A Lot Like Love

The first movie that we rented in our quest to rent them all was the movie "A Lot Like Love." A Lot Like Love was perhaps director Nigel Cole's most recognizable film. Other than the 2003 movie "Calendar Girls," Mr. Cole does not have a warehouse full of blockbusters. The movie started out as you would expect a coming-of-age romantic comedy to start. A young, long haired, gumpy-looking Ashton Kutcher meets rebel-without-a-cause Amanda Peet on an airplane, and has sex with her. They have a wirlwhind 4 hour romance in New York City and part ways after exchanging phone numbers on a diner order slip. Of course Amanda Peet is going to keep that order slip for years to come and not transfer it to her address book with the rest of her phone numbers. (pssst, its supposed to look sentimental)

The plot of the movie is centered around the idea that 6 years from the onset, Ashton Kutcher was going to be a successfull businessman with a large house and a beautiful wife. Hey, thats how things are done dont you know. The bulk of the movie consists of Amanda being dumped by a couple of guys, Ashton being dumped by a couple of girls. Some nude photography in a National Park and the retarded idea of an online diaper delivery service that grows with your kids. (I have no trouble believing that the business eventually failed... I couldn't understand the idea behind it.)

In a shocking an total unexpected twist, Ashton Kutcher ends up being a giant failure without a job, house, or beautiful wife. After getting to dump someone herself for a change, Amanda Peet decides that she cant live without Ashton and goes to break up his sisters wedding to win him back. It works! Hey this is a romantic comedy after all.

The Good:
Ashton Kutcher is not nearly as annoying in this early role as he becomes later in his career. This is not the Ashton Kutcher that does those god awful camera commercials and takes Demi Moore out for a spin once a week. In this movie he is a little green which is endearing and his performance seems genuine. The plot is simple and not overly complicated. Its a good movie to put on while you're folding laundry or cooking dinner.

The Bad:
The plot is so simple and circuitous that they could've gotten away with only writing 1/3 of a movie and just repeating it three times. All the incidental meetings and the fact that Amanda kept that order slip does not come off as surprising but rather cliche. The movie is a carbon copy of other romantic comedies from the early 2000s.

For a first movie from the video store, we could've done worse. however, I am certainly looking forward to watching Abandon (our next movie) and getting this one out of my brain.

-Scott Diebold