By Michael Gleason
Perhaps Ashton Kutcher should stick with television. When an actor’s motion picture magnum opus is Dude, Where’s My Car?, it may be time to call it a day. Kutcher’s latest vehicle, a romantic comedy with Amanda Peet, is a movie that is nearly offensive in its unoriginality, adds nothing to the genre, and continues Kutcher’s string of less-than-stellar movies. This may be one of the least impressive films in Kutcher’s cadre, and that’s saying something.
The movie’s plot focuses around the two and their meetings through the years as they eventually realize they’re completely right for each other. Frankly, if you’ve seen any of the innumerable advertisements for this movie, then you know the plot in its entirety. This movie is essentially a paint-by-numbers romantic comedy, with absolutely no sparks of innovation. The end, of course, is never in doubt, and the fact that the entire audience knows precisely how the film will end at the beginning goes a long way towards killing this movie. Kutcher and Peet go through the motions of acting without enthusiasm. It is odd how the two leads fail to connect on any meaningful level. Frankly, any two other young Hollywood actors could have been plugged into this movie, and it would not have changed a thing.
Virtually nothing about this film is noteworthy. Nothing is done that well and the movie seems too workman-like. It’s recycled, but recycled in a way that one still knows that it’s trash. There is really no conceivable reason to see this movie. This film is shrouded in a haze of mediocrity and seemingly nothing can save it. No redeeming characteristics present themselves.
To be sure, the movie has a few amusing moments, but they are buried in long stretches of nothingness. For a comedy, the laughs are sparse and it’s not worth watching the surrounding movie to uncover them. Half-hour television shows, like Fox’s brilliant “Arrested Development,” have more laughs in their short timeframe than this movie does in its long 107-minute running time. And it is long, as the movie drags on and on; it is given several opportunities to end, but seems to refuse to take them. What laughs exist are not exactly wrapped in complexity; subtlety is not this picture’s strong suit. Most of the gags are on the level of the “Amanda Peet walks into a sliding glass door” joke that is replayed in the movie trailers. The characters themselves are witless, forcing the movie to resort to that kind of physical comedy. Physical jokes are very hit-or-miss, and this movie has many large misses. For a long period of time, this movie is painfully awkward and boring.
Is the film tolerable? Sure, but it is mired in sheer mindlessness. It’s not worth the exorbitant ticket prices when one could rent practically any other romantic comedy for much less, and probably derive much more enjoyment from it. This film’s worshipful adherence to the romantic comedy formula is nearly painful; absolutely nothing is added to the mold, and pabulum results. Not to harp on a point, but this film is utterly forgettable. Diehard Kutcher fans may find something worthwhile here, but those not enamored with his antics need not apply. There is so much better fare out there, it simply isn’t worth dealing with this movie.
Final Grade: D+