Too many story lines...

Rating: 5/10 (5 July 2007)

There's a good movie in here somewhere. A few story lines, given more screen time and development, could have made for a very entertaining Christmastime romantic comedy. Unfortunately, the glut of story lines and overstuffed cast ultimately hurt the film. No story is given enough time to make us really care too much about any characters, and several feel like they were completely superfluous and unnecessary. The Brit who went to Wisconsin, the porn stand-in couple, Laura Linney and her co-worker, Colin Firth's story... these were all completely pointless. Keira Knightley's storyline probably had the least screen time of all, to the point where when they showed up on screen near the end, both Kathy and I looked at each other and said, "I'd forgotten about this whole story!" While Keira's jaw and gritted-teeth smile annoy the hell out of me (and her stick-figure doesn't help), this is one of the stories that had potential, but failed to deliver due to it brevity.
Several of the characters, therefore, were also unnecessary, especially the pointless cameos. Rowan Atkinson, featured on the poster but barely in the film, Shannon Elizabeth, Denise Richards, 24's Elisha Cuthbert... and I don't buy Billy Bob Thornton as the U.S. President for one second. The best actor of the movie was probably the kid who played Liam Neeson's son.
So basically it's disappointment. A great cast list, but by trying to squeeze so many people in, they've actually hurt what the film could have been. It was amusing at times, but nothing more.