When making movies, it’s possible to have too much of a good thing.
Director
is loaded with more stars than a season of “The Love Boat,” “Dancing
With the Stars” and “Celebrity Rehab” combined. The result: celebrity
overkill.
And in an effort to take care of all the stars, Marshall ends up short-changing everyone.
His lineup includes
Structured similarly to the wonderfully made “Love
Actually,” Marshall weaves together a host of romantic stories, all
played out on
You need a road map to follow some of the
storylines. A romantic florist (Kutcher) asks his girlfriend (Alba) to
marry him. His best female friend (Garner), who’s involved with a
married man (Dempsey), and his best male friend (Lopez), who ends up in
a car accident with a football player (Dane), don’t think she is right
for him.
Imagine that kind of twisting and turning repeated
with at least eight other storylines. Trying to keep up with all the
players is exhausting. Even worse, instead of being fully formed tales
or romance, each storyline has about as much depth as a little candy
heart that says “
Interesting relationships — like that between Grace
and Hathaway, a couple trying to cope with her odd occupation — move at
a gallop and cheat the viewer. And
This film is like a Hallmark card — designed to quickly elicit an emotional reaction with the promise of little more.
Even with its flaws, “
is an ideal date movie. It has enough hunks and babes to hold the
attention of both halves of a couple, yet it isn’t deep enough to
generate any potential squabbles.
Grade: C-plus
Rating: PG-13 (sexual situations, brief partial nudity)
Starring:
Running time: 1 hour, 57 minutes.
—
(c) 2010, The Fresno Bee (Fresno, Calif.).
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