A sentimental sickening load of rubbish.

Rating: 1/10 (12 December 2006)

I took a date to see this film and halfway through it she turned to me and said 'This is torture for you, is it not?' I replied 'Yes, especially Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet trying too hard to be funny and only making me more depressed.' There's a nauseating bit where Diaz's Amanda puts on The Killers' Hot Fuse album and dances her head off to the great band's Mr Brightside while slugging from a bottle of beer. Believe me, the cinema was full and no one was laughing.
Oh Yes! The plot. Cameron Diaz (five miles OTT) is Amanda, an American cinema trailer editor with her own business. After dumping her man (Ed Burns) because he slept with his secretary she desires to get away from Los Angeles to a place where there are no males. After chatting on the computer with Iris (Kate Winslet) they agree to swap places for a few weeks or so. After arriving in England, Amanda finds herself falling in love with Iris's brother Graham (Jude Law) and Iris at Amanda's place, bonds with an old screenwriter veteran (the magnificent Eli Wallach) and slowly, SLOWLY falls for film composer and Amanda's work colleague Miles (Jack Black, on autopilot).
This is one of those films that tries too hard to make you feel good and warm inside, like the Al Pacino film Frankie and Johnny. Anyone who is a bad egg gets their just deserts and anyone who is a good person triumphs in the end up. Not my cup of tea.
However, Cameron Diaz is absolutely beautiful in every scene shes in. And the scene where Iris is telling Miles about her unrequited love for Jasper (Rufus Sewell) while he listens had me in tears of laughter when it reminded me of the scene in Airplane! when Ted Striker is boring the old woman passenger to death about his love for Elaine.
If there are any witty scenes in this dross, its when Miles and Iris are in a DVD rental store and Dustin Hoffman has a five second cameo, when you see it you'll smirk. The rest is utter garbage.