Tame, Tame, Tame. Some Fun.

Rating: 4/10 (10 March 2010)

What makes DWP work as a bland, comfort film is what makes it not work as anything close to a good movie: namely, the paint-by-numbers script. Everything is rote, from the obligatory crew of friends (Black, gay, boyfriend) to the really awful story transitions that actually come from nowhere; you're just expecting them because that's how these tales go, and not because the script properly sets them up. That is, based on friend and boyfriend reactions, Hathaway has become a work-obsessed, different person. It's supposedly what's driving the story, this alteration of her nature. But we don't get this. Yeah, she looks good and performs an impossible job at ridiculous hours, but she remains her sweet self. Yet, to hammer home this drastic 'character change', the lame device of having her repeat that she 'had no choice' is employed. A lot. The contrivance is embarrassing and pointless because she has not changed as a character. Oh, well. La Streep is La Streep. Always amazing (except for that mess, 'Mamma Mia!', which God Himself couldn't save). PS More points off for the two truly absurd jobs Hathaway is supposed to perform (hurricane flight and Potter books). It would've been far more real had the challenges been more earthbound.