But this is not a chick flick. Any guy who can be dragged kicking and screaming to this movie is going to learn more than he imagined and, perhaps, more than he wished, about the modern mating game. Ashley Judd plays the TV producer who falls in love with Greg Kinnear's newcomer to a talk show team built around Ellen Barkin's sultry, aggressive star gabber. Barkin's plain fabulous as are Marisa Tomei as Judd's dishy, imaginative best friend and Hugh Jackman, also on the TV team and because of his unapologetic womanizing, Judd's arch-antagonist. When Kinnear withdraws from the relationship just as it's reaching the stage of commitment, Judd falls apart.
Male animals move on once they've had their way with the females in the herd.
The theory seems to explain Judd's experience and it certainly supports her frame of mind. Judd is just glorious as the movie's beautiful, capable, emotionally fraught heroine. Early on, you get the sense that Julia Roberts' fingerprints may have been on the script when it reached Judd. When Judd smiles, you're warmed. When Roberts smiles, you're dazzled.