Not as Good as Everyone Says

Rating: 7/10 (5 December 2005)

After reading the gushingly-positive reviews here, and also getting a lot of good feedback from my usually-trustworthy friends, I braved a snowy night and finally checked this one out.
I simply have to say, "meh." It's Steve Carrell's best *acting performance*, but it's certainly not his best *comedic work*. His more mediocre bits on the Jon Stewart Show are much funnier than his performance in this movie.
I won't say I didn't enjoy the flick. It's a good date movie, and there are a few genuine laughs. But the life was edited out of it in order to keep in solidly in the "cute" category. A few of the secondary characters, for example, had the potential to provide more laughs than they were allowed. And there were a few sparks of subplots that didn't turn into anything. Finally, the gorgeous Elizabeth Banks was sorely underutilized.
I'm glad to see Carrell pull off the acting thing, but I just wish he could stay away from this mainstream stuff.