Les colocataires

It seems like a good idea for fans of romantic comedies and/or Brandon Routh. Routh plays Scott Teller. Scott is a lonely, white-collar romantic in New York City who's been dumped after he drives away a girlfriend by proposing marriage too soon and his roommate moves to Germany, leaving him with a great apartment that he can't afford on his own. So, he looks for a new roommate and after interviewing the sort of absurdly unsuitable prospects who only exist in movies, he finds a young couple named Ryan and Mary (Jesse Bradford and Sophia Bush) who seem like the ideal choice. Things go well enough at first, until Scott meets a new woman who may be Mrs. Right in Leslie (Jennifer Morrison), a beautiful costume designer for a theatrical troupe. But Ryan and Mary keep getting in the way and making him look bad to Leslie in ways that are absurd and ridiculous. And the film becomes shrill and embarrassing as Ryan and Mary become increasingly over-the-top in their undercutting of his decisions, and Scott reacts in ways that are increasingly paranoid. As a result, the audience will become more and more exasperated. The script is the main culprit. It uses a framing device (flashback revealed in a bar) which contributes nothing and is abandoned before the film ends. Some of the jokes are funny, but most of them are embarrassing. The romance between Scott and Leslie seems more a convenient plot device than a real romance. The road trip at the end seems tacked on, though it might have been believable earlier in the movie. The cast is better than the screenplay, but left to founder. The affable, all-American Brandon Routh is well-cast as a nice-guy type, but he's consistently upstaged by the supporting cast, even when his character starts behaving in an irritating way. Jennifer Morrison is pretty, but her role is very underwritten and she has little to do. Thus the main focus is Ryan and Mary, the couple who's so zany they'll give viewers a migraine. Jesse Bradford, who's given good performances in the past, is saddled with an unflattering haircut and acts as if he's channeling Robert Downey, Jr before he got sober. But the one cast member who is just as bad as the script is Sohpia Bush. Though Bush is beautiful and talented, you'd never know from this shrill performance. She tries to be screamingly funny and scorchingly sexy and goes so far over the top, she acts like her co-stars are competitors for attention. Indeed, it's more like a temper tantrum than acting. Perhaps Johnny Galecki comes off best in his minor role, and he gets some of the best lines. So in spite of some capable actors and a few good scenes, I give this a thumbs down.

Scott (Brandon Routh) walks into a bar and begs for others to hear his tale of woe. It's a long one. A few months ago, Scott set up an elaborate rooftop dinner proposal for his girlfriend but, she retched and refused. Boo hoo. Trying to recover, Scott decides to find a roommate for his LA loft, as he works from home, too, and needs company. Some of the applicants are immediately rejected but soon he finds a couple with a yen to share his gorgeous space. This is Ryan (Jesse Bradford) and his lovely girlfriend, Mary (Sophia Bush). Although Scott is skeptical, they appear to be a very nice couple so he agrees. All too soon, the perfect arrangement starts to unravel. This is especially so when Ryan and Mary make love noisily at any happening and tease Scott relentlessly about his uptightness. It seems if they make trouble for someone else in close proximity, they themselves never fight. Poor Scott is only the latest victim. Happily, Scott does meet another lovely gal, Leslie (Jennifer Morrison) and wants to pursue her in a big way. Yet, Ryan and Mary may sabotage all his efforts. Should he kick them out? This funny but raunchy romcom has assets in the cast. Routh is a doll and Bradford/Bush as a team are hysterical in their chattering mocks. The scenery is also wonderfully sunny while costumes, script, and lively direction are all pluses, too. Although not for all romance fans, those who can risk a little bawdiness should set the table for this one.

The story really gets underway when he decides to rent out the extra room to a couple who begin to interfere in his love life. Brandon Routh does an excellent job in portraying the guy too quick to jump into relationships. The couple that moves in with him decide that they will help him not to jump into a relationship too quickly. On purpose, they try to make him look bad in front of this new women in order to slow him down.I enjoyed the interaction of the characters. Each character was fully developed instead of being a part of the scenery. There are a lot of good laughs, and the comedy is realistic. The marriage ceremony has many good laughs in it too, and we see what lengths the couple will go to.

I'm surprised at all the negativity 'Table For Three' received because it had me laughing almost all the way. I say almost because I thought towards the end (except the last scene) it got very clichéd. Samonek does a good job of making the story (which could have easily been a thriller) into a comedy. The jokes work excellently but there is also a lot of subtle humour some of which can be easily missed if you turn your head away for a minute. 'Table For Three' also has a polished and appealing look. The sets look great and the soundtrack is pleasant. One of the most crucial requirements for a successful comedy is to cast actors with comic flair. Brandon Routh does a fairly decent job and the breathtakingly beautiful Jennifer Morrison is absolutely charming. However, 'Table For Three' belongs to Jesse Bradford and Sophia Bush. They are awesome as this weird, intrusive and clingy couple from hell and their scenes together are the highlights of the movie. Bush should definitely quit acting in soaps and consider acting more in films. To sum it up, 'Table For Three' is a fun movie to watch on a date or with friends.

Table for Three turns can be watched if you haven't anything else to do but can be skipped otherwise. Picked it up to see how Superman would fare in a non-extraordinary role and he acts decently but doesn't seem to have much of an acting prowess. Maybe taking some indie role would do him good. The movie itself tries to build as it goes along but with not much of a story line there isn't much to do. The cast meanders through their roles and one can't imagine why Sophia Bush would pick a role like this, not to mention the others. The story-line is feeble and the script isn't powerful enough to drive an oft repeated story. A couple of funnies in the whole movie, hmmm maybe not. Will be out on TV so no need to rush to get the DVD from the store. 5/10.