The Romantics

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.

Was it... love, was it tragedy...was it a bad episode of cheap series...or was it just nothing...Everybody blames the actors, but how can you act with such cliché script, that is leading to nowhere. I am truly sorry for some of these actors, because I honestly like them, but this movie is beyond meaningless. I was waiting the whole time for a little bit of sophistication at least at the end, but well...nothing. If you want to see Ana Paquin with a green mask on her face, Elija Wood acting drunk and some guys running naked...that you can see, but nothing more sensible. What I am sorry for is Candice Bergen, wonderful actress, such unfortunate role.

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.

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.

Having read the book, everything about this movie was wrong, in my opinion. The characters in the book read as self-indulgent, out-of-touch post-Ivy Leaguers, but at least you have the benefit of being able to read some of their back stories. You know NOTHING about any of them in the movie - the viewer is given no reason to even try to care.

I said to the person with whom I watched this, the most interesting thing about this movie is the music. And the music wasn't even that interesting, nor was it present as much as it could have been. I felt the movie was wholly miscast. Anna Paquin, while blond, was nothing like how I envisioned Lila while reading the book if only because she was about a foot too short. They took the one interesting feature of Laura's away (she's Jewish) and removed the part that really set her apart from her WASPy Yale buddies. Elijah Wood, while talented, was not creepy enough to play Chip, the bride's brother and Candice Bergen was not severe enough to be Augusta. I was also disappointed that they diminished her part - she kept everyone on their toes.

I highly recommend skipping it all together. I wish I had that hour and a half of my life back.