Month: October 2024

Today’s quick review: The Accidental Husband. Emma Lloyd (Uma Thurman), a radio host with a detached view of love, ruins Patrick Sullivan’s (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) life when she talks his fiance into dumping him during a call-in to the show. As revenge, Patrick hacks the state computer system and fakes a prior marriage between him and Emma, forcing her to scramble to get the marriage annulled in time for her wedding to Richard (Colin Firth).

The Accidental Husband is a romantic comedy about a love guru whose theories about romance are put the test when she meets an impulsive firefighter. While trying to sort out the “glitch” that caused their marriage, Emma finds herself falling for Patrick, even though he’s the opposite of the man she always said she wanted.

The Accidental Husband has a decent premise, but its execution leaves something to be desired. Uma Thurman and Jeffrey Dean Morgan perform well individually but their chemistry is not strong enough to carry the film. The humor comes from a series of misunderstandings about Emma and Patrick’s marriage, but the movie drops that angle early on.

More broadly, The Accidental Husband makes a lot of small mistakes that blunt its impact. Moments that are supposed to be emotional are missing the setup, musical cues, and character reactions to make them work. Emma drifts through major revelations rather than engaging with them. Even the script does not have a clear endpoint in mind: The finale has none of the careful planning Emma espouses and little of the romance she’s tempted by.

All of this dampens what is otherwise a sound movie. Uma Thurman, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Colin Firth are all fine picks for their roles. The premise is a clever one for a romantic comedy. The movie does a lot of legwork to develop Patrick as a character and have Emma discover that he’s more than he seems. But without the charm to tie it all together, these efforts go to waste, making The Accidental Husband a mediocre pick.

For a romantic comedy with a similar premise and a weaker cast, try Accidentally Engaged. For one with more spark, check out The Proposal. For a romantic comedy about a dating advice show host whose theories get put to the test, check out The Ugly Truth. For a one about a love doctor who falls in love in spite of his best efforts, try Hitch.

[5.6 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0809504/). I give it a 5.5 for a decent premise that never hits its stride.

Today’s quick review: Just Married. Sarah (Brittany Murphy), a young woman from a wealthy family, defies her parents when she marries Tom (Ashton Kutcher), a small-time radio host with no class and no career prospects. But their love is put to the test during their honeymoon to Europe, where everything that can go wrong does.

Just Married is a romantic comedy about a newlywed couple whose marriage is nearly destroyed by a disastrous honeymoon. Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Murphy star as Tom and Sarah, two very different people who are brought together by love. Just Married employs the usual madcap comedy tricks, such as accidents, arguments, and misunderstandings. But although the premise works on paper, the story and the humor both miss the mark.

Just Married fails to sell Tom and Sarah as a couple. They have nothing in common, with different interests, expectations, and personalities. They argue constantly, they keep secrets from each other, and neither one displays any maturity. While some of the conflict is justified for the sake of comedy, it leaves the story little to work with. The only thing keeping Tom and Sarah together is passion, and even that comes across as forced.

This central problem weakens everything else the movie tries to do. Without the spark of love between Sarah and Tom, the audience has no real reason to want their relationship to work. The jokes are mediocre but could have been salvaged if the leads had better chemistry. And while the theme of love uniting people from different backgrounds is a classic one, the movie does not have a solid foundation to ignore it.

The result is a mediocre romantic comedy that only goes through the motions. Fans of Ashton Kutcher may get something out of Just Married, and anyone in the mood for light humor and marital arguments could do worse. But Just Married is missing the originality and the passion of its competition, making it an easy movie to skip.

For a sharper romantic comedy featuring Ashton Kutcher in an acrimonious marriage, try What Happens in Vegas. For another romantic comedy about a honeymoon gone wrong, try Honeymoon in Vegas or The Long, Long Trailer. For another comedy about a married couple on a nightmare trip, try The Out-of-Towners. For a crime comedy about Americans out of place in Europe, try Murder Mystery or Once Upon a Crime.

[5.5 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0305711/). I give it the same for weak chemistry and a flimsy plot.

Today’s quick review: The Sweetest Thing. Christina (Cameron Diaz), a party girl with a fear of commitment, begins to have unfamiliar feelings when she meets Peter (Thomas Jane) at a club. Urged on by her best friends Courtney (Christina Applegate) and Jane (Selma Blair), Christina takes a wild road trip to visit Peter at his brother Roger’s (Jason Bateman) wedding and tell him how she feels.

The Sweetest Thing is a raunchy romantic comedy starring Cameron Diaz. Packed with sex jokes and poor decision-making, The Sweetest Thing follows three party-loving friends as they navigate the pitfalls of casual dating. In spite of a talented cast and a low-stakes premise, the movie wastes its potential. Tasteless humor, weak character work, and an almost nonexistent plot make it a hard sell even for viewers who are interested.

The Sweetest Thing gambles on crude humor in a major way. Nearly every joke in the movie revolves around sex, and the handful that don’t are just as lowbrow. Even setting aside the content of the humor, the jokes have a low hit rate. The setups are contrived, the payoffs are uninspired, and many of the jokes only exist as filler. While The Sweetest