The Romantics

I wanted to like this movie, I usually enjoy small character studies, but sadly this film was a disappointment. Maybe it was too much to expect Katie Holmes to carry the story. Unfortunately her lack of range and/or talent is obvious in this film. And, Anna Pacquin, who is so good and fiery in True Blood, is left with little to do except be a bitch. Malin Ackerman plays a riff on her 27 Dresses role. Candice Bergn is mostly absent in the film. Finally, Josh Duhamel stumbles through the movie with the same stunned look on his face for the whole film. It is hard to imagine either woman in this film would be attracted to him. Character driven films are only enjoyable when we learn and understand the motivation behind the characters, or when we watch them grow and evolve. In this film we learn little of the character's background story or motivations, and there certainly is no growth. Overall the film is a sad mess, and I will not be recommending it to my friends.

Gosh there are some harsh critics here (or maybe I'm too easy). Not a great film but not that dreadful. Still worth watching. Weird ending though.

A group of old college friends reunite for a wedding. The maid of honor (Holmes) and the groom Tom (Duhamel) are still not sure that their relationship is over. After the worst sequence of wedding toasts ever during the rehearsal dinner Tom disappears and Laura finds him and the begin to talk about their feelings. The other members of the wedding party are all looking for Tom and trying to keep the bride (Anna Paquin) from discovering what is going on. This is another plot that has been done to death. The cast and acting are enough to keep you watching and entertained but the writing really hurt this one. I can't go farther without giving the movie away, but watch it and you will see what I mean. I give it a C+.

Would I watch again? - I don't think I would

So, we had some time during Christmas '23 - the lineup of actors seems nice enough and a wedding movie is normally a good fit during the festive days.

But the plot, dialogue, and overall play wasn't as exciting as we hoped.

The pace of this movie is slow to the point where we were waiting for it to end. The premise of this movie is a group of friends coming together for a wedding, sadly, that is also the extent of the movie. There are no funny moments, no interesting dialogues, no fancy turns and twists during the course of the movie.

I think the fantastic group of actors was lost here, it could have been so much more...

Since Galt Niederhoffer wrote the book and screenplay and directed this movie, she has nobody to blame for its terrible awfulness but herself. The screenplay has lots of boring gaps in which this supposedly bright, witty group wanders around without saying much at all. Although they are all supposed to be college buddies, the obvious ten-year age gap between Anna Paquin and Josh Duhamel makes this proposition laughable.

Katie Holmes acting here is so bad that it makes Josh Duhamel look like DeNiro, which is saying something. The whole movie hinges on the chemistry between the two leads, and there is none whatsoever. Sidekicks Jeremy Strong and Rebecca Lawrence are virtual non-entities. Candice Bergen does the same geriatric reprise of Murphy Brown that she recently did on the TV series "House," with no better results. If Elijah Wood was going for creepy he succeeded, but to no great purpose.

That leaves only the performances of Anna Paquin, Malin Akerman, and Adam Brody to save this stinker. Akerman is the standout of the three, and it's only when she is on screen do you have the sense that something interesting could happen. Unfortunately, she not on screen all that much.