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Today, 30 August 2008

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» Mamma Mia!

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» Mamma Mia!

Let me be honest. This is the kind of movie I have to be told to watch upon pain of particularly cruel punishment.

Not to sound like a curmudgeon, but I don’t rush to see romantic comedies that you can predict the beginning, middle and end of from just a quick look at the poster and a passing glimpse of the trailer.

Perhaps the kindest critique of 'A Lot Like Love' then, is to call it a good, safe, first-date movie.

Ashton Kutcher, Hollywood's beefcake du jour, plays a particularly useless dot.com millionaire-to-be, who hooks up with a complete stranger (Amanda Peet) in the toilets of a Boeing on a long-haul flight. So far so romantic.

He spends the day with her, they get on famously and then split up and don't speak to each another for years. These things happen, apparently.

Fast forward to another meeting, another great time, and another goodbye. Fast forward another couple of years… you get the picture.

So what's in it for the first-daters then, apart from 90 minute's worth of parent-free grope-time, and a brief glimpse of Ashton's buns in the requisite nude scene?

Well, there's probably one genuinely funny scene, and a lot of gags centred on poor eating habits.

Apart from that it's frivolous stuff that follows the proven formula of romantic comedies: public declarations of love in front of as many strangers as possible, to be followed by tearful applause from anyone in earshot. And if you can throw in a heartfelt rendition of a slushy eighties soft-rock ballad, all the better.

Then, of course, a rom-com wouldn't be complete without a heart-stopping will they/won't they moment involving the heroine, marriage and The Wrong Guy.

For all this, it's refreshing to see Kutcher tone down the goofiness of most of his previous screen roles, and there's a certain onscreen chemistry between him and Peet that will stave off catatonic boredom.

Ultimately 'A Lot like Love' is, well, a lot like plenty of other films. It's not particularly funny, but it's sweet, and at least the two leads look like they're having fun. Whether that makes up for having to wait for an ending that you figured out before setting foot in the cinema, well, that depends on you.