Love Hurts

Thing about Richard E. Grant is he doesn't seem to be able to get part re-playing - and re-playing and re-playing - the character he played in "Withnail & I" and "How to Get Ahead in Advertising" - both of which are classics.

Withnail was in 1987 - Grant's first film - and How to Get Ahead in Advertising was in 1989 - that's over 30 yrs ago and Grant has made over 100 movies since then - but in every scenario, no matter how unsuited, he's always Withnail.

So what is the Withnail character - well, it's a frenzied Brit who is interminably bemused by the circumstances in which he in interminably incongruous.

And in Withnail and How to Get Ahead - he had a perfect fit with.writer/director Bruce Robinson - who had the "Benny Hill" sensibility of that era in Brit comedy to a tee - sharp dialogue, hilarious nonsensical narratives, etc etc.

So with Robinson, although Grant played basically the same character, the settings were completely different - in Withnail, he's a dispossessed 60's London gad-about and in "Getting Ahead" he's a slick 1980's advertising exec - but Robinson makes it work in both cases without seeming to be repetitive.

Without Robinson, or a script/director of similar wit and panache - Grant is lost and is like a audio clip that just keeps skipping and repeating.

In this offering, Grant has nowhere near a Robinson level story or script or cast of supporting actors - and, consequently, it's just a below mediocre mash with Grant flopping around being bemused but definitely not amusing.

Well, there it is ...

A movie about divorce, realizing what is important and the bond between a father and son. After his wife (Moss) leaves Dr. Bingham (Grant) he goes into a deep depression. With help from his son Dr. Bingham changes his image and starts dating again and seems happy. When his son falls in love he puts his plans on hold and helps his son, and learns more about his wife in the process. This movie is really funny and unexpectedly touching in parts. Dr. Bingham thinks only of himself until his son falls in love and then the bond between him and his son starts to grow and it is fun to watch how they interact with each other. This movie was very surprising one of the funniest movies that has come out in the last few months. I give it a B.

Stop me if you've heard this plot before: Wife leaves hubby because he's become too boring and inattentive. Hubby must somehow reconnect with the youthful self she fell in love with in order to win her back.

In the interim, the writer and director have to come up with a bunch of "funny" stuff to happen to Hubby before he finally achieves his goal. This includes him learning to be a stud and hooking up with a host of really unappealing ladies, including Jenna Elfman as his sushi-crazed secretary and Janeane Garofalo as an unorthodox Orthodox Jew. But the "funny" stuff is on the order of him going nuts at an 80's Karaoke night, and bowling badly while under the influence of cannabis fudge. I'd call these scenes "funny-adjacent" rather than funny. They're similar to scenes you'd find in a funny movie, minus the laughs.

Bottom Line: Richard Grant is no Hugh Grant, but this film is watchable--just.

WHAT!!! 28 year old playing 17! Who they kidding? Why do they do this?

Don't they ever learn.

Stop this stupidity.

Use actors of the age they are playing.

To use somebody almost twice the age they are supposed to be playing is ridiculous.

And to the actor: why do you let them do this to you? You have no shame. Are you only in it for the money and and don't care about letting the producers and directors walk all over you? Act your age not somebody half it.

Even my wife, who loves chick flicks, thought this was terrible.