Being caught up on the local releases drove us to try this best-seller which we expected to hate, but it was not awful. We even had a few belly laughs, plus we enjoyed the predictably high production values: nice aerial shots, great L.A. locations, beautiful stars (why does Jessica Biel keep playing nerdy, unloved characters?). Roger Ebert hit the nail on the head when he said he didn't have enough words available in his review to name all the stars. I also liked the L.A. Times review, which sums it all up nicely without spoilers (yes, the Jennifer Garner scene in the restaurant late in the movie is pretty great, so, when you watch this on cable or DVD later, wait for it). The same L.A. Times reviewer also did a video review, but it spoils the other of Garner's good moments, so you decide if you want to see that video before the movie. Anne Hathaway is also very funny in her scenes. Jack told me he had heard director Garry Marshall (my faves include Nothing in Common (1986), Pretty Woman (1990), and Runaway Bride (1999)) in an interview saying that, since it would be impossible to get big stars to do a whole movie, he would, instead, have them do just a few scenes each. The high school girl (Julia's niece, Eric's daughter, Emma Roberts) should have been earlier identified as the babysitter of the boy (we thought she was his sister), and her story is one of the less hackneyed. I'll put it this way: if your movie-going companion insists on seeing this, it's okay. Go ahead. But it's not a destination for a serious movie-lover. Better you should see the movies which it rips off: Love, Actually (2003), Playing By Heart (1998), or He's Just Not That Into You (same story writers: Abby Kohn & Marc Silverstein).
The out-takes and gag reel at the end don't, for a change, run over the credits, so you are able to read them, and there's a teeny little bonus, which we found puzzling, at the very end.
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