Truly Dreadful Film

Nice effects though.

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

This film begins with a young, liberal activist named "Lucy Kelson" (Sandra Bullock) staging a protest in front of a building that is about to be demolished. As it so happens the principle person responsible for the demolition is an extremely wealthy businessman named "George Wade" (Hugh Grant) who essentially does whatever he wants because he doesn't know anything other than the bottom line. Then one day he decides he needs a lawyer to help him in his business so he hires a person who just happens to be a graduate from the Harvard School of Law named—Lucy Kelson. And his life is drastically altered from that moment on. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an okay romantic-comedy which suffered from two basic flaws. For starters, there really wasn't much chemistry between Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock and that quality is almost a necessity for a film like this. The other problem was the fact that it was extremely predictable. Even so, this movie was still entertaining enough and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

He's trying too hard to be charming and she's trying too hard to be obnoxious. He fails, but she succeeds. The British droll charm is getting old for Hugh, playing an Arthur like billionaire minus the booze and Liza. She's trying to be Gloria Alred, but just fails miserably. Together, we're supposed to believe that they are a match made in heaven, but the angels would have blasted them out due to the sparks they make, and it isn't a romantic one. If that isn't bad enough, a cameo appearance by a future President really added self indulgent gas to the film overall. The lack of star quality doesn't have an effect on the New York City scenery, heading out of Manhattan as Bullock's character tries to save a Coney Island community center. Dana Ivey and Robert Klein score as her parents, and many New York theater and soap actors round out the cast in a sensational ensemble. But the script just fails to convince me that these two characters would be the Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant of the millennium, lacking in class and humor. It also tries to be very New York millennium cool, taking on a Mets game with a gag that falls flat and the law community in a way that truly rings false.

Really, Alicia was the star of the movie as she brings wit and energy to a rather lethargic movie.Honestly, if it's a comedy, it's not funny. The bloopers make me laugh more.If it's a romance, it's dull: the relationship between Sandra and Grant isn't convincing and not built. They compress nearly a year of relationship into one hour and the selection of scenes isn't very revealing.Worst, the movie is plagued by the Hollywood rule for romance involving big stars: the lovers are always from high society, live a plush and wealthy life thus the audience can't never relate to them. I got always the feeling that instead of talking about or inspiring our lives, they prefer talking about the lives of their too much-paid cast. In other words, when those overpaid movies stars ask millions to play their own easy lives on screen, they are despicable and their movies are crap. This one is a fine example of that discrepancy.

Maybe it's because we know what to expect of the two stars, but this film was a disappointment to me. Fans of Grant will find a lot more to enjoy in 'Four Weddings' or 'Notting Hill'; and Bullock-philes will do far better re-watching the wonderful 'While You Were Sleeping'.It's not a terrible film by any means, just not up to the high standards we expect from these two. It also lacks the energy that SB so often brings to the screen with her manic ditzes; energy that someone like Grant feeds off, in that inimitable bewildered fashion of his, in his best outings.Robert Klein and Dana Ivey are very good as the Jewish 'ma and pa lawyer', and Heather Burns (the wonderful Ms. Rhode Island from 'Miss Congeniality') sparkles in the woefully short time she's given on screen, but it's not enough to save a film that could have been so much more from being merely adequate.OK for a rainy day, but both have done much better. 6/10.