This one only rates a quick review because there really isn't much here to write about. The concept employed is interesting, but the execution is stillborn. This is the latest attempt for Ashton Kutcher to get over as a movie star. He has the potential, but he needs to choose his scripts better, Butterfly Effect was a good attempt at range and Guess Who? was a good comedy, but there hasn't been anything yet to prove he is a star. This also features Amanda Peet, who has talent, but seems to be trapped in these B level films.
A Lot Like Love tracks the romantic games a couple plays during an on and off seven year courtship. I liked the idea of a couple that is destined to be together and the events of life that conspire to keep them apart for an elongated period of time. The problem here is that the events are more like stupidity.
Kutcher's Oliver and Peet's Emily have absolutely nothing of interest to say to each other. Or, perhaps they do and instead choose to play a game which is not needed to begin with. If they were holding back the right things to say, they must have been in another script.
As characters they are just making stuff up and seeing what sticks. If I was to meet either of these characters, the desire for friendship or even just conversation would not last very long. Oliver has his 5, or maybe 6, year plan to become successful and allow a woman to find him. This is while Emily seems to get into one self destructive relationship after another. In between all of these plans Emily and Oliver occasionally meet for a brief physical connection, or just the worst time imaginable. There problems would all be solved by saying something real rather than continuing to play games until the predictable outcome, which could have been achieved at the very start 7 years earlier.
The fact that this is a bad film is a shame, there is talent involved. If anyone is to take a large chunk of the blame, it would have to be first time writer Colin Patrick Lynch. Again, the concept is good, but the setup is awful, some tweaking and rewriting and you could have a compelling film. Ashton Kutcher has vast amounts of potential, he has a natural charisma on the screen, if only he didn't have this drivel to recite, and a strong director who can elicit performances from his actors. Amanda Peet, on the other hand, has a natural beauty and good line delivery, yet suffers the same problem in a character that has nothing interesting to say.
The plot starts in the past and slowly jumps forward for each meeting between our stars, at which something else comes up to take them apart, or they just have some lame excuse to separate. The direction is straightforward, a simple style which works for the material, but would work better if the material had somewhere to go.
Bottomline. This is a bad movie. Pure and simple, a stillborn concept. Acting that may be good, but when given junk dialog, it can be hard to give a good performance.
Not Recommended.
Also at Blogcritics.org.
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