A delightful piece of fluff

Rating: 5/10 (3 July 2005)

If you are in the mood to shut your analytical thinking down, want to take a break from worrying about the despair with the human condition, and just want to watch three likable personalities fumble through a lightweight piece of work then this motion picture is for you.
Should you keep that part of your brain turned on that involves paying attention or having sensitivity then you might pickup on some of the sexism, stereotyping, and formulaic processes that run amok as well as the dearth of continuity gaffes, the woeful underusing of Adam Arkin, and Michael Rappaport (who was a little more than an extra).
There are no surprises in this romp that could easily be retrofitted into one of those old school studio pictures from way back with Rock Hudson and Tony Randall and Doris Day.
The saving grace of this work is the presence of Will Smith, who acts for a couple of minutes here and there; Kevin James, who is almost acrobatically over the top at times-he showed little to no restraint, which would have served him better in a motion picture as opposed to a sitcom. Also, his character courted a lovely woman whose first name is the same as an allergy medication-to which none of the uber-glib on-screen pundits picked up on despite firing off witty lines with uzi-like precision.
I have to say that I do not regret renting this on DVD at all. I was in the mood for something light and a bit mindless and was not disappointed. If find yourself in the same frame of mind then you will not be disappointed. Perhaps paying full cinema-plex prices mind have changed my opinion.
If you are hoping to find some insight into the despair of the lonely hearts and how pitiful their lives can be, then this isn't for you.
I would hope the box office justifies more of Kevin James in motion pictures and enable him to break away from his Ralph Kramden- with-a-hair-transplant demeanor that seems to dog him. I think he has potential, as a heavyset man, to take the mantle of actor of John Goodman someday. He still has a long way to go there because Goodman is the man when it comes to big man actors.
Will Smith is always likable, smart, and watchable. I don't know that he can do any wrong.
Eve Mendes is delightful and well on her way to being a major player. She is lovely and full of life and almost out charms Mr. Smith, which is no small task.
All tolled, it ain't that bad of a picture.