I remember the first thought I had about this movie was "I hope it isn't loosely tied together by random Oasis songs" followed closely by "I hope the soundtrack isn't horrible." Romantic comedy named for an album, thus giving away its attempt at a musical core right on the cover? I was just hoping it'd be roughly as good as About a Boy and maybe I won't feel like I wasted the time to (download) it. Then the movie began with Reynolds walking down the street to Everyday People and, much as I enjoy the song, I began to worry since the triteness was already over the top and we weren't even through the opening credits. As it turns out, though, the movie is clever and the soundtrack is actually fairly fantastic even if some of these songs are jarring when listened to adjacently.
All in all, the movie was clever. Not particularly recommendable but it's fairly sincere where a chick flick is concerned. As the daughter in the film puts it, it's a "love story mystery" with three stereotypical interests: the homely girl-next-door/childhood crush, the wise and world-weary city-girl and the wild, flighty, spontaneous girl with the heart of gold. You can also expect all the usual love-story clichés where repeated poor timing where soul-baring revelations are concerned just drives the story around in circles from girl to girl, killing time when you've already figured out how the movie will end by the halfway mark. Seriously, doesn't the boy always end up with the girl that convinces him to "oh, why not just practice your proposal with me?" (edit: my colleague did point out that this did not come to pass in My Best Friend's Wedding.)
Still, the cast was pretty enough that it was easy watch, with Elizabeth Banks, Rachel Weisz and Isla Fisher as the objects of Ryan Reynolds' desire. Other than the cringe-worthy overly-talkative moments where it drifts dangerously close to a bad Kevin Smith wannabe-romantic scene and the characters deem it worthwhile to explain everything obvious around them, it wasn't bad. Ultimately, between Judd Apatow's comedies and Ryan Reynolds as a better-looking and better-acting Ben Affleck, I feel pretty awful for Kevin Smith who can't love watching all these movies that he wishes he had made (or were talented enough to make). We'll see where hiring all the same talent gets him.
All in all, the movie was clever. Not particularly recommendable but it's fairly sincere where a chick flick is concerned. As the daughter in the film puts it, it's a "love story mystery" with three stereotypical interests: the homely girl-next-door/childhood crush, the wise and world-weary city-girl and the wild, flighty, spontaneous girl with the heart of gold. You can also expect all the usual love-story clichés where repeated poor timing where soul-baring revelations are concerned just drives the story around in circles from girl to girl, killing time when you've already figured out how the movie will end by the halfway mark. Seriously, doesn't the boy always end up with the girl that convinces him to "oh, why not just practice your proposal with me?" (edit: my colleague did point out that this did not come to pass in My Best Friend's Wedding.)
Still, the cast was pretty enough that it was easy watch, with Elizabeth Banks, Rachel Weisz and Isla Fisher as the objects of Ryan Reynolds' desire. Other than the cringe-worthy overly-talkative moments where it drifts dangerously close to a bad Kevin Smith wannabe-romantic scene and the characters deem it worthwhile to explain everything obvious around them, it wasn't bad. Ultimately, between Judd Apatow's comedies and Ryan Reynolds as a better-looking and better-acting Ben Affleck, I feel pretty awful for Kevin Smith who can't love watching all these movies that he wishes he had made (or were talented enough to make). We'll see where hiring all the same talent gets him.
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