it look like Kelly doesn't care about him. I'm sure you can imagine the complex and thought provoking scenarios that this could spin out into, but don't hurt yourself.

A quick note on the musical numbers: you have a mute button. Employ it LIBERALLY. Thank you.

Obviously, From Justin to Kelly is meant for twelve year old girls, who have seen the same plot a couple of dozen times before, only this time it doesn't involve Barbie and/or Fairies (insert joke here). If you are a twelve year old girl, go rent Sleepover. It's much better than this, and it has cute boys. If you're not a twelve year old girl (which is a good thing), stay, stay away from this factory made piece of crap.

Unbelievable; A New Low

[peterbonilla1029 · 1/10 · 22 June 2003]

Couldn't believe my eyes at this shameful, pathetic excuse for a movie. It isn't even a movie, just an excuse for the producers to squeeze a few extra dollars out of last year's American Idol finalists. I feel sorry for director Robert Iscove; not because I think his films are any good, but because this movie will permanently discredit him as a director. 1/10, and that's only because there's no '0' option.

Why, God? Why?

[gibbsjb-1 · 1/10 · 14 February 2006]

Unlike some of the entries in the endless parade of crap reviewed on this site, you might actually have heard of "From Justin to Kelly: The Tale of Two American Idols". This name recognition could potentially raise two problems. First is the prospect that you might already be familiar with the movie and thus take issue with something incorrect I might write. This differs from a review of "Idiot Vampire Movie #277" or whatever other nonsense I write about, where only four people on the planet have seen the movie in its entirety and I could have written the entire thing using a Ouija board without anyone knowing better. The second problem might be that you have actually seen the movie and so this review is redundant. Of course, anyone who watched this movie probably had enough pent up self loathing that they have already ridden the vein pain train in a lukewarm bathtub. In which case, congratulations on being dead! It is obvious you didn't quite make it into Heaven, which has a standing gag order against anything related to "American Idol". Better luck next time.

What do you get when you take two flash-in-the-pan celebrities from a reality TV show and fling them in front of a camera without any lessons in screen acting, line reading, or simulating basic human emotion? "From Justin to Kelly" decided to find out. I suppose it's fitting that one of the worst shows on television today would have managed to spawn a Hollywood film that manages to raid the lint traps of sheer ineptitude so severely that it makes "Battlefield Earth" look like a sci-fi epic for the ages. Not only could neither Justin nor Kelly act their way out of a paper bag, but they wouldn't be qualified to deliver bag lunches to the other soap actors on set. Thankfully, one half of the dynamic duo has already returned to blissful obscurity. We can only hope this movie will soon follow. I am not sure if this movie is taking place in an alternate timeframe where Kelly was never discovered and instead was forced to perform to audiences numbering in the single digits, or if it's supposed to take place in 2007 when the same will probably be true.

I suppose I can't fault the producers of "American Idol" for wanting to make another quick buck off their inexplicably popular TV show. Nor can I really fault two okayish singers lucky enough to land a starring role in a movie out of the blue because they weren't as horrible as everyone else. Someone has to be responsible for this mess, though, and I guess the most obvious blame falls on the people who voted Justin and Kelly into their positions as the final two American Idols: namely, the American public. This is all your fault, jerks. You should be ashamed.

Beach Blanket Bingo

[caspian1978 · 2/10 · 19 June 2004]

This movie is terrible because it was made 40 years too late. The American Idol hype fueled the studios ambition to crank out a quick blah blah story about Justin and Kelly. The end result, a soup sandwich with no audience. The fact that what works on television doesn't always work on the "big screen," is true in the case of From Justin to Kelly. The production value is professional and many of the dance numbers took long hours and hours to practice and to get right. Still, nobody cares. The movie itself (on paper) was a joke to begin with. There are only a handful of lines worth hearing through this 90 minute movie. The rest can be considered pop-culture junk or better yet, left overs that nobody wants to have for dinner.

This is sad

[rscampb · 1/10 · 21 June 2003]

This is a poor attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the American Idol show. Unfortunately they chose to use the people rejected from the show as cast. Save the ticket fee this one comes out on video in July. Or you can keep an eye on the Late, Late, Late Show, you will see this one with its twin Glitter.

