kjs99

There is some great stuff here - characters say things and do things that have the feel of real life, and then there's Aniston's character. Look, I can suspend disbelief with the best of em - I love Sci-fi!- but it really does spoil the whole thing when a movie asks me to believe that a woman that looks as great as Aniston does here is reduced to toilet scrubbing and going out with any schlub who asks. Somehow I really find it hard to empathize with a character whose situation is so out of whack with reality. With all these rich hipster watersiders as friends you just know she'd be setup with one millionaire after another. She might be just as miserable as she is here but she would not be on toilet duty. Oh, one more thing. Isn't it great that the movie tries to wrap the whole thing up by suggesting that - shock of all shocks - a great looking woman might find happiness with a fat guy? I mean, of all the things that might make you an untouchable in Los Angeles carrying around a few extra lbs is it. Don't we all heave a sigh of relief when we find out that the unkempt, unhygenic fat guy ends up having loads of dough?

There is something disgusting about the way this film makes middle class life look really unbearable. All the fine wine, the Armani, the cool elegance of a tasteful existence - life just isn't worth living unless you've got money. We're told in Martin's pretentious and totally unnecessary narration that Mirabelle deserved to be singled out, to be noticed - So wonderful of the rich guy to give a helping hand to the lowly "shopgirl". Danes' Mirabelle is smart and capable but this film makes her the captive of two men - its one or the other. Her trip back to her American Gothic Vermont home shows her to be someone with very few options. I wanted to like this film, but after the second or third long and luxurious shot of Martin and his champagne zooming over the rest of us in his private jet I realized this film does think that money is the answer. How can we fault the goldiggers when regular life is so damn awful?

OK Crowe is no master filmmaker - his films just make you feel good and, as bad as I think this one is, it does as well. That feeling however wore off pretty fast and I'm now thinking about how disappointing I found everything but the music. Music is very important in Crowe's films but here the music does all the heavy lifting. The performances are awfulish but the actors get a pass because the writing is worse. None of the usual great lines found in films like Jerry Maguire, instead there are bits where you can feel Crowe trying to come up with something funny and romantic but none of it clicks - that is until a great song starts up and saves the whole thing and tells us how to feel. The best moments in the film are those in which there is no dialogue and we can simply enjoy the beautiful pictures and music. The whole thing feels disjointed and full of loose ends - especially the drummer guy and his dad and kid - there must have been something cut from the film. Finally, am I crazy or is this Jerry Maguire 2? The large company with the open work floors and celebrations, the guy at loose ends, the girl who teaches the guy how to live again, the classic bitch ex ... buy the soundtrack and see the film on DVD.