interesting, touching and ...crappy

Rating: 4/10 (10 April 2006)

Mixed feelings about this one. Saw it on HBO,cuz I would never pay a cinema ticket for a movie with R.McAdams again after Red Eye.The dialog had its moments and the filming was pretty nice.Story was somewhat corny, but it was suppose to be primarily romantic, so it didn't bother me much.Where the movie really kinda falls apart is that it almost never puts emphasis on the complexity of the human emotions.It is almost like the director was going: "Ok,ok,this is where the audience feels romantic and identifies with everything,let's not complicate things any further and stick to that.Too bad, because the movie might have had potential.For ex., there is a scene where Noah and Mrs "Born with a silver spoon in my mouth" have a final argument and discussion outside the parents house.I liked the dialog and the acting, only the whole thing stops where it was getting interesting.Some more "I hate you"-s,"Go to hell" and some more hysteria would have been more realistic and maybe some long shots insisting on the characters emotions would have created a more complete picture. The same pattern of "stop here,it will get hazy and confuse the audience" is followed throughout the movie, culminating with a final scene between Allie and Lon where he is behaving with the utmost nobility and selfishness and the scene ends....right there.My point is, the characters are...well...incomplete and to some extent unrealistic and one-sided. Too bad, because the subject was treated decently otherwise and had some interesting issues.It deserved a 5 or 6 from me actually, but R.McAdams, as always, manages to wake the subjective beast in me.Will somebody stop casting this woman, please !!!!!!