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Someone Like You

Someone Like You

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: If you love romantic comedies...run.
Review: I am a connoisseur of romantic comedies, and I read and enjoyed the overdone fluff that was Animal Husbandry, so I must say that I was kind of looking forward to seeing Someone Like You. It stared the usually enjoyable Ashley Judd and The Delicious Hugh Jackman, so I couldn't pass it up, right?

The plot is fairly simple: Jane Goodale falls for Ray, Ray dumps Jane after telling her he loves her and wants to move in with here, leaving Jane brokenhearted and without an apartment. Desperate, Jane moves in with Eddie, a chain-smoking womanizer with a GREAT loft. Jane formulates a theory on why men leave women based on observed animal behaviors, called the New Cow Theory. Things with her theory get out of control, and Jane suddenly falls in love with Eddie.

And I do mean SUDDENLY. I'm going to rant a little about this movie's classification as romantic comedy. As anyone who is a fan of the romantic comedy knows, it's code for Modern Day Fairy Tale. It doesn't have to be something that would happen to real people. But if the characters in the movie believe it, it doesn't matter. Let's face it; romantic comedies are not about surprises. They are predictable. We know that the two main characters are going to fall in love and kiss at the end of the movie. This was a movie that was based on a non-romantic comedy, and it shows. Having two people kiss at the end doesn't automatically make it romantic. It's not about the kiss. It's about Everything That Leads to The Kiss. Getting there really is the fun. It's the First Commandment of the romantic comedy. Someone on this project forgot that.

Okay, I'm done.

That said, I should have passed it up. Someone Like You gets off to a bad start, featuring a voice over by Ms. Judd (I warn you, voice-overs are the main mode of plot movement in this flick). It was more than obvious that poor Ashley didn't believe a word she was saying, and that's pretty much what happened through the whole movie. No one was buying into the story, and the romantic leads were all wrong for each other. Judd and Greg Kinnear? Yuck. Of course, I don't like Greg anyway, but still, yuck.

Someone like you isn't ALL bad. It does have its moments. There was, of course, The Delicious Hugh Jackman.. While I am not a die-hard fan of Marisa Tomei (Jane's best friend), I must say that she was done up quite beautifully for her role, and she seems to have toned down her Rosie Perez-esque New Yorker attitude just a touch. There was also one particularly touching scene, following Jane's sister Alice's miscarriage, when Alice's husband came into the hospital room and told Alice that she was still the most beautiful woman in the world. The way they looked at each other...they bought it. And I got teary. To think, the one thing that got me teary was from a subplot that wasn't in the book at all.

So I'm giving Someone Like You three stars: one for The Delicious Hugh Jackman, who is always just plain fun to watch (on so many levels...X-men anyone?); one for Ms. Tomei's well done makeup and wardrobe; and one for the eternally romantic hospital scene. All in all, it's a skipper. I'm glad I rented it first. See Say Anything, When Harry Met Sally, or Notting Hill instead.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: If You Like Romance Movies, and I do...
Review: There are two major reasons to see this movie. They are Hugh Jackman and Ashley Judd. Both of these actors have real sizzle for a romantic comedy-drama blend. In fact, Greg Kinnear, playing a third major character, although necessary to the plot line, doesn't strike me as a likely romantic lead at all. Kinnear's getting 2nd billing in the film surprised me. I think Jackman can wipe him right off the screen romantically speaking. The script is a bit predictable with Judd's character falling for Kinnear. Then, when he is torn about going back to his original girlfriend, she develops a bizarre theory about why men are like cows and bulls. She even writes a column on it for a major magazine. I thought the movie got better as it progressed, which is unusual, but I think the reason why was that Jackman was in more of the movie from the second half on and his screen charisma really made a difference. I think if someone casts him as the total romantic lead in a romantic movie from start to finish, he will have quite a following. Ellen Barkin plays a supporting role in the film as everyone's boss, a talk show host. I miss her taking on weightier roles. Van Morrison's "Someone Like You," closes the film and is a perfect endnote.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Pleasant Romantic Comedy
Review: I found this movie to be very pleasant to watch. I enjoyed the humour and romance that starts somewhere different than you would expect. The entire cast seemed to blend into a heart warming film. I really enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Sweet romantic comedy
Review: Granted, the novel upon which this romantic comedy is based (Animal Husbandry) is much more intricate and intelligent then what appears on screen here, but for the casual viewer on a rainy night it's a satisfying and perky little movie that hits all the right buttons and then sends you home feeling cozy. Ashley Judd plays an assistant to a go-getter television host (Barkin) who falls in love with a new co-worker (Greg Kinnear) and embarks upon the best relationship of her life with him. After selling her apartment to move in with him, she discovers that it's over between them and the only place she can find to live on such short notice is rooming with her oversexed, bad attitude work colleague (Hugh Jackman), a guy who goes from one girl to the other in an effort to prove that the true love he once had with his girlfriend doesn't exist. While moping around in her misery, our heroine stumbles upon a theory that equates men and their need to swap partners with research done on bulls who refuse to have sex with the same cow twice. She takes off on this and decides it's worth writing about, but is it really true? Or is she just compensating for her own personal feelings of unworthiness? Judd's character will come off as a dipstick to some because the emphasis on her character is that of someone who deals with the sadness of breakups in a very self-destructive way. Some have called her character idiotic and offensive; I just thought that the fact she reminded me of myself making the same mistakes in the same situation made it hard to watch her without wincing (which is probably why it would be easier to call her idiotic and offensive). What I also find odd is how director Tony Goldwyn seems to want to suppress his characters' quirkiness; coming from the guy who directed A Walk on the Moon, a film that was about people who stuck out from the enforced norms of their times, this seems rather a cop-out way of telling a film's story. Other than that, the film's ending is too much-too soon, but throughout the bulk of its running time Someone Like You is a free-flowing film with much to recommend it. Marisa Tomei is excellent as Judd's chatty best friend, Barkin is surprisingly not as her misguided boss and look for a cameo by Judd's mother Naomi as her makeup lady.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Delightful Romantic Comedy
Review: This underpromoted- overlooked romantic comedy is a hoot!Marissa Tomei, Ellen Barkin and Greg Kinnear play great supporting roles to Ashley Judd and the HUNKY Hugh Jackman.
Witty, funny,acerbic dialog combined with some physical comedy is balanced by some heart to heart emotion that lends credibility to the gradual love story that unravels in this one.

