Who's in It: Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Jack Black, Eli Wallach, Rufus Sewell, Edward Burns, Shannyn Sossamon
Who's in It: Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Jack Black, Eli Wallach, Rufus Sewell, Edward Burns, Shannyn Sossamon
The Basics: A bunch of rich, good-looking white people fall in and out of love. Uptight and unable-to-cry Diaz hooks up with Law, the least masculine, estrogen-soaked, un-guy-like guy you've ever seen in a heterosexual romantic comedy. Winslet is an emotional wreck who spends the movie palling around with 100-year-old Wallach until a neutered version of Black shows up. The moral: All you ladies really need is another … woman. Or a schlubby fat guy you can make feel lucky. Empowerment!
What's the Deal? Nancy Meyers' recent trilogy (this one's the third) of female-centric movies are all full of crap. There's What Women Want, a gruesome bag of lies about a guy who learns that the answer to the title question is that chicks want sweet talk and pandering. Her next one, Something's Gotta Give, is a post-menopausal vision of career competence and romantic ditziness that turns the very cool Diane Keaton into an embarrassing tower of mush. And this one pretends that it's in the same league as old-school, banter-heavy Preston Sturges movies. It ain't, but it spends two full hours trying to convince you — and itself — that it's way more charming than it is.
Who's Good: Wallach (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) as a retired screenwriter who comments on the action as though it were a movie. It is; it's just too bad his character didn't write it. And Winslet is like a firefighter who tries to fling every movie over her back and carry it to safety. She fails here, but you have to give her credit for trying.
Thread-Count Porn: Because this movie is partly about luxury and entitlement, the sets are just as important as the action. In fact, if you check out January's issue of House and Garden, this movie's furnishings are detailed right down to the price of the $1,800 ottoman.
My DVD Daydream: That people mistakenly Netflix the Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant movie Holiday instead of this one. That would be good for everyone involved.