ahh yes .
the teenage romance .
an attractive young cast is pitted into an unlikely scenario that could only happen in the movies , and in the end , the guy always gets the girl .
and with the arrival of the breakout hit ` she 's all that ' last year ( followed by a long catalogue of imitators including ` 10 things i hate about you ' and ` drive me crazy ' ) , the genre previously on life support is once again a hot commodity .
along now comes ` down to you ' .
the folks at miramax are obviously trying to capitalize on the rabid
` she 's all that ' craze with their latest project , which has the studdly freddie prinze jr .
attached and all .
only ` down to you ' does n't have the ? unlikely scenario ' mentioned above .
it is an extraordinarily ordinary romance - a dull , unattractive teen comedy that sticks to the boring game plan that we 're accustomed to .
this is the kind of romance that only giggly 12-year old girls will find convincing .
in strictly textbook fashion , college sophomore and aspiring chef al ( prinze jr . ) meets freshman artist imogen ( julia stiles ) .
they hit it off like a couple can only in the movies .
from here , it 's the standard boy - meets - girl , boy - loses - girl , boy - drinks - entire - bottle - of - shampoo - and - may - or - may - not - get - girl - back story .
the plot is conveniently assembled to suit the requirements of the main characters , who are frequently taking part in activities that . . . .
well , only happen in the movies .
fortunately , the cast of ` down to you ' has a certain appeal .
freddie prinze jr .
and julia stiles are an adorable couple , and when on screen together , they radiate the sort of warmth and charisma that the movie should have centered around .
zak orth , as the newly realized porn star monk , shows an unmistakable flair with handling all of the film 's intelligent dialogue .
rounding out the impressive ensemble of young talent are shawn hatosy ( ` the faculty ' ) , selma blair ( ` cruel intentions ' ) and ashton kutcher ( tv 's ` that 70 's shows ' ) .
even the fonz himself - henry winkler , the epitome of teenage angst and nostalgia - has a welcome role as al 's dad , the host of the popular cooking program ` chef ray ' .
maybe the concept of ` down to you ' looked good on paper to draw such a crowd .
as a feature film , however , the finished product is bland and tasteless fluff with only an occasional whiff of cuteness to keep the gears from stopping entirely .
perhaps worst of all , ` down to you '
is not funny .
the jokes are drawn from obvious sources and the resulting humor is banal and uninspired .
the characters on screen , often laughing at each other 's goofy / embarrassing antics , seemed far more amused than the audience .
even the giggly 12-year old girls had grown restless toward the end as they waited impatiently for the formula to run
it 's course .
the one mildly clever segment featured winkler and prinze jr .
in a fantasy sequence called ` cooks ' , a ` cops ' take - off in which the father and son would storm houses and cook a decent meal for ?
needy ' families ( with the assistance of a fully - armed swat team , of course ) . when this is the highlight reel , you know the remaining film could leave something to be desired .
in order to make a teen comedy work , you 've got to have characters that show something by way of depth and identity .
` 10 things i hate about you ' actually featured characters who were more than walking flashcards , and the result was refreshing .
no such luck with ` down to you ' .
it 's just a textbook romance where , despite absurd circumstances , everything is bound to work out in the end .
and at the end of the whole clich ?
d ordeal ,
the nicest thing you could possibly say would be ` . . . .
only in the movies ' .
Output: N