Seen: May 12th, 2007
Format: DVD
Rating: 5
Hugh Grant is a bit of a one trick pony. That's not necessarily a bad thing. He does his trick very well. Drew Barrymore has a bit more range, but generally prefers the same trick. Again, she does it well; with charm and grace even.
So what you'll get here should be pretty obvious. Unanticipated (at least by the characters) Romance, minor setbacks, reconciliations and eventual happy ever after. We toss in some peripheral characters with interesting idiosyncrasies. Some unresolved issues, a little witty banter and a dash of personal growth.
Bingo. Romantic Comedy.
This film does not fail in any way. Perhaps, like so many characters in Romantic Comedies, it's simply afraid to take a risk. Everything here is pretty safe. The characters have little to lose. No greater trauma will befall them should they fail to achieve their dreams. No relationships will be destroyed, no one will die of tragic diseases, no children will be scarred for life by selfish adult decisions.
Ultimately it's only the leads that will be serious impacted. We want them to be happy, but we really don't fear for them in any way.
This makes it all a bit fluffy and uncompelling to me. I'm interested to see what happens next, but if I'm not shown, I'm not really disappointed.
To be clear, this is not an acting problem. It's a writing and story problem. Hughes and Barrymore do well with what they're given, but there's not much there for them to work with. It's light, fluffy, sticky, sweet, and in the end, it all fades away like an 80's Pop song.
The Good: Unremarkable Romantic Comedy
The Bad: Knott's Berry Farm
The Ugly: The lack of music in the music industry
