Some movies are so bad they're good. For example, Swept Away, starring Madonna, is good for a laugh. It's fun to watch such a huge music star crash and burn in a failed attempt at acting.

Other movies are so bad they're just really, really bad. As is the case with From Justin To Kelly, which stars the two finalists from the first season of the hit television talent search, American Idol.

It's not fun at all to watch them crash and burn.

The two young stars - Justin Guarini and Kelly Clarkson - were so darn likeable on American Idol that it's just painful to watch them struggle through a movie that was clearly made by marketers rather than filmmakers.

At least Madonna looked killer in Swept Away, even though she was trapped on a desert island for most of the film. In From Justin To Kelly, Clarkson's clothes are mind-numbingly bad. In the final scene, for example, she wears the ugliest skirt that has ever been seen on the big screen. It's constructed like a grass skirt, only it's made entirely of multicoloured men's ties. Eeeuw.

Idol fans will remember how much attention was focused on the look of the potential pop stars on the show, so the bad style that runs rampant here kinda makes you wonder just how fast the film was shot.

It can certainly be no coincidence that the movie is hitting theatres just a few weeks after the recent peak of interest in American Idol's second round. The television show will help put people in seats at the theatre, which in turn will help pump up sales for Clarkson's debut album, which will help promote round three of the television show.

Is there no end to the marketing genius?

But frankly, it's not just the clothes that draw the integrity of this film into question. The poor acting also makes you think it was shot in a week. And so does the weak story. And the wooden writing. And the sloppy editing.

The fact that neither Clarkson nor Guarini has acted before doesn't help, particularly since the dialogue is obvious and unfunny. Both might do better in a quality project, especially Guarini, who handles the athletic breakdancing-influenced choreography with more style than Clarkson.

The music? Well, aside from Guarini's adorably fuzzy Afro, the 11 original songs - most of them ballads - are the best part of From Justin To Kelly, though that isn't saying much.

Clarkson plays a sweetie named Kelly from small town Texas.

Guarini plays a party promoter named Justin from Pennsylvania.

They meet on the beach during Spring Break in Miami, fall for each other instantly in spite of their differences and spend the week trying to hook up, much to the dismay of Kelly's nasty girlfriend Alexa.

An icy blonde with a southern drawl, Alexa is jealous of the attention showered on Kelly. So she connives to keep the two of them apart for most of the movie.

The plot is kind of Grease with sand, but Guarini and Clarkson don't nearly live up to the standard set by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. In fact, From Justin To Kelly does the tradition of musical movies a disservice, especially when you consider the fact that two recent musicals - Moulin Rouge and Chicago - had effectively repaired the genre's dusty and tarnished reputation.

While the songs show off the vocal talent of the stars, the lyrics don't do much to express the feelings of the characters. It seems as if the tunes were written before the script, then rammed into the story at random spots.

Save yourself the price of a movie ticket and buy the soundtrack instead.