Pop a Sam Addams Light and put your feet up- this one will make you laugh!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Clichéd but Pleasing Rom-Com
Review: "Someone Like You" is a short and likable romantic comedy based on the novel "Animal Husbandry" by Laura Zigman. In order to make it a more palatable movie, director Tony Goldwyn de-fanged the sharp bite of the book where all men are deemed scum and there is no happy, Hollywood romantic pairing waiting for heroine Jane Goodale (played by Ashley Judd on screen). But to the benefit of the film, toning down the book's bile makes Jane less an unlikable, dithering neurotic and more of a likable kook.

Ashley Judd does an excellent job with the script by combining emotional vulnerability and a solid comedic presence. She is at all times cute and adorable without sending a viewer into sugar shock. Hugh Jackman, in his first post-X-men role, brings a certain roguish charm and charisma to the chain-smoking and chain-f***ing Eddie. Besides her co-worker and roommate, Eddie is also Jane Goodale's living, breathing proof of her wacky theory that men are neophiliacs, and lose interest in women once they have "been serviced." (She calls this her New Cow theory.).

When Hugh Jackman and Ashley Judd are both on screen, the chemistry between them crackle. It adds a depth and nuance to their performances and characters' development. Too bad we are denied the pleasure of seeing them consummate their eventual (and very obvious) romantic pairing.

Greg Kinnear does a good job of combining slimy and sincere as the man who breaks Jane's heart, and starts her spiraling toward her New Cow theory. Marisa Tomei steals every scene she is in as Jane's enabler, best buddy, and fellow soldier in the romantic war. Marisa's chain-smoking Liz makes one wish that the movie was from her point of view, and that we could have watched cynical Liz trade verbal jabs and longing looks with Jackman's equally cynical Eddie.

The subplot concerning Alice's, Jane's sister, infertility troubles doesn't add much to the plot of the movie except to show at least one man (Stephen, played by Peter Friedman) in a steady and monogamous relationship. Catherine Dent, who plays Danni in the F/X drama The Shield and Jane's sister, has the best line in the movie: "If you can't stick [that needle] in a Valencia, how are you going to stick in my ass?"

"Someone Like You" isn't as forgettable as the lame title suggests, because of top notch performances of its stars and some memorable lines. You want fall off your seat laughing, but you will find yourself with at least a pleasing smile on your face. A word to the wise, stop the movie 5 minutes before it is scheduled to end and you'll enjoy it even more.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A bit banal yet fun to watch
Review: This movie has lots of ups and downs, high and low moments. The beginning is with the very original cow theory showing real cows and scientists and in a way promising us that this is not going to be just another regular love story. Then the film moves on to a very banal story, where the "villain" is marked from moment one. Somewhere along this line you get hooked until the once again banal (and too dramatized) ending.
All in all fun and entertaining to watch but not one of the best romantic comedies. Ashley Judd as the dumped lady is lovely and is a good excuse to watch this film. I liked this actress since watching her in "where the heart is", but I have to say she does not really look miserable, or maybe I wish I looked like her when I was miserable (actually, I would not mind looking like that when I am happy either). Other then that I could not stand Gregg Kinnear as the love object, he seemed too pathetic to win anybody's heart. I liked him a whole lot better as the neighbor in "As good as it gets" - in that movie his pathetic expressions seemed to fit the role. Marisa Tomei is lovely as the best friend role.
During the viewing I wondered how such a hectic and demanding work at a television network seems to take up so few hours of the hero's daytime. I wonder.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A new? sexy hunk to watch
Review: The best thing about this movie is the introduction of a new (?)male romantic comedy lead that I would like to see in many more such movies. I have since seen Hugh Jackman in Oklahoma! (he can sing and dance, too!) -- and would love to see more of him. He is too good to waste on the X-Men movies -- tho' he is probably a lot of what makes those movies fun to watch.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Horrible
Review: The worst movie I have purchased in a very long time. I bought it used for 5 bucks and then sold it just to get it out of my sight.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A Truly Rotten MOO-vie
Review: Quite frankly, I watched this movie for Hugh Jackman, and was rewarded in that endeavor, as he is a spectacular specimen of Hunkus Austrialianus. I really like Ashley Judd as well, although she has never acheived the brilliance she brought to her role in the film "Ruby in Paradise". She seems hell-bent on becomming a "movie star" at this point in time.
Anyway, this movie was really stupid, the cow & bull theory, what a bunch of, you should excuse the expression, BULL. Everything was dumbed down & stupid to the extreme. Don't get me started on Ashley's ridiculous get ups! My favorite was the strapless daytime dress for the office, give me a break!
Everyone in this movie was a cipher. There was no plot, no character development, no romantic chemistry between the lovers, nothing.
Ashley Judd appeared so emaciated, that she looked ill,and I don't mean love sick.
It looked like everyone in the movie just showed up to collect a paycheck.
However, Hugh Jackman did look FABULOUS in his scivies.


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