one star* (just)
There is a lot of ugly truth about this movie and it’s not the reality the producers will want to hear. It lacks, well, almost everything. It may make some money because of its star names, but unless you can stare longingly at your loved star actor for ninety minutes (okay you Gerard fans, I know you can, even with the sound switched off) you’re going to be wondering if you weren’t better off spending your time watching paint dry on a blank wall.
Why, oh why is a quality actor like Gerard Butler in a movie like this that is so predictable and shallow when his talents have been proved in Nims Island, 300 and the brilliant Rock’n’Rolla, among others (and dare I never call him Gerald again for fear of being tied to a tree and beaten to a pulp by his multitude of fans LOL.)
There are no jokes. There isn’t even the faintest chuckle to be found in what appears to be a romantic comedy according to the official listings.
Predictable is probably overstating it. Any stay at home movie viewer could write down the format of this movie, probably coming up with the ‘staged’ version of what will happen and when in ten easy steps. This script by Karen McCullah Lutz, Kirsten Smith and Nicole Eastman sticks to those steps rigidly. We all know what will take place and when and the dialogue doesn’t help anyone take an interest.
The ending is just so unsurprising and bland we wonder if the movie has actually finished or question whether it will continue for another fifteen minutes after the credits. It didn’t. Oh well, the guy got the girl (and equally the other way around), but who cares by then?
Without spoiling the conclusion (not that it really even started), it’s hardly a great last line for the girl to tell the guy she may or may not have been faking it. It was supposed to have been a play on words to sum up the whole movie, unfortunately I believe they’ve all been faking it for the director’s benefit. By then Gerard’s fans were just pleased that he found time to remove his clothes, but they’ll complain it was all in total darkness!
It’s just so disappointing that movies like this get made, because of the attached actors while many quality scripts remain on the scrap heap, unmade, not even sold in an option agreement. The movie has already made three times its budget before Gerald Butler’s fans buy the DVD and watch it with the mute button firmly on.
I didn’t need to waste 95 minutes of my life, but unfortunately, unless you believe movie reviews, you have to take a chance to find out yourself.
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