Romantic comedies today all have gimmicks. It’s the only thing that makes them stand out. I was surprised that this film didn’t have one, but that’s not a good thing. The film is a collection of random “character moments” that really don’t amount to much. Nothing surprises you in the least about what happens.
Sarah (Diane Lane, THE PERFECT STORM) is recently divorced and her sisters Carol (Elizabeth Perkins, INDIAN SUMMER) and Christine (Ali Hillis, KISS KISS BANG BANG) are desperately trying to get her back into the dating scene. They sign her up on PerfectMatch.com (which the film blatantly reminds us three times) and she goes through one of those over-the-top montages of horribly unbelievable bad dates. Then she ends up going to the dog park with Jake (John Cusack, HIGH FIDELITY), who is also recently divorced, whose friend Charlie (Ben Shenkman, ANGELS IN AMERICA) just wants to get him laid.
Well things are bumpy between Sarah and Jake, but we see some chemistry building. However, instead of dealing with the real emotions between the two main characters the film crams in an arbitrary love triangle with a dad from Sarah’s daycare named Bob (Dermot Mulroney, ABOUT SCHMIDT). In addition, the film injects Sarah’s father Bill (Christopher Plummer, THE INSIDER) and his trailer park-living girlfriend Dolly (Stockard Channing, THE BUSINESS OF STRANGERS).
The film is based on a book by Claire Cook, which I’m certain must be better than this film. It has to be right? There is some nice development of the Sarah and Jake characters, but the film is more interested in lame jokes and forced conflict than really exploring the main characters and their emotions. The film has some funny scenes, but it doesn’t know when to let go of them and move on, beating them to death to the point of total annoyance.
Lane is fine in the lead, because she is always charming. However, the film doesn’t use Cusack enough. He brings life to the stale material every time he comes on screen. Plummer has some nice moments, but Channing is really weak comic relief and often is used as a plot device.
Even the dog gimmick isn’t used for any real purpose. The film is a bland collection of romantic comedy clichés that overwhelm characters with real issues that could have been interesting. But hey it’s a romantic comedy — you’re not supposed to think or feel anything more than numb desire for the main characters to end up together, right? Wrong, two much talent was wasted here. You must love dogs to like this one. Oh that was too easy, but they did it to themselves.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
