Sweet November is so earnest that it's impossible to have any fun with. And, once we realize we're supposed to take this movie seriously, it becomes unbearable. He's cold and self-absorbed, and Sara believes that his social skills are eroding. When she offers to help him, he initially spurns her overture, but, after losing both his job and his girlfriend during one horrible day, he re-considers. For a movie to develop a sense of romance, we need to be presented with a continuum of scenes that express the characters' affection for one another, often in subtle, understated ways.
Relationships are delicate things, and they have to be developed.
I suppose the big romantic scene is supposed to be when Nelson gives Sara a bundle of early Christmas presents, but this sequence has such a false, manufactured feel that it fails to achieve an emotional impact. Theron, who has developed into a fine actress, is miscast - asking a statuesque beauty to play a dowdy bohemian is a poor choice. This is the kind of part for which you get an Anne Heche, not a Charlize Theron. Sweet November up to the point where the terminal disease plot device is introduced. The early parts of the film aren't especially well-done, yet, for all of their artifice, they're not unbearable.