The Hard Times of RJ Berger

"The Hard Times of RJ Berger" is a mildly entertaining comedy from the good folks over at MTV. This is a strange and very scandalous show (I suspect that an unrated DVD is in the works) that walks a very fine line between John Hughes-style teen comedy and full-blown adult sex romp (like "American Pie" combined with "The 40-Year-Old Virgin").

"Hard Times" follows the comic misadventures in love and lust of high schooler R.J. Berger (Paul Iacano) as he lusts after the pretty popular girl Jenny Swanson (Amber Lancaster). Of course there's an overweight best friend, and his name is Miles (Jareb Dauplaise). Even though R.J. is unlucky with the ladies, he has no idea that another classmate named Lily (Kara Taitz) is actually lusting AFTER HIM, and she's always trying her best to lure him into her clutches with many scandalous come-ons that are just too scandalous to list here.

This is a mildly funny and entertaining teen comedy with OK acting performances from its cast. R.J. is a likable lead character who is representative of all the high school nerds who were over-looked in those days by all the pretty popular girls. His friend Miles is pretty much the typical best friend and provides many of the show's best comedic moments and mature-rated dialogue.

But being that this is MTV, they have no problem whatsoever giving teenage characters sensationally raunchy dialogue and portraying them as horny, under-sexed outsiders (what else are such characters to be in these types of set-ups?). But this is MTV; what else do you expect? I wouldn't advise teenagers to watch this show because of the adult-sounding dialogue, but my warning has no meaning here. I stated my case, and it's up to today's teens if they want to watch this show.

8/10