Holly Berenson (Katherine Heigl) is a successful pastry shop owner and caterer living in Atlanta. On the advice of her best friend Alison, she agrees to go on a blind date with Eric Messer (Josh Duhamel), best friend of Alison's husband Peter, and a broadcast technician for the Atlanta Hawks. Messer, as his name suggests, is just a coarse, crude bachelor out to score, while Holly is a control freak. The date is a disaster, and Holly and Messer develop a mutual loathing for one another.
Now, fast forward three years. Alison and Peter die tragically in an automobile accident, and Holly and Messer discover that the couple had named them guardians for Sophie, their one-year-old orphaned daughter. Now Holly and Messer have to learn to live with each other in Alison and Peter's house, raise baby Sophie, and still manage their careers.
The major issue confronting the film is how to turn the first act parental-death tragedy into a second act baby-rearing comedy, and then into a third act romance, without losing the viewer in the process. Life as We Know It expects us to be forgiving enough to imagine Holly and Messer getting beyond their personality and lifestyle differences, developing their parenting skills, and then falling in love. Duhamel easily fits into his role, but Heigl seems uncomfortable, and while there is some chemistry between the two, the third act romance isn't completely believable. Heigl, who is now 32 and a wife and mother, plays it safe; she doesn't take emotional risks in her romantic roles, the way she did when she was twenty-something and single. While production values are excellent, especially makeup, costumes, set design and soundtrack, the plot is formulaic with major plot points telegraphed well in advance; the script is tedious, with all of the standard child-rearing jokes, some of them bordering on slapstick. Life as We Know It has an energy that is very similar to another Heigl romantic comedy 27 Dresses, so if you really enjoyed that film, or if you are a forgiving fan of Heigl and/or Duhamel, you might want to ignore the critics' negative reviews and give this film a try.
Labels: comedy, drama, romance
Internet Movie Database
Metacritic 39/100
RottenTomatoes Averages (critics=46, viewers=70)
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Kelly Canter (Gwyneth Paltrow) is a former superstar country singer who lived the dream and then turned to alcohol to get through tour performances. She hit rock bottom after falling off the stage during a tour stop in Dallas, drunk and five months pregnant, after which she lost her baby.
Kelly ended up in a Nashville rehab facility where she became dependent upon Beau Hutton (Garrett Hedlund) a young staff member who was also a talented singer/songwriter. Then Kelly's husband and manager James (Tim McGraw in a non-singing role) pulls her out of rehab a month early to start an encore singing tour, despite the misgivings of both Kelly and Beau. James convinces both Beau and beauty-queen-turned-singer/songwriter Chiles Stanton (Leighton Meester) to accompany them on tour, setting the stage for serious romantic complications.
This character-driven study of the highs and lows of country singing stars' lives and performance tours features believable acting as well as surprisingly strong singing performances by Paltrow, Hedlund and Meester. Despite a somewhat negative reception by film critics, if you enjoy films like Walk the Line and Crazy Heart, then you might want to give Country Strong a chance.
Labels: drama, music, romance, tragedy
Internet Movie Database
Metacritic 45/100
RottenTomatoes Averages (critics=45, viewers=66)
Blu-ray
Miley Cyrus stars in this romantic melodrama that looks, sounds and feels like a Hallmark made-for-TV movie. Written by Nicholas Sparks (Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, Nights in Rodanthe, Dear John), this is a Georgia summertime beach romance between Will (Liam Hemsworth), a handsome, well-mannered local boy of wealth and privilege, and Ronnie (Cyrus), a pretty, talented but rebellious girl from New York City who is forced to spend the summer with her estranged father, played by Greg Kinnear.
Kinnear and Kelly Preston are marginally believable as Ronnie's divorced parents, and Bobby Coleman is credible as Ronnie's younger brother Jonah. Performances are either somewhat wooden or overacted, with the notable exception of Kinnear's. The Georgia coastal cinematography is gorgeous, production values are excellent, and Miley Cyrus even sings a song. Asking Miley Cyrus to open a major Hollywood film production is asking a great deal, but she shows poise and determination, and clearly has potential in the film industry.
