Highly likable homage to L.A., too!

Rating: 9/10 (30 March 2009)

This is deft comedic writing that just romps about with fun and ease and is never strained. In case no one else noticed, the screenwriters have casually and cleverly translated the original novel/memoir's London setting to Los Angeles. Really, it's an affectionate homage to L.A. culture: the New Age self-help gurus; the exercise/photo group in Griffith Park; the great view of L.A. from the Griffith Observatory's recently completed balcony platform; the Hollywood Bowl dome and amphitheater; the easy mixture with Asian cultures; the small-time alternative rock band with its small local following; the woman with the celebrity cake business; even Carl's (Jim Carrey's) apartment layout with its bland interior courtyard concrete walkway. Maybe it wasn't intentional and the writers were just fitting in whatever came to mind, being in L.A., but for a recent Angeleno transplant to New York, I couldn't help appreciating the review of the landscape.