More "chick-flick" than date movie...

Rating: 3/10 (11 February 2003)

I got dragged to this one by my better half and -- what a yawner! First of all, this is THE "chick flick" of all "chick flicks." I read a poster for this movie somewhere which had a tagline stating something to the effect that it was a "chick flick for guys." What a load of crap! Although this film boasts two stars, a guy (McCaughnahey) and a girl (Hudson), approximately 85 percent of the story is told from the perspective of the girl. Now, normally, I wouldn't mind sitting through one of these rom-coms as long as I enjoy watching the female lead. But as much as I liked Hudson's multi-dimentional performance in "Almost Famous," she's stiff as cardboard in this one -- although, luckily I don't mean that in a physical sense. In fact, guys, perhaps the best part of this movie is the dress she wears in the next-to-last scene (the one in the movie poster) -- there's lots of "moving parts" to that dress, if you know what I mean. *wink* Another thing -- this is a technical point -- what's with all the "twos" in this flick? McCaughnahey has two best friends giving him advice, Hudson has two best friends giving her advice, and the plot's main antagonists -- are TWO FEMALE sales reps. What is this, was SAG giving out a two-for-one deal to the casting director? All these characters only serve to unnecessarily complicate the dialogue and flow of the movie. Finally, I'm not so shallow as to paint all rom-coms with the same brush -- there are some good ones out there if you look hard enough -- but this one is slow-moving, and LONG, coming in at 2 hours and 15 minutes! I mean, what is this, Lawrence of Arabia? Sheesh! In fact you could easily cut 30 minutes from this film and it might be just long enough. (I should note that I NEVER complain about the length of movies...usually.)
So, guys, don't say I didn't warn you! If your female counterpart is pressuring you to see a chick flick this weekend, steer her to ANY of the other nameless rom-coms out there -- by all means necessary! Save yourselves...it's too late for me...
Rating - Only 2.5 out of 10.