The major problem with this film is Nicholas Sparks' shamelessly melodramatic screenplay, which manipulates the viewer's emotions while being devoid of any honest emotional content, itself. Moreover, the screenplay is highly derivative, containing scenes stolen from several films including Fly Away Home, Love Story, Mean Girls, and What Women Want. As in every one of Sparks' films, a major character must die before the final credits can roll, and this film is no different. Clearly, a lot of people enjoy seeing PG rated Hallmark-style films in which they invest emotional energy in a major character only to see him or her killed off, because Hollywood keeps churning them out. I am not one of them, however.
Labels: drama, music, romance, tragedy
Internet Movie Database
Metacritic 33/100
RottenTomatoes Averages critics=40, viewers=70)
Blu-ray
Anna and Jeremy are New Yorkers who've been dating for nearly four years; now they've decided to buy an apartment together. Anna (Amy Adams) is an interior designer who stages homes that are on the market, while Jeremy (Adam Scott) is a cardiologist. Anna has been expecting a marriage proposal from Jeremy for some time, but when he doesn't propose, and instead leaves for Dublin to attend a medical conference, Anna decides to follow him and take advantage of an old Irish tradition... proposing to her boyfriend on Leap Year Day (February 29th).
Unfortunately, a vicious storm hits the British Isles and the Dublin airport closes. Anna's flight is diverted to an airport in Wales, where she hires a fishing boat to take her to Cork, Ireland. After she's left stranded on the beach at Dingle, a tiny, coastal village, she meets Declan (Matthew Goode) a tavern proprietor who's cold, taciturn and completely disinterested in Anna. Desperate to reach Dublin on February 29th, Anna hires Declan to drive her, and as the mismatched duo travel toward their destination, they have a series of comedic adventures reminiscent of Planes, Trains and Automobiles, all predictable, mostly unfunny and many bordering on the slapstick.
Ultimately, of course, Anna must choose between Jeremy and Declan, and her choice is hardly a surprise. This cross-cultural romantic comedy features lovely Irish scenery, uninspired screenwriting, glacial pacing and virtually no romantic chemistry between Amy Adams and either of her male leads. Only the most dedicated fans of the luminous and lovable Amy Adams need bother with this disappointing effort; for others it is simply a waste of time. For Amy Adams fans I recommend The Wedding Date and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, and for a far better romantic comedy set in Dublin, I recommend About Adam with Stuart Townsend and Kate Hudson.
Labels: comedy, cross-cultural, romance
IMDb 65/100
MetaCritic (critics=33, viewers=62)
RottenTomatoes Averages (critics=44, viewers=64)
Blu-ray
Valentine's Day defines the phrase lightweight ensemble romantic comedy. The film does for Valentine's Day what Love Actually did for Christmas. The film features a dozen plot threads: a married surgeon (Patrick Dempsey) has a girlfriend (Jennifer Garner) who is secretly attracted to her florist boss (Ashton Kutcher) who has just been rejected by his girlfriend (Jessica Alba); a young businessman (Topher Grace) discovers that his new girlfriend (Anne Hathaway) has a very unusual career; a sportscaster (Jamie Foxx) is asked by his producer (Kathy Bates) to do a fluff piece on Valentine's Day, during which he connects with the public relations rep (Jessica Biel) for an aging pro football quarterback (Eric Dane) who's just been cut by his team and is redefining his life; a businessman (Bradley Cooper), who is on an L.A.-bound flight, strikes up an acquaintance with an army officer (Julia Roberts) on a 24-hour leave; an aging couple (Hector Elizondo and Shirley MacLaine) reveal a disturbing truth about their marriage to one another; hyperkinetic teenage athletes (Taylor Lautner, Taylor Swift) and high school seniors (Carter Jenkins, Emma Roberts) want to have sex with each other before going their separate ways to college.
With so many plot threads there's not enough time to develop each of the characters, so each story is told in abbreviated form, with the result that the film's success depends on the viewer already being familiar with the story. The screenplay was written by Katherine Fugate (The Prince & Me) from a story by Fugate and the writing team of Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein (Never Been Kissed, He's Just Not That Into You). Valentine's Day features well-worn story lines, distracting and superfluous subplots, clichéd relationships and uninspired dialogue. The common thread running through the stories is that opposites attract, and our reasons for forming a romantic bond are often illogical and irrational. Sadly, we don't spend enough time with most of the couples, so it's hard for us to connect with them, and in the end, we really don't care much about what happens to them. There are two exceptions: the first is the couple played by Topher Grace and Anne Hathaway, two people who couldn't be more different, but who are inexplicably attracted to one another; the second is the couple played by Ashton Kutcher and Jennifer Garner who start as friends and co-workers, but end with the potential to be much more. So if you like ensemble romantic comedies with an A-list cast, and you enjoyed Love Actually and He's Just Not That Into You, you will definitely enjoy Valentine’s Day.
