"A Lot Like Love" (2005)
Starring Ashton Kutcher, Amanda Peet
Directed by Nigel Cole
"A Lot Like Love" was a lot like something, but it definitely wasn't love.
The movie takes place over the course of seven years. Oliver (Ashton Kutcher, "That 70s Show") and Emily (Amanda Peet, "Something's Gotta Give") meet on a trip to New York, and determine early on that they aren't right for each other. They keep meeting over those seven years, and start to think that there really might be something there between them.
Nigel Cole ("Saving Grace") had an interesting concept for a romantic comedy here, but somehow managed to flub it with every turn. It's a disappointment, because "Saving Grace" was such a good film. He must not have too much experience working with younger characters, because his idea of funny in this case was to throw them into a situation and say, "OK, go!" without thinking through whether it was funny or not to his audience.
Although this plot is somewhat similar to "When Harry Met Sally," it doesn't succeed in the same way. "When Harry Met Sally" focused on discussions about relationships between men and women in general while these characters fall in love over a period of time. "A Lot Like Love" takes this idea and doesn't give any insight into current male-female relationships, but instead focuses on the ridiculous and childish relationship between Emily and Oliver.
In one scene, Oliver and Emily meet up and go out for Chinese. In an effort to get the other person to talk first, they start spitting water at each other. This is not funny, especially when the silence is broken by Emily pretending that she's choking and Oliver ignoring her. Why didn't anyone fix this in the screenplay stage?
You don't care about these characters at all. They do really weird stuff to each other, such as take themselves out to the desert for an impromptu nude photo session. And they're destined to be together, but only because the screenplay tells them they have to be or else.
Their characters are just too involved in the Idiot Plot. The Idiot Plot, as coined by Roger Ebert, is defined as a series of circumstances in which misunderstandings that happen between the characters in the story can be easily explained in a way if the characters actually asked each other what was going on. However, the characters are such idiots that they don't think to do this. Often these developments are so easily explained that the movie would be over if the right things are said.
Emily and Oliver's lives are a series of Idiot Plots. If one of them just simply said that they loved one other, things would have been simpler. And the audience would be spared having to sit through the rest of the film. They have plenty of opportunities throughout, such as when they have sex in a parked station wagon or are making out in Emily's apartment, but never say "I love you" to each other.
And the ending is a perfect example of the Idiot Plot, which makes it more unbearable. Yeah, we know the lovers are going to end up together in the end, but the way it's done in this case, a misunderstanding about a tuxedo fitting, makes it unbearable.
Kutcher should have stuck to his modeling career. He's destined to play stupid characters for the rest of his life. Throughout the film he's going into the business of an Internet start-up selling diapers online. If his character did his research, he would have realized that this wasn't a good idea for the times.
Peet is just annoying, but she usually is in comedies. She should just stick to dramas. Her character is also not very bright. If she had asked the right questions in the beginning, she would have realized that the Oliver character was the one she was meant to be with right from the beginning.
One of the most annoying characters, above all else, was that of Oliver's little sister, played by Taryn Manning ("8 Mile"). Her favorite line she seemed to like to use was calling her brother a "dick". And when she says it you just want to say, "Don't you have anything else to call him other than 'dick'?"
About the only redeemable thing in this film was the relationship between Oliver and his deaf older brother, played by Ty Giordano. You can see that they cared about each other, and were able to joke with each other through everything. It would be nice to see a film involving just these two characters and their relationship over the years.
Buy "A Lot Like Love" on DVD
Directed by Nigel Cole
"A Lot Like Love" was a lot like something, but it definitely wasn't love.
The movie takes place over the course of seven years. Oliver (Ashton Kutcher, "That 70s Show") and Emily (Amanda Peet, "Something's Gotta Give") meet on a trip to New York, and determine early on that they aren't right for each other. They keep meeting over those seven years, and start to think that there really might be something there between them.
Nigel Cole ("Saving Grace") had an interesting concept for a romantic comedy here, but somehow managed to flub it with every turn. It's a disappointment, because "Saving Grace" was such a good film. He must not have too much experience working with younger characters, because his idea of funny in this case was to throw them into a situation and say, "OK, go!" without thinking through whether it was funny or not to his audience.
Although this plot is somewhat similar to "When Harry Met Sally," it doesn't succeed in the same way. "When Harry Met Sally" focused on discussions about relationships between men and women in general while these characters fall in love over a period of time. "A Lot Like Love" takes this idea and doesn't give any insight into current male-female relationships, but instead focuses on the ridiculous and childish relationship between Emily and Oliver.
In one scene, Oliver and Emily meet up and go out for Chinese. In an effort to get the other person to talk first, they start spitting water at each other. This is not funny, especially when the silence is broken by Emily pretending that she's choking and Oliver ignoring her. Why didn't anyone fix this in the screenplay stage?
You don't care about these characters at all. They do really weird stuff to each other, such as take themselves out to the desert for an impromptu nude photo session. And they're destined to be together, but only because the screenplay tells them they have to be or else.
Their characters are just too involved in the Idiot Plot. The Idiot Plot, as coined by Roger Ebert, is defined as a series of circumstances in which misunderstandings that happen between the characters in the story can be easily explained in a way if the characters actually asked each other what was going on. However, the characters are such idiots that they don't think to do this. Often these developments are so easily explained that the movie would be over if the right things are said.
Emily and Oliver's lives are a series of Idiot Plots. If one of them just simply said that they loved one other, things would have been simpler. And the audience would be spared having to sit through the rest of the film. They have plenty of opportunities throughout, such as when they have sex in a parked station wagon or are making out in Emily's apartment, but never say "I love you" to each other.
And the ending is a perfect example of the Idiot Plot, which makes it more unbearable. Yeah, we know the lovers are going to end up together in the end, but the way it's done in this case, a misunderstanding about a tuxedo fitting, makes it unbearable.
Kutcher should have stuck to his modeling career. He's destined to play stupid characters for the rest of his life. Throughout the film he's going into the business of an Internet start-up selling diapers online. If his character did his research, he would have realized that this wasn't a good idea for the times.
Peet is just annoying, but she usually is in comedies. She should just stick to dramas. Her character is also not very bright. If she had asked the right questions in the beginning, she would have realized that the Oliver character was the one she was meant to be with right from the beginning.
One of the most annoying characters, above all else, was that of Oliver's little sister, played by Taryn Manning ("8 Mile"). Her favorite line she seemed to like to use was calling her brother a "dick". And when she says it you just want to say, "Don't you have anything else to call him other than 'dick'?"
About the only redeemable thing in this film was the relationship between Oliver and his deaf older brother, played by Ty Giordano. You can see that they cared about each other, and were able to joke with each other through everything. It would be nice to see a film involving just these two characters and their relationship over the years.
Buy "A Lot Like Love" on DVD
posted by ScoopOnFilm @ 11:24 AM
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