I can't believe I watched it.

[dara-tinius · 1/10 · 6 August 2004]

I was forced to go see this with a friend for her birthday. I knew it would be dumb but thought that it would at least be something to laugh at. It was one of those rare movies that is too bad even for perverse entertainment. As it began I thought well the story will be stupid but maybe it will have good songs. The songs were the worst part! The transitions into these musical numbers were so awkward. And the songs themselves were not remotely entertaining. Kelly comes off as likable in the movie but I grew to despise every other character in the space of 15 minutes. I don't see this becoming a cult classic. It also made me feel relieved that I never went to Florida for Spring Break. Kelly Clarkson is a sweet girl but she should stick to singing and get a new agent.

Childhood memories

[surferwavebabe · 10/10 · 6 November 2022]

This movie is still as cute as it was when I was a child. Such dork moments, and amazing ballads from Kelly. I still watch this movie and love every minute of it. This movie was made in 2003, so many people are huge critics of the time and they did not understand importance movies like this played for films such as high school musical, and other " talentless" films. Costumes of the time reflect the careless free feeling we all had during the early 2000's. It's sad to see people critique this movie so hard, it's a cheesy movie that was meant to be that way. I am now 30 years old and love the movie to this day.

The guiltiest pleasure

[rivertam26 · 6/10 · 23 February 2020]

There is illusion, this is a terrible movie. But for some odd reason it's my kind of terrible movie. From the rushed execution, bad performances, amateur and confused direction, interesting choreography that most people dont seem to be on point with to the bad performances. From justin to Kelly is a gem. Capitalizing on the American Idol craze at the time. It's a modern take on beach films. The characters are all pretty annoying. Even though Clarkson shows some promise Anika Noni Rose is the best of the bunch and went on to have a full fledged career from Dreamgirls to the princess and the frog. So if you feel like you might like this you should watch it. But if it seems like a bad idea, avoid it like the plague.

pretty decent movie.. just kidding. Despicable.

[ajs567 · 1/10 · 27 February 2006]

Even though I voted a 1 out of 10, I actually would vote this movie as 1.5... it was actually a little better than I anticipated after hearing about what a monstrosity this movie was. I decided against giving it a 2 though because my fingers simply did not allow me to do so.. I would have probably had to cut off my own fingers and dip them in vinegar for cleansing after if I dared to commit such a sin. During this movie, I wanted to shout out "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?" because even after careful scrutinization and deliberating, I had no @#%@^#$ idea. This, dare I say, film (this could hardly be considered anything close to an movie) was similar to papers that I half-assed in middle school and after reading over them, seeing ridiculous contradictions and errors blatantly present and being too damn lazy to edit it and handing it in to the teacher for a crap grade. The script was that bad. There were no transitions between anything. literally. The climax of the entire movie was about 5 seconds long and all the problems within the movie were resolved in a few short sentences. Horrible. Disgusting. Despicable. Hold on a sec while I go rupture my brain with a sledge hammer.

So awful I ordered the DVD!

[mentalcritic · 1/10 · 18 November 2006]

After reading many a statement online that From Justin To Kelly even surpasses the demonpsawn show that spawned it for being devoid of talent, I just had to see the horror for myself. Sadly, obtaining the DVD outside of America is quite a feat in itself. In point of fact, the film has never seen so much as the light of day outside of the States, which is a very bad sign in itself. Released at a time when the American Idol program had just gotten started with saturating us in its contestants' sameness, From Justin To Kelly is elegant proof that the smaller the budget, the bigger the fallout when your film fails to make it back. Produced on a mere twelve million dollars, FJTK presented us with an endless array of stupid dance sequences, stupid songs, and an incredibly stupid plot to string it all together. I guess they wanted to prove that William Hung was not the worst possible thing that could come out of the herd conformist display that is Idol. In order to spare you some agony, I will now try to recount the plot.