Labels: comedy, romance
Internet Movie Database
Metacritic 34/100
RottenTomatoes Averages (critics=38, viewers=64)
Blu-ray
New Yorker Garrett (Justin Long) works for a music label, scouting and promoting new bands, but he's very unhappy because his boss (played by Ron Livingston) won't let him promote the bands he really likes. To make matters worse Garrett has just been dumped by his girlfriend. Hanging out with his pals Box and Dan at their favorite bar, Garrett connects with Erin (Drew Barrymore) while she's playing a videogame.
Unfortunately, Erin is only a summer intern at the New York Sentinel newspaper, and in the fall she's returning to the San Francisco Bay area where she lives with her sister Corinne (Christina Applegate) and her family, and back to Stanford to finish graduate school. Their summer together goes all too quickly, and Garrett and Erin are faced with the stress of a long-distance relationship. Garrett flies to S.F. visit her, and Erin flies to N.Y. to visit him but it just is not working.
Directed by documentary filmmaker Nanette Burstein, this romantic comedy feels, at times, like a chick flick, at times like a very raunchy buddy film, and at times like a drawn-out documentary, one that could have been cut by fifteen minutes with no loss. There is some funny dialogue, but nothing memorable, and there are a few genuine moments between the two lovers, but overall the chemistry between Long and Barrymore is nothing special. If you enjoy romantic comedies among thirty-something slacker New Yorkers, with lots of scenes of bachelor apartments and seedy bars, and with potty and simulated sex humor, this is probably a film you will enjoy. Otherwise, you'd might prefer to watch an episode or two of How I Met Your Mother
Labels: comedy, romance
Internet Movie Database
Metacritic 51/100
RottenTomatoes Averages (critics=57, viewers=66)
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Elise Clifton-Ward (Angelina Jolie) waits in Paris to receive a message from Alexander Pearce, her mysterious lover, who has stolen a large sum of money from a British gangster named Shaw (Steven Berkoff). Shaw, who surrounds himself with a gang of brutish, sinister Russians, wants his money back, and both Interpol and a Scotland Yard inspector (Paul Bettany) want Pearce.
Leaving Paris on a train bound for Venice, Elise picks up Frank Tupelo (Johnny Depp), an American math teacher on vacation. She hopes to convince both the police and Shaw that he is Alexander Pearce, thus taking the heat off the real Pearce. Arriving in Venice, Elise continues the deception, but when the gangster's goons begin shooting at Frank, he figures out what is going on.
As an action-romance-thriller, The Tourist leaves a great deal to be desired. There's lovely scenery of Paris and Venice, as well as beautiful costumes and sets. Beyond that we're treated to a mumbling, unappealing, uncharismatic Johnny Depp with bad hair, Angelina Jolie sleepwalking through her role, and zero chemistry between the two of them. The film has gruesome dramatic moments (a strangulation), as well as comedic moments (Johnny Depp running across rooftops in his pajamas), so we aren't sure if we're watching a drama or a comedy. If you are expecting Mr. and Mrs. Smith or Knight & Day you will be sorely disappointed. After having spent ninety minutes watching this, I came away feeling as though I had been the victim of a huge practical joke.
Labels: action, drama, romance, thriller
IMDb 60/100
MetaScore (critics=37, viewers=63)
RottenTomatoes Averages (critcs=44, viewers=60)
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Holly Berenson (Katherine Heigl) is a successful pastry shop owner and caterer living in Atlanta. On the advice of her best friend Alison, she agrees to go on a blind date with Eric Messer (Josh Duhamel), best friend of Alison's husband Peter, and a broadcast technician for the Atlanta Hawks. Messer, as his name suggests, is just a coarse, crude bachelor out to score, while Holly is a control freak. The date is a disaster, and Holly and Messer develop a mutual loathing for one another.
