Romance

One Day

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: One Day
  • IMDB: link

One Day is the type of movie that women are likely to enjoy far more than men. It has two likable stars, is less clumsy (in spots) than most romantic comedies, and wants desperately to be better on-screen than it is on the printed page. Sadly, the movie is nothing more, or less, than a romance novel put to screen.

At its best, One Day an intriguing idea with two charming leads, at its worst the movie is predictable and tawdry. The set-up is simple: We see two friends, who (shockingly!) should be more, over the course of a couple of decades, but only on a single day – the 15th of July. Sometimes they are together, sometimes they are apart, but it seems they are always thinking of one another.

Anne Hathaway is the smart girl (i.e. glasses, no makeup and bad hair – until she “miraculously” blooms into a beautiful young woman) who is too good for her rich, spoiled friend (Jim Sturgess) whom she truly loves. In the same way Emma fancies him, Dexter wants more from the relationship but isn’t ready to grow up enough to deserve her.

…

One DayRead More »

One Day Read More »

Bait and Switch

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Friends with Benefits
  • IMDB: link

Friends with BenefitsThe idea of Mila Kunis starring in a raunchy sex comedy from the director who gave us the best male cheerleader recruitment film ever sounded promising. But for a film about casual sex Friends with Benefits, with the exception of a couple of early montages where our two leads spend 90% of their naked time together, is actually kind of impotent.

Dylan (Justin Timberlake) and Jamie (Kunis) meet cute when he comes to New York after she arranges a job interview for him at GQ through her role as a head-hunter. The two hit it off, and when Dylan decides to take the job they become fast friends.

After bonding over past relationship stories and beer one night the pair decide to try and be friends who occasionally use each other for sex. As almost always happens in movies like this things start out great but go downhill fast. This isn’t the first film to try using casual sex as the basis for a relationship film (it’s not even the first one this year), and despite failing rather spectacularly it’s sure not to be the last.

…

Bait and SwitchRead More »

Bait and Switch Read More »

No Strings Attached

/ / Home Video
  • Title: No Strings Attached
  • IMDB: link

no-strings-attached-blu-rayThe subject of friends with benefits usually makes for lackluster Hollywood scripts. No Strings Attached is no exception. Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher star as acquaintances who meet occasionally over the years and eventually get together in as sex friends who “use each other for sex at all hours of the day and night.” The story obviously wants us to root for these two wacky kids to get together in a real relationship, but gives us no real reason to do so.

There are also subplots about his career as a hopeful writer in show business and his father (Kevin Kline) dating his former girlfriend (Ophelia Lovibond), but neither of these amount to much. And, in true Apatowian homage (nicer than saying rip-off), we also get several scenes with and his friends (Jake M. Johnson, Ludacris) and and her friends (Greta Gerwig, Mindy Kaling) discussing relationships, sex, and menstruation with slightly inappropriate (but only occasionally funny) ways.

…

No Strings AttachedRead More »

No Strings Attached Read More »

The Adjustment Bureau

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Adjustment Bureau
  • IMDb: link

the-adjustment-bureau-posterIs your life your own? Does fate need an extra push? Is there a grand plan? Is someone watching? Loosely based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, The Adjustment Bureau attempts to answer these questions when one man looks under a curtain he wasn’t even supposed to know existed.

When we meet U.S. Congressman David Norris (Matt Damon) his career isn’t going quite as planned. On the eve of a lost election, while working on his concession speech in a men’s restroom, he meets a beautiful young dancer who will change his life in more ways than either of them can imagine.

David and Elise (Emily Blunt) make an immediate connection only to be separated for years by fate… or something else. A chance encounter years later is also derailed and that’s when David comes face to face with “The Adjustment Bureau.” For reasons left unsaid, the Bureau don’t want David and Elise together, and will do everything in their power to stop this deviation from their mysterious plan.

…

The Adjustment BureauRead More »

The Adjustment Bureau Read More »

The Whole Nine Yards

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The Whole Nine Yards
  • IMDb: link

whole-nine-yards-poster

His role of Friends aside, I’ve been largely unimpressed with Matthew Perry (Serving Sara and Three to Tango come to mind). It’s really a shame he’s made such bad choices on scripts because when you watch this flick you realize how good he could actually be in motion pictures. 

The idea of a comedy starring Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry might not inspire much confidence, but what we get turns out to be pretty darn good. The Whole Nine Yards is a quirky, fun, occasionally dark, entertaining little movie. Full of odd characters and terrific comic sequences, most notably from Perry. And it provides not one but two love stories.

Nicholas ‘Oz’ Oseransky (Matthew Perry) is trapped. He’s living in Montreal with a horrible wife (Rosanna Arquette) who has made his life miserable for years. He continues to work at the dental practice he started with his father-in-law whose debt from an embezzlement scheme he is forced to pay off. 

…

The Whole Nine YardsRead More »

The Whole Nine Yards Read More »