FJTK begins with Kelly performing a number in a Texan bar, to the delight of what appears to be the only audience member. When finished, she is approached by friends to go on a trip with them to Florida for Spring break. Characterisation is not exactly a strong suit for this film. Kelly's accomplices consist of Bland Black Girl and Anorexic White Girl Who Feels Compelled To Steal Any Guy Whom Kelly Develops An Interest In. With friends like those, who needs a personality? Anyway, things take a turn for the worst when Justin, accompanied by slightly less bland but even more daft friends, arrive at the same beach. The first of many mass song and dance numbers ensues, and thus we get the first of many strange face-pulling contests. At one point in this beach musical number, Kelly looks as if she is going to distend her jaw and devour Justin whole. Professional actors these ain't. Of course, even an eighty-minute film cannot keep going without some semblance of a plot, and what a doozy FJTK offers.

Much of the plot in FJTK concerns itself with the fact that Justin wants Kelly, Kelly wants Justin, and Kelly's anorexic friend wants to keep them apart for some reason. Well-scripted this ain't. Coming off as an extended episode of one of those family sitcoms that enjoyed a brief revival in the 1990s, FJTK barely has enough plot to sustain twenty-three minutes. So a lot of padding with musical numbers takes place. The thing with musical numbers in film is that there needs to be a logical progression from the dialogue into the music. When characters burst into song at the drop of a hat, it is jarring, and generally lessens the impact. And that is probably the biggest of the problems FJTK faces. Not only are the musical numbers insipid and bland, they also have no logical flow from the rest of the film. The plot literally comes to a standstill whilst the characters sing, dance, and pull the kind of faces people usually make in order to deliberately ruin shots. The words "cash in" spring to mind.

Fortunately, FJTK did accomplish one task. It sorted out the genuine talent from the hangers-on where American Idiot was concerned. With the film all but buried, Kelly Clarkson put it all behind her and concentrated on a recording career. Not that I would go out of my way to listen to her recordings, but she at least seems to be branching out and exploring a wider variety of material. Justin Guarini, on the other hand, seems to have disappeared off the face of the Earth, which is probably just as well after the demon yawn face he pulls during one classic(ally bad) number during FJTK. About the only other individual to survive association with the project was Anika Noni Rose, and I think that was mainly because she hung around in the background, not really standing out in any fashion. Brian Dietzen, however, takes out the prize for the most insipid, irritating character of the piece. Every time this man opens his mouth, I feel like I want to punch him. Although that might inspire another pathetic song and dance number.

So FJTK occupies a place of pride in my DVD collection. I drag it out whenever someone tries to tell me they know what a bad film is. I have even sat through the extended version, and listened to the audio commentary. It is just too bad that we no longer have MST3K, as a riffing of FJTK would probably be worth front-row seating. Most people would not dare admit having seen this film to another human being, but I am different. I am proud of the fact that I have seen the lowest that Hollywood can possibly sink, and believe me, FJTK is exactly that. Other films might come out that are worse, or more entertaining in a bad way, but FJTK is literally the lowest point. It was conceived for no other purpose than to wring more money out of a lowest-common-denominator-rules "talent" quest, and its makers did not even deem it worthy of an effort commensurate with such an atrocious goal. If nothing else, it serves as a great lesson in the duality of art: for every renaissance, there is a time of stagnation.

Needless to say, I gave From Justin To Kelly a one out of ten. Easily the most insipid film you will see in your lifetime, it is even a disgrace to bad cinema.

Proof Positive: No Limit to Human Stupidity

[silverrain-4 · 1/10 · 15 October 2006]

OK, now that the court case is over (verdict: accidental self-mutilation), we can confess. We did it as a joke, really. Our friend had said that he thought "Troll 2" was "OK," so we switched that DVD out for "From Justin to Kelly," just for a giggle. I mean, how were we to know?

And then he watched it while we were all in the next room.

The first 2 minutes were OK, and then it happened. He suddenly jumped out of his chair, running around the room, tore of his shorts and chewed off his own nuts! Then, screaming wildly, he ran across the room, right through the plate glass French windows, and made his way across the road, dripping blood and yelling wildly. He then rubbed his face rapidly across the barbed wire fence and was whacking himself on the back of the head with a medium-sized rock, screaming, "Take it away! No more, no more! Please, no more!"

Imagine our surprise when he then ran into the road and mooned an oncoming 18-wheeler - which flattened him. When we reached him, he was on the ground, oozing blood, bones sticking out from everywhere but he seemed happy. He was whispering, "Thank you God, thank you." Apart from the irreversible brain damage, severe tic and desire to eat possum vomit laced with razor blades (he says it helps the pain), doctors are hopeful that he will live out his life in mediocrity. The morphine and thorazine is helping.

