Missed opportunity

Rating: 6/10 (3 January 2007)

I love romantic comedies, and I don't think that the fact that this type of movie is considered light and shallow is an excuse to lower any standard of good film writing. The film is well shot, it's the writing that's the problem. In my opinion this movie has been rushed (probably to get in the cinemas for Christmas, or the money simply ran out) Though it's not as bad as Tara Road (which isn't worth watching) it's certainly not very good either. Only watch it if you're really more than willing to suspend disbelief.
Some telltale signs:
In one of the last scenes part of the microphone can be seen (sloppy!) If the people who made this movie took some time to check their work they would have noticed themselves.
The writer wanted to create a confusion (Jude Law must appear a ladies man to Cameron Diaz, while in fact he isn't. The writer does this by having him being called on his mobile by two 'women' and Cameron sees their names on his mobile. Later on we discover these two women are in fact his daughters of say 7 and 4. Though I'm prepared to believe that a 7 year old has a mobile and actually uses it to call it's parent, a 4-year old will not have/use one. (I have children. I know) With a little more effort the writer could have come up with another caller equally harmless (a co-worker, or whatever).
When Cameron for the first time gets driven to her house in the UK, the driver says he can't drive all the way up the road to her house because he won't be able to turn the car once he gets there. But when you see the road in front of the house you know he must be a really lousy driver because there's enough room to make a turn. But even worse, near the end of the movie there is a scene where Cameron wants to leave. She's picked up by the car (I presume the driver drove up to her house in reverse) and when they are driving down to the main road again she wants to return to the house. She makes the driver stop and decides to run back to the house rather than have the car reverse. There is no explanation why she wants to run back (and not drive back). A perfect explanation would be that the car can't turn so she has to get out if she wants to be quick, but strangely enough (after all we were prepped by the first remark of the driver) that's not what we're told, instead we're to believe that her running back is a spontaneous action. If the writer had more time he could have left out the remark of the driver that he couldn't turn at the house. This suggest that the first scene was already shot when they altered the later scene making the remark of the driver a loose end. Again sloppy.
I think Jack Black is a surprising and a very good choice. Well casted! Such a shame that he gets such a small role. If as a movie maker you risk choosing for Jack Black and then you don't cash in on it makes the choice halfheartedly. If Jack Black gets another role in a RomCom I 'll certainly go and see it. I think he's perfect for this type of movie (or could be if the writer gave him a bigger role)