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I really wanted to like "Elizabethtown." I truly did. However, I was less than impressed. Something about the movie just did not resonate with me. I understand Cameron Crowe's intentions in making this film (it is semi-autobiographical, inspired by the passing of Crowe's father), but the end product just didn't seem real to me. I always felt like I was watching a movie, unlike "Jerry Maguire" and "Say Anything," which both made me feel like I was watching slices of people's real lives.

"Elizabethtown" centers on Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom), a shoe designer who receives the double whammy of being fired from his job after a major fiasco and learning that his father has just died. His mother and sister (Susan Sarandon and Judy Greer, both great actresses whose talent is wasted) enlist him to retrieve his father's body from his hometown of Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Along the way, he encounters a a plucky stewardess named Claire (Kirsten Dunst), who, in addition to providing a romantic distraction, helps him deal with everything going on around him.

I think the main problem is that Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst are completely wrong for this movie. Bloom tries too hard to conceal his British accent that he comes off bland and emotionless. His character is supposed to be going through this great turmoil, yet Bloom just can't convey that. It's not like Tom Cruise in "Jerry Maguire," where he made you feel the desperation of that character. Every line Bloom delivers comes off same as the previous one, despite what motions the character is going through. I wonder if he'd give the same performance if he spoke in his native accent.

Dunst, on the other hand, tries too hard to maintain a Southern accent that she doesn't infuse any charm into her character, which is a necessity in the movie's believability. Her character's wackiness and borderline annoying-personality is supposed to endear her to not only Drew, but the audience as well, otherwise the romance between them and results of it just aren't believable. Crowe's screenplay isn't one of his best, but it's clear that both Bloom and Dunst are out of their leagues here. Would the movie have turned out different if, say, Jake Gyllenhaal and Kate Bosworth were cast in the leads instead? Perhaps. Unfortunately, with the two leads both delivering subpar performances, "Elizabethtown" strains for authenticity and unfortunately comes off as artificial.

The 2005 remake of John Carpenter's "The Fog" is the worst kind of disappointment. It's a movie that had promise and potential to be effective and creepy, yet it throws it all away. The worst offense the movie makes is that, using all the same materials, it could have been a lot better.

The plot concerns a heavy fog that rolls into a coastal Oregon town, containing malevolent forces in it, desperate for an attempt to right past wrongs done to them. Underneath all the backstory, an intriguing mystery exists, yet the filmmakers all but ignore it to go for the cheap thrills and scares.

There's absolutely no character development here either, even though there are hints at it throughout. For example, Tom Welling's character is the ancestor of one of the town's founders, yet he resents his family name appearing on the tribute statue. This is never explained, nor is the strained relationship between Maggie Grace's character and her mother, as well as the motivations of the crazy, drunk priest who seems to know more about the town's history than he lets on.

I couldn't help but wonder what kind of movie this would have turned out to be if another writer was given a shot at the screenplay. Rupert Wainwright's direction is competent, but paired with a script that throws a lot of good ideas down the drain, the end result is just a big mess.

After a string of less than satisfying flicks ("Me, Myself and Irene," "Shallow Hal," and "Stuck on You"), Peter and Bobby Farrelly have returned to form with "Fever Pitch," their best flick since "There's Something About Mary," and possibly even better. Don't go in expecting the surreal zaniness that populates the previous films though, as the Farrelly Brothers have concocted a straightforward romantic comedy this time out, using British author Nick Hornby's sports memoir "Fever Pitch" as a template.

The Farrellys have Americanized "Fever Pitch," or rather, "Boston-ized" it, changing the movie's sport of choice from footba-, I mean soccer, to baseball. However, the movie is first and foremost a romance, and a good one at that, between dynamic leads Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon. The duo play off each other excellently, and share a connection that transcends acting. You can tell just by watching the movie that the two must genuinely enjoy each other's company in real life, something that intensifies the believability of their courtship in the movie.

Barrymore is Lindsay Meeks, a workaholic who's almost "20-ten," as she says, and hasn't met the right guy. Cue Fallon's Ben Wrightman, a charming schoolteacher who's just too good to have not been snapped up yet. As their relationship progresses, Lindsay doesn't learn why until early Spring. It turns out that Ben is a devoted member of the Red Sox Nation. She doesn't mind at first, but then it becomes more and more clear as to where Johnny Damon and his fellow ball players rank in Ben's life compared to her.

The film, scripted by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel ("A League of Their Own"), expertly captures the verge-of-30 dilemma of getting older and realizing you want more out of life than a great apartment and a great job. As for how it captures the fanaticism of Red Sox devotees, I can't say how accurate the movie is, but it's definitely hilarious, and even surprisingly touching. The production had to scramble to change the movie to reflect the Red Sox's amazing comeback to a World Series victory last year, a heartwarming story in itself.

"Fever Pitch" is a great comeback for the Farrelly Brothers, and a home run for Barrymore, one of the most appealing and charming actresses of her generation. It's a big score for Fallon as well, who really didn't transition well from TV to film with "Taxi." As in any romantic comedy, the success is based first and foremost by the couple's chemistry, and the pair have it in spades. "Fever Pitch" is one of the best romantic comedies in years.