Funny thing is, when we crush his fingers with pliers 'just for fun', he thinks he's on Miami Beach and breaks into the most God-awful songs about someone called Kelly! Weird.

SWAT arrived minutes after what we now refer to as, 'the incident', cordoned the neighborhood and after a few hours, managed to remove "From Justin to Kelly" from the DVD player with only a few casualties and four suicides when one of the team accidentally hit the 'Play' button on the DVD. Last we heard, the disk is under heavy guard by the DoD and is being called, "…the most devastating weapon known to Mankind."

Did you know the average IQ of planet Earth is a mere 34? When the US ripped off the British TV show "Stars In Their Eyes" and relabeled it, 'American Idol', the IQ dropped another 5 points. When they tried grubbing a few more greenbacks by making "From Justin to Kelly" it dropped another 10 points.

My take is this; any moron who not only watches 'American Idol', but then deliberately goes out and watches a movie made about American Idol, deserves exactly what they get. This is Proof Positive that there is no limit to human stupidity.

Hey my great British citizens. I watched this horrible horrible nasty piece of crap so that you don't ever have to.

[duffyboy666 · 1/10 · 27 February 2006]

Yeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Oh how we cheered long and hard when American Idol were announcing that they were going to make a movie based on the two previous champions in each series. Didn't we all think it would be fantastic that Kelly Clarkson and Justin would get their name in lights in a musical picture! How we were desperate to see what would surely be a masterpiece! But of course if we knew how the movie would turn out, we'd proffered them to stick to singing.

Wait a minute....we already DID prefer that! Because you and I both know folks that American Idol absolutely completely and totally sucks. But of course, Robert Iscove was too heartless to listen to our pleas and distributed this disaster to US theatres.

From Justin to Kelly is, yes thats right, another graduate from the pop stars film project university. Like fellows Mariah, Usher and J'lo; Justin and Kelly have mastered the art of bad film making. Terrible acting, predictable plot, shameful lip syncing, poor direction and vapid sugar coated soundtrack, marketed for imbeciles and twits.

From Justin to Kelly is a bad bad movie. It sucked. It's not top ten bad but it's not far outside.

Hannah Montana is more hedonistic...

[CanadianCinephile · 1/10 · 20 November 2010]

Backing my courageous assertion that I must watch everything and anything I come across, here is From Justin to Kelly. This 2003 "musical" is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Penned by Kim Fuller, the brother of American Idol creator Simon Fuller, From Justin to Kelly features Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini partying it up during one of the lamest spring breaks on record.

Is this some sort of elaborate joke? Can a movie actually be this bad? What the hell is Clarkson wearing? Why, dear Jesus, why?

Clarkson stars in this catastrophe as some sort of downhome Texas waitress named Kelly. She's the most conservative of her three friends. The other two are flat stereotypes: one is a shifty and confusingly manipulative blonde girl (Katherine Bailess) and the other is the token black friend (Anika Noni Rose). The two girls convince Kelly that she needs to take some time off from singing and waiting tables in this bar, so they head to Fort Lauderdale.

In Fort Lauderdale, Guarini is the inventively-named Justin. See? Justin and Kelly, just like on TV! Justin is some sort of party promoter and he also hangs out with two stereotypes: a nerd (Brian Dietzen) meeting a girl from the enchanted and apparently still profound internet and some buff loser (Greg Siff). Justin and Kelly "meet" in a stupid dance number and fall in love, but the confusingly manipulative blonde "friend" of Kelly's gets in the way. Will Justin and Kelly overcome the befuddling text messages and strange overtures?

From Justin to Kelly plays out like a teen movie written and produced by people who were teens about 78 years ago. There's this preposterous attempt to "understand" teen culture, but this drivel makes High School Musical look like Gone with the Wind. There are "dance" numbers, "songs" and "song-and-dance" numbers. The stereotypes fit in the right places and the movie's obligatory scoundrel turns out to be a Machiavellian curiosity that still leaves as one of Kelly's best friends.

