Cleverly entertaining, but very "dark" in its comedy
JKH | Nashville, TN | 02/20/2010
(3 out of 5 stars)
"This movie is definitely a dark comedy -- as some of the other reviews reveal, Ryan Reynold's character has everything go miserably wrong in his life. The irony is that he is an efficiency expert and, prior to this series of events, had an inordinately structured and "perfect" existence. When it shatters apart, he begins doing the some of the risky behavior he once condemned (driving a Harley with no helmet) and smoking. You can feel the tension because his actions go against his personality. Throughout, Reynolds is very convincing in dramatizing the stress and anxiety.
Just watching the film, I could not help but feel very empathetic toward Reynold's character. To me, it isn't really all that "laugh-out-loud" funny. Rather, it is more of a sense of shock that the poor guy has been devastated so badly and deeply.
While I normally don't like this kind of movie, I felt it was strangely compelling and well done for what it is. Just don't watch this for some light-hearted laughs.
"
Actually pretty good
Erik P. Pukinskis | San Diego, CA USA | 04/13/2010
(4 out of 5 stars)
"It's not exactly North by Northwest, but this is a solid, fun film. Unlike most romantic comedies, the writing is actually pretty good. There were a bunch of really clever lines, and no real groaners that I can think of.
Two things bothered me about it. It really celebrates the concept of heterosexual marriage and monogamy as the way to go. It doesn't really question any of that. Lots of people are happy not being married, or being non-monogamous, and certainly not everyone is straight. So it's a little bit of a bummer, Yet-Another-Movie-About-Straight-White-People-Getting-Married-And-Being-Monogamous. Like we really need another one of those.
And also, somewhat it sets up the wife as the villain for a lot of the movie, which is another sad trope. Poor-Perfect-Man-With-Overreactive-Wife is a little played out as a movie theme.
Other than those two things, I enjoyed it quite a bit though."