After an impulsive visit to the mile-high club, strangers Oliver
(Ashton Kutcher) and Emily (Amanda Peet) quickly go their separate
ways, yet somehow remain in each other's lives for the next seven
years. Jobs come and go, as do significant others, but the spark
between Oliver and Emily returns every now and again. The lovers are
baffled on what to do about it, and almost miss their chance at
happily ever after for good.
It's not the predictability of romantic comedies that bothers me,
rather, it's flat material that gets under my skin. "A Lot Like Love"
(IMDb
listing) couldn't even be considered flat. "Love" is a cinematic
debacle so fluffy and forgettable, I was shocked at how infuriated I
had become by the time the film ended. "Love" isn't insulting, just
blindingly tedious, achingly unfunny, and negligently directed.
Director Nigel Cole, who threw two fat English softballs at audiences
with his mild "Calendar
Girls" and "Saving Grace," wants to build a straightforward
romantic comedy with "Love." Amen to that. Cole is looking to follow
two characters as they intertwine over the course of seven years,
leaving out subplots and assorted fat, and focusing intimately on his
two lovers for the entire picture. So why does "Love" feel like it
actually lasts those seven long, brutal years? Cole's quest for
simplicity backfires on him, and it leaves the picture in desperate
need of energy and desire. The screenplay offers no help, laboring
through a sleazy meet-cute sequence, bizarre stabs at comedy (which
has both actors shoving random objects up their noses), unwieldy
coincidences, and a dopey wedding breakup sequence that is as old as
cinema itself. For 100 minutes, "Love" goes absolutely nowhere,
spending copious amounts of time with two characters who barely
register on the charm meter, and on a story that never ever quite
begins even when it actually decides to end. "Love" is a dull exercise
in romantic comedy 101, when the genre has long proven itself capable
of moving light years away from its formative inclinations without
much fuss.
"Love" also solidifies that Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet are not
meant to be. Two likable actors, "Love" has them permanently in a spin
cycle, and the very nature of the episodic story places a tight cap on
whatever chemistry they might've had with each other. Kutcher, so good
when unhinged, oddly mutes himself here, playing the shy suburban boy
with model good looks. Peet is also stuck with an ill-fitting role
that strives to play up that tough, snappish, boy-friendly charisma
every casting director in Hollywood thinks she has. The movie's most
critical flub is that Oliver and Emily don't register as lovers
regardless of their kisses and national park lovemaking scenes. They
come off more as inbred siblings, miles away from the lovestruck
puppies they are attempting to play. Without effective and believable
chemistry to hook on to (since, well, that's all the film has to
offer), "A Lot Like Love" has nowhere to go, and it seems Cole is
positively relishing his film's brain-melting inertia.
Filmfodder Grade: F