The "songs" in From Justin to Kelly are bad. The "dancing" is bad. The "acting" is bad. The "screenplay" is bad. The "characters" are bad. The "scenery" is bad. The "camerawork" is bad. The "direction" is bad. The "titles" are bad. The "end credits" are bad. Any "animal actors" are bad. The "food" is bad. Everything, and I mean everything, is bad.

Brandon, the aforementioned buff loser, raps. The nerd meets a strange- looking girl from the internet. Kelly and Justin sing on a boat. Kelly sings a song holding her purse walking down the beach after leaving a bar without her purse. There's a bald steroid freak, apparently, and a dude that looks to be about 45 hanging around moaning about losing his girlfriend to somebody he never lost his girlfriend to. There's a whipped cream bikini contest that isn't the least bit interesting. Seriously.

This is spring break zaniness for the Disney set, an imagined and hopeful view of what people in their twenties are up to when all bets are off and the night can cover the sins of the day. Hannah Montana is more hedonistic. Or so I've heard.

At the end of the day, I found myself somewhat proud of the grand achievement of having made it through From Justin to Kelly. I felt like I had accomplished something spectacular, like I had really done the world some sort of service. Any of my other failings were quickly glossed over by the realization that I made it. Any sense of inadequacy was gone. I made it. I lived to tell.

Rolling In Hysterics...Or Was I Hyperventilating?

[happipuppi13 · 1/10 · 4 February 2006]

First of all,even giving this atrocity "one" star is being way too kind! I remember movies released in my teen years (the '80s) that were a direct insult to the intelligence of teenagers,but I will say they at least had a "somewhat" conceivable point! I sat with a dull glazed look in my eyes,cemented there out of boredom and just utter disbelief!

This movie put me in mind of when they tried to do a Village People movie ("Can't Stop The Music"),just Hollywood once again jumping down the throat of the latest "big thing" before it gets old. I can see all the kids & teens who more than likely pestered their parents to give them $$ to see this waste of celluloid! At least "Can't Stop".. etc. had better songs and choreography,heck,even better humor! Any young person who "liked" this film,check back in a few years and tell me you''ll still feel the same!

I also could compare this to the "Beach Blanket" movies of Frankie Avalon and Annette Funnicello but that would be an insult to them and their films. "Justin and Kelly" makes Frankie and Annette's outings look like "Dead Poet's Society"! I'd go on about what happens in this movie but nothing does or...if it did,I have completely forgotten it!

Lastly,I recently saw a copy of this film at my local "used" music (records/tapes/CD's) & movie store and it was a mere 99 cents! Tune in not too far from now,you wont be able to "give" this movie away! Of course,the fact that it starred non-actors should have gave away that it was fiasco-bound! (Oh,by the way,I only saw this because I was at a neighbor's and their kids were watching it,like it was an Orson Wells work of genius!)

These voting results are a travesty!

[dmlau · 1/10 · 1 January 2005]

The IMDb voting results for this movie are an absolute joke! This movie currently ranks #7 on the all-time worst movies list. Can anyone honestly tell me that there have been 6 movies in the history of the world that were worse than this? Some of the movies currently ranked as being worse than this one were foreign films, which were probably subtitled, meaning that one would have to have read dialogue on the screen. That would require rubbing at least 2 brain cells together, which is more cerebral activity than this movie generated during its entire duration. I nearly went into a coma from watching this piece of tripe. My only consolation is that this quote-unquote film will serve as the entirety of the insufferable Justin's film legacy. Aaaaaaah.

I've seen worse, but it is still an awful film...

[TheLittleSongbird · 1/10 · 21 September 2011]

Now I admit it, there was a time when I did listen to Kelly Clarkson's music. I do like her voice, and the melodies were memorable and the lyrics catchy, but overtime the appeal has diminished. And it wasn't helped by watching this movie, which I actually saw to see whether Clarkson was any good as an actress. My conclusion is that she is a talented singer, but an actress, oh well. Her chemistry with her co-star is rather bland, and Justin Guarini has an acting style that feels forced and unnatural. The characters are never that likable either, they seem clichéd and artificial at best. The scenery is nice enough but the cinematography goes at odd angles and the editing is haphazard. The dialogue is terrible, I haven't seen such inept directing and choreography in a long time and as for story, forget it. The best asset is the soundtrack but even that felt as though it was there for the sake of it. Overall, an awful film but I have seen worse. 1/10 Bethany Cox

To think, I actually watched the Extended Version. (Some Spoilers)

[Rogziel · 22 July 2004]

Is "From Justin to Kelly" bad? Yes. Is it an atrocity? No.

