Movie Magic
My wife is coming to the end of her vacation, renting chick flicks.
A Lot Like Love, Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet. The reviewer on the web says they were hoping for When Harry Met Sally, but the writing isn't at this level. I think there's something more of Breakfast at Tiffany's: a girl who's a bit skanky, so that hunky guy doesn't even consider her girlfriend material, turns out to have a heart of gold and be the one. It's mostly disconnected episodes; it's not clear why they don't keep seeing each other when they're younger, and when they finally want each other, it's anti-climactic.
It's obviously a sign of the times that they want to say: you can have a number of affairs, sorry, "serious relationships," and still end up pure of heart, ready for the real thing. What's interesting is that marriage is a real barrier to further affairs. When she mistakenly thinks he is getting married at the end, she cries and says "it's too late." Too late? In the U.S. today? Too late for what, sweetheart? These people don't seem to accept liberal divorce--that would apparently be too corrupt, cynical and worldly for them.
Guess Who? Not very funny. They need to cut Bernie Mac loose. At one point he says something like: you kids think romance is one sweaty weekend. Twenty-five years of marriage: now that's romance! You know what it is? It's war! That might have been funny to develop. The younger sister (Kellee Stewart) is comic relief. Having been told that the white guy (Kutcher again) sings while he makes love, she teases him in a seductive voice at a family dinner. What kind of singer are you? Alto? Soprano? Why don't you sing something for me, baby? Kutcher, not getting it at all, stammers something like: I'm not really much of a singer.
The younger sister hugs the older, cries a bit and says: I want to thank you: from now on, if I flunk out; if I rob a bank; if I burn down this house; I'm still never going to be the one that brought a white boy home.
After the Sunset: a total dud. Has Pierce Brosnan always been boring? Woody works and works, but gets nowhere. No chemistry between Pierce and Salma Hayek. Does this make the list of love scenes with no spark, which I believe is dominated by Tom Cruise + x scenes?
UPDATE: Tom actually didn't make the top 5 in this list, but three of his movies are in the 16 honourable mentions.
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