Less Talk More Rock

Rating: 4/10 (21 December 2006)

I like Nancy Meyers, I really do. For the past 20 years, if you wanted to see a happy movie that didn't make you think to hard but didn't absolutely insult your intelligence, Nancy Meyer screenplays have been fairly reliable pics.
Something's Gotta Give was so good on so many levels. The Holiday was so bad, for just as many reasons.
Start with the casting. Meyer's wordy dialogue is best handled by smart women, and Cameron Diaz can't lend it the weight it needs. And Kate Winslet, who can throw herself into terrific, passionate characters, is a wispy, emotional wuss. By the time she grows a backbone, you're not sure she deserves it. Jude Law is a paper-thin idea with a past that lands firmly in the melodrama "awww" zone.
Credit Jack Black for being the only interesting and somewhat believable person in the movie. Miles the Musician isn't the typical Jack Black character - the manic energy is more contained and transformed into a kinetic confidence. He's the most grounded of the principle characters, which is why his puppy-dog devotion to Maggie the Actress doesn't ring true. The Black/Winslet pairing is probably one of the most interesting duos of the year.
Everyone runs this-side of a sappy romance novel, mainly because the script revokes everyone's right to breathe. Something's Gotta Give showed Meyers' talent for great monologues. The Holiday beats us over the head with long strings of monologues, some that are straight exposition. And everyone is very in touch with his/ her emotions, and articulate when it comes to expressing them.
There's also the flirtation with the multiple storyline concept that Hollywood's obsessed with at the moment. The trick with them is that they have to work both independently and separately, and neither the Law/Diaz nor the Black/Winslet lines are strong enough to carry the film.
In the end, the plot meanders without tension and we spend a lot of time watching people sitting and talking as though they're just back from their therapist's office.