My friends and I rented FJtK with the hopes of seeing one of the worst films of all time, an unintentional laugh riot that would put the stinkbombs of Mystery Science Theater 3000 to shame. Unfortunately that's not what we got.

"From Justin to Kelly" tells the story of, hey, wouldn't you know, Justin and Kelly, young hipsters who find love while partying at Spring Break. A couple wacky missteps lead to a meet cute in the girls' restroom, and after Justin loses Kelly's cell phone number he tries just about anything to win her heart, almost all with disastrous results. Will she realize he's the one for her before Spring break ends? (Take a guess...)

It sounds like a fun, simple story, right? Unfortunately the main plot thread is so flimsy there are several other stories interwoven to pad out the film, all of which focus on other characters that are more easily identified with their roles than their actual names. There's the Internet Geek, who "hilariously" keeps missing his dates with his chat room sweetie. There's the Southern Slut, who tries to sabotage Justin and Kelly's relationship but Just Wants To Be Loved. There's the Sassy Black Girl, who romances the hunky Carlos and sneaks onto the "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights" set with him. Then there's the Studly Capitalist, whose get-rich-quick schemes keep getting busted by that one frigid policewoman who just might be a total hottie under that ponytail. None of these little subplots are the least bit interesting, but hey, they make Justin and Kelly's story seem that much better by comparison.

There are several reasons why this movie fails. For starters, it's a weak homage to all the beach musicals of decades past, and since it's played totally straight, scenes like Justin battling a rival for Kelly's affections in a hovercraft race are ridiculous rather than amusing. Second, the Spring Break pictured here is suspiciously free of any alcohol or "Girls Gone Wild" cameramen, and even racy activities like whipped cream bikini contests are as wholesome as apple pie, or Kelly Clarkson's image. Third, it's a bad comedy. Bad drama at least can give you some laughs, but bad comedy is just painful. Finally we come to the music, as it should be no surprise to anyone reading this that "From Justin to Kelly" was only made to capitalize on Justin Guarini and Kelly Clarkson's popularity after the original "American Idol." The songs are forgettable, but not groan-inducing like the ones in other bad musicals like "Grease 2." Aside from covers of "Vacation" and "That's The Way I Like it" I couldn't give you the titles of any of the songs featured. And that, to me, is what separates "From Justin to Kelly" from the other MST3K fodder; it's a waste of film, but so completely forgettable it's not worth all the fuss.

So bad, its good.

[storkamoopid · 10/10 · 7 July 2007]

This is, without a doubt, the most awful movie I have ever seen. And yet I absolutely love it. The first time I saw any of it, I caught it half way through on TV when I had a friend over. We fell in love with it, and checked 6 video stores for it. We rented it, and laughed ourselves silly. It's stupid, the acting is awful, the music is cheesy, and the whole thing is very clearly a quick attempt at making money. But the awfulness is so laughable, that it's actually worth watching. Don't pop this into your DVD player expecting something amazing. Cause you're not gonna get it. But it's a wonderfully terrible bubblegum movie. If you see it for sale, buy it, it tends to be under $7 and it's a great bad movie to watch. Highly recommended only because of it's awfulness.

If you loved them on American Idol, you should like it.

[SuMac · 6/10 · 20 June 2003]

OK, no one was expecting an epic here. But if you loved them on American Idol, you should enjoy seeing them in this guilty pleasure movie. Fondly remembering campy Annette and Frankie on the beach helps too.

It's like several music videos strung together with a loose plot which puts Kelly and Justin in each other's arms by the end. 3 girls and 3 guys in Florida on spring break, some find romance, some don't. At least all 3 girls didn't fall for all 3 guys. Afraid I kept wishing the Kaya character would have been played by Tamyra Gray, but the gal who did was fine. My friends dogged the clothes Kelly wore - said she made Texans look like they had bad taste. Thought they were kinda cute myself.

