beatrice51398

I loved Monica Potter in 'The Very Thought of You,' and was excited to see this 2002 romantic comedy starring the actress. Like 'The Very Thought of You,' 'I'm With Lucy' has a wacky premise: show the audience five different guys' dates with one girl, and hint that she'll marry one of them before the movie's over. It almost sounds like a concept for a reality show, and maybe it would have made a better tv show than a movie.

The storytelling mechanism (a little snippet of each of the five dates, then the cycle begins again) is gutsy, and I was intrigued by the idea. However, somewhere during all those dates, we lose track of who Lucy really is... She's drunk in one, and in all the others, seems strangely affected by the man she's with. She's a bit too chameleon-like for me to relate to, I guess.

The guys are all interesting... I especially liked John Hannah as Doug, though I may be biased since I adored him in Sliding Doors. The others are good, nothing horrible about their performances.

I think the main problem was the script. I kept cringing at the lines, which made the actors appear as if they were trying so hard to make this movie work that they didn't have any fun. But, as I was reminded by someone the other day, good actors can't save a movie -- they can only elevate it. I think Monica Potter and the other's elevated 'I'm With Lucy', but alas, they couldn't save it.

I do look forward to Monica's next foray into the genre. She can be fun to watch if given the right script and support.

I am a huge fan of Romantic Comedy as a genre, and I'm always looking for movies that somehow didn't get the press they deserved when they first came out. 'The Matchmaker' (1997) definitely makes my list of 'little known, but definitely worth renting.'

I hate plot summaries, so I'll skip to the good stuff. This is a great movie (despite Denis Leary's inability to talk without swearing profusely) because it refuses to be stupid and predictable. It is smart and sarcastic, but still romantic and funny. This is not an easy combination, and few movies are able to pull it off as well as 'The Matchmaker.' Janeane Garofalo's (Marcie Tizard) comedic timing is amazing, as always -- her banter with David O'Hara (Sean Kelly) is wonderfully entertaining. The chemistry is pretty good, which is always a must if we are to believe people who initially despised one another are now falling for each other.

All around, a good romantic comedy. The language was a bit rough at times, and unnecessarily so -- if you take out all the 'f---'s, you'd have a PG film.

I give it 8 out of 10, and hope to see Janeane Garofalo take another crack at the genre sometime soon. (I also recommend 'Truth About Cats and Dogs', but I think 'Matchmaker' is a better use of your $3.99.)