Die Ex-Freundinnen meines Freundes

It's unfortunate that this movie will be overshadowed by bigger box office draws this summer because it is far better than anyone anticipates. Kathy Bates turns in a good performance as an aging talk show host; Holly Hunter as the talk show host producer who is getting to a certain age where she must either move up the ladder or or at least leave an impression. The villainous side of her chooses the latter and our story begins as she takes new associate producer Brittany Murphy under her wing and persuades her to delve into her boyfriend's PDA to find out about his ex-loves. As the old adage goes...be careful what you look for you just might find it. Okay, Brittany Murphy is no Meryl Streep, but she ain't bad to look at and the ending is a real treat. We liked it.

"Little Black Book" examines the foibles of one young woman (Murphy) who decides to "research" her significant other's prior romantic life as an adjunct to a TV reality talk show (think Jerry Springer) and learns some unexpected lessons in life in the process. A lively, fun, and occasionally poignant little bit of chick flick fluff, this movie suffered at the hands of critics, public, and chicks perhaps because people like a little romance with their romantic comedies and "LBB" has none to offer. An unexpectedly busy little story to nowhere which takes the chick flick milieu off course and into a sort of genre-bending neverland, this film seems to be trying to conjure some vague moral which never quite crystallizes. Nevertheless, Murphy and Hunter make capable bookends shoring up a pleasant assortment of side characters while the story slowly erodes their best efforts. Recommended for fans of the players but don't expect the usual satisfying romcom fare. Expect a Palm Pilot commercial instead. (C+)

It was a nice fun little movie. Great to see Holly Hunter on the big Screen she is a wonderful actress and I thoroughly enjoyed her in this character of BARB! Brittany did a fine job. She can hold her own with the Likes of Kate Hudson, and yes Even Reese Witherspoon and Drew Barrymore. Melissa big claps for you on this story, I LOVED IT. I have read a lot of the reviews here and just want to say to anyone who hasn't seen the movie. Don't worry about wasting your money, because it's only money and life is too short and if your bored and looking for a little pick up go see this movie or if it's out on Dvd pick it up you judge for yourself. Carly Simon references were just too cool. Kathy Bates was great as the Talk Show host KIPPI.

I think Brittany gets more criticism that she should. She is a refreshing new face every movie actress and I like that about her. She is different in every role. I want to see more of her.

I think Ron Livingston was dull in this part and the "Hunky Derek" should of been casted better. But all in all "Barb and Stacy" Holly and Brittany did really well in this Little Movie. Claps to David Sussan to he was somewhat annoying but someone has to be. I give this movie a solid 8 of 10 and was suprised and laughed as people clapped in the theater at the end of it. And no they weren't clapping because it was over they were clapping a the end surprise that you get and I'm not giving it away. SO IGNORE ALL THE NEGATIVE and GO SEE IT!

This gem didn't do well at the box office because audiences couldn't make the connection between meanness and romantic comedy. Don't you mind that; think of this as another in the genre of movies that start out being simple stories and turn into movies about movies, not by digging deeper in the layer but by bringing the original movie into "reality."

This one really impressed me with the cleverness of its construction; it unfolded in completely novel and unexpected ways. The thing is anchored in the movie by Holly Hunter and in the show within by Holly's character. Holly has done this kind of folded acting before — "Timecode" comes to mind. She does it rudely; that's just her style.

If you want to make an engaging movie these days, you have to engineer a means to get the audience into the story. The easiest way to do that is to create an audience as part of the story, then trick the movie audience to fold into the story's audience.

Whether you like the "message" or not, I recommend this as a crack piece of screen writing. In nearly all movies, the story isn't important anyway. Only the means for telling the story matters. This is a clean form. See it.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

All romantic comedies follow a standard formula: Boy meets girl. Boy gets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy gets girl back. As the audience, we're supposed to enjoy the How of the formula. And often times that formula is very entertaining. Along comes this refreshing, unpredictable "Little Black Book" that does not follow the familiar formula, yet is a romantic comedy -- and a very well made one, I think -- the cumulative vote so far is less than 5. Makes no sense to me. Here's what you get with "Little Black Book." An intelligent script well directed. Brittany Murphy is impressive in a very seamless performance. Julianne Nicholson practically steals the show. Plus Josie Maran steams the whole thing up. What else do you want? 7 out of 10