Idol fans - go and enjoy - but hurry. I bet it's not around long. Made me pop Kelly's great CD in the the car as I left and stop to pick up Justin's on the way home.

Disney's Spring Breakers

[thesar-2 · 1/10 · 7 April 2014]

In the 1,516 seasons of American Idol, I have yet to see more than a 30-second clip or ad for the show. I wonder if that show's as bad as From Justin to Kelly.

Probably not, but, then again, I also have never seen any of the High School Musicals. I somehow imagine if those yutes went to spring break, From Justin to Kelly would be the result.

This movie truly makes me want to say: REALLY? out loud and very loud. The music is terrible, the choreographed dances amateurish, the story nonexistent, the plot unoriginal, the chemistry vacant and worst of all……..Justin's hair.

Like a lot of the torture I've witnessed in the Saw movies, I had to look away whenever he was on screen. His hair was so terrible, so disgusting, it wasn't even a laughable part of this unintentionally hilarious "feel-good" musical.

In this Rated PG, but should've been G, romp, we have teens to early 20s kids pretend that swear words and true sexuality doesn't exist, especially during Spring Break. To put it in perspective, this is the 2003 equivalent of the I Love Lucy's two beds for married couples in the 1950s.

Basically, two Disney characters briefly meet and have, ah-hem, chemistry (or so they tell us) and spend the rest of the movie trying to hook-up (meaning, just have a convo) while someone tries to keep them apart.

I understand this movie was planned before it had a script and before it even had a cast – so I guess also before it had a title. It all shows. It was thrown together last minute and it will go down as one of the worst excuses for a TV/Movie tie-in ever.

Do NOT watch this. It doesn't even fall in the "so bad, it's good" category. And unbelievably, it's only 81 minutes. The songs, acting, fake smiles, dialogue and bad attempts at making a Spring Break look wholesome were crimes against humanity.

* * * Final thoughts: I am mad at you, How Did This Get Made? podcast. You made me watch this and even with your fantastic recap, it has scarred me for life.

Only watchable for one reason

[k_l_b_937 · 4/10 · 9 April 2017]

May contain spoilers!

Okay, the reason this got a 4 (which normally would have been lower) is because of a few things that make this movie not AS bad as some of these reviews say. Most are for nostalgic reasons.

I saw this in probably 2004-05 when I was in middle school, and decided to pick it up from Blockbuster, just because. At this time in my life, it was this fun spring break movie that was entertaining to watch with my friends. This was mostly due to the simple plot, all the fun going on and the allure of being in Miami ( which IS fun, I had already been). Back then, I didn't really see anything wrong with it, but I wasn't the best judge of acting.

Now that I've watched it in my early 20's, for the first time in ages, I feel like I can give it a proper review. Yikes, it's pretty cringe-y. So first you have the acting. Kelly's actually starts out okay to me, and is decent despite no acting roles, but then it kind of goes from bad to worse after that. Everyone else is not too too bad, Justin is slightly better than Kelly, but Katherine Bailess's accent is OVERWHELMINGLY annoying. And I'm from Alabama! I just wanted her to stop. Besides that, you will want to punch her character a thousand times, and then you wonder how Kelly and Kaya (Anika Noni Rose) are even friends with someone like that. Another downside is the musical numbers, the only one that's kind of fun/funny is the beginning number on the beach, and all the others are hard to watch- the lip syncing, the actual songs themselves... everything.

A few of the things I like, still, are the vacation atmosphere, and, well.. that's pretty much all. Honorable mentions are Anika Noni Rose's acting as Kaya ( she gives the best performance out of everyone, IMO) especially given her material to work with and her choice of guys is the most believable/ most worth investing in; also, Brian Dietzen (pre-NCIS) with his sunburn and woman troubles is somewhat funny.

Guys are going to hate this no matter what because it's already bad, they tend to hate musicals (like mine does) and it's about crushes and love. The only thing they might watch this for is the women on the beach.

If you want to relive childhood a little because you remember watching it then, that's the only reason why you might want to continue watching it later in life, seeing as that's my only reason. A lot of times we can watch things that aren't good because they bring back some sort of sentimental value, even though they kind of suck.

Other than the few things I mentioned, it's a waste of time if none of these themes appeal to you at all.