Product: Someone Like You [VHS] (2001)
Rating: 3.0
Slight but charming romantic comedy
Having read and only somewhat liked "Animal Husbandry", the book on which this film is based, I was skeptical. I had also heard horrible reviews of it, so to my surprise, I was entertained by this movie.Ashley Judd plays Jane, a woman who undergoes a horrible breakup at the hands of Ray (Greg Kinnear). In the aftermath, she comes up with "Old/New Cow" theory--essentially, that a man who has slept with a woman will thereafter get tired of her and move on to a "new cow". Unlike the book, which details this theory in endless prose, the film cleverly uses titles and visuals of scientists testing this theory.Ashley Judd isn't going to give Meg Ryan any fears about being dethroned as the romantic comedy heroine of choice. But Judd is charming, intelligent, and quirky as the female lead, and Hugh Jackman is attractive and testosterine-filled as the womanizing Eddie, who eventually becomes Jane's roommate.One minor quibble, and that's that the movie changes the ending of the book somewhat to give a somewhat artificially happy ending. But who cares? This is a light, pleasant romantic comedy that--dare I say it--actually improves upon the book.