Bowl of mush

Rating: 1/10 (15 December 2005)

Oh dear. This is a horrible film. It follows a number of couples through their struggles with love. Cue cliché after cliché of English romantic views of love that are about 30 years out of date. I thought horrible sentimental crud like this went out of fashion in the 80's. The only thing to make it worse would be having Bon Jovi on the soundtrack! The dialogue seems to be written by College students. On the plus side, the performances are good - the actors should have been given more to work with than a few minutes each at a time which was disappointing. Hugh Grant plays the one role he can do well the same as he did in all his other films. The story lines are just embarrassing and not heartwarming at all unless you're an old widow. The story about Bill Nighy seemingly leaving his mate out is the worst but the one with Martin Freeman is one of the worst ideas I have ever come across. Its not funny and even that gets stretched over the course of the film. The Emma Thompson/Alan Rickman one is the only interesting one but that follows a tired old formula too, as if the writer has no personal experience of love - just what he/she has read/seen. This film, is aimed at weeping housewives with nothing better to do than curl up on the sofa with a box of choccies. Best leave them to it.