Good Idea Hollywoodized

Rating: 2/10 (11 August 2008)

This film is based upon a true story based upon a bar in NYC. Too bad they had to Hollywoodize the main character. It comes off in total more like a female version of the male bar movie Cocktail. The main female lead character role seems like she was based upon a real person, but then her phobia seems to be manipulated in order to pull in the viewer. This manipulation insults the viewer and treads too far from the main story.
The main story here should be the bar. There are times when the bar almost takes over. If it had, instead of having a contrived story based upon truth, the story would have rang more true and been a much better film. It could have been closer to televisions CHEERS where ultimately, the bar always was the focus.
The things to watch for are the women who are good looking, and a solid workman like performance from John Goodman. There is half a chick flick here as young chicks might enjoy this though older woman sleep through it. The music is good including the talented LeeAnn Rhymes. This helps it avoid being awful, but there is no real classic material in this one.