It is what it is...

Rating: 4/10 (17 July 2010)

It is what it is. You know the premise and you know how it's all going to end. The key is how do you get there?
Maybe it's not fair to compare characters in one story to characters in another, but I'm going to do it anyway. Sandra Bullock's Margaret Tate, a boss who is despised by her inferiors, is reminiscent of Meryl Streep's Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada (2006, dir by David Frankel). But where the latter was given exemplification throughout to back-up the claims of hatred, the former fails. First-time screenwriter Pete Chiarelli doesn't take the screen time, nor story time, to put his characters on display. Very quickly we find ourselves in Alaska, admittedly a visually pleasant device in the film, where everything unfolds within a single weekend. And apparently a 4-day weekend.
Betty White enters as the energetic, but somewhat senile, grandmother to provide some life to this otherwise plain romantic comedy. Also, fans of "The Office" will recognize Oscar Nunez, whose character provides a few bright moments as a running gag.
Yes, I laughed. At best, there's some fun slapstick moments (of course it's always more fun when you are surrounded by 150 laughing audience members in a theatre). But when the humor starts to fade into the supposed climax, the realization of how awkward it is sets in. The characters on the screen say they are in love, but I'm not feeling it. Yes, they have learned something about each other and care for each other as human beings, perhaps with potential romantic interest, but not the sort of love that enables two people to spend the rest of their lives with one another. And because of the legal situation that sparks the inciting incident, these two don't even have a chance to let their relationship truly form. Essentially they've just jumped directly into marriage without any idea of what to expect from one another.
For a comedy film, that's a dismal conclusion to arrive at.