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This movie is bad on so many levels, I don't have enough room to list them all. The script is full of poorly-written movie comedy clichés, hollow characters, and an implausible storyline that, even for a traditional Hollywood romantic comedy, seems insulting.

Meryl Streep is the one shining star, not for part she played, but for the actress that she is. It's a shame that she was pulled into such a disaster of a project. Alex Baldwin plays the same unappealing life loser he's been portraying in all of his movies and TV shows lately, and Steve Martin acts uncharacteristically bland. It's not worth the two hours of your life to watch, or the few dollars to rent.

There are so many things wrong with this movie and screenplay, that I don't know where to start. We heard such negative reviews from friends that we just had to see for ourselves. Given the strong stable of actors, it just couldn't be that bad ... or could it? So let me start with the positive.

The Good:

1) Actors - Great talent overall. Special kudos to young Makenzie Vega, who is on her way to a wonderful career. She stole every scene she was in. And Meg Ryan is always a great performer - but what happened to her lips? She looks like she got stung by a bee and had a bad reaction.

The Bad and the Ugly:

1) Editing - So poorly done, that it was hard to follow the flow of the story. It seemed like every ten minutes, the characters were making reference to a dialog or event that was left on the cutting room floor.

2) Storyline - Don't try to rationalize how believable this one is, it's not close to reality. Without giving anything away, the story is so painfully predictable that we were all cheering for at least one surprise or plot twist, but those never came. And the ending was so absurd - straight out of a bad TV movie.

3) Relationships - The characters' interaction with each other is so contrived and superficial, that it was hard to empathize with any one in this film. A good story draws you in to feel the emotions of the actors but none of us watching, from the teenagers to the adults, cared about any of the characters. And most of them were so neurotic and depressed, you just wanted to slap them across the face.

If you watch this for the actors, and pay no attention to the story, then you'll have a good time. And pay particular note to young actress Makenzie Vega, she's one to watch.

Don't blame the talented actors -- this movie is an unfortunate example of how a potentially appealing premise can drown miserably in shallow character development and hack-saw editing. Admittedly, I'm an eager fan for a well-written and produced romantic comedy, especially with the likes of Diane Keaton. I don't even mind if the story line is predictable or implausible, just as long as it can trigger a few heart-felt smiles or tears along the way. But from the first few scenes that introduced the dysfunctional mother and her three forgettable daughters, this movie never even tried to lure me into feeling any emotion or empathy for their pursuits or mishaps. Characters bounced in and out of the scene almost randomly creating far more confusion than humor most of the time. The whole movie felt like it was shot to be three hours long and then cut-down to half that without regard to flow or purpose. That's adding insult to the already injured viewer. Don't waste your time on this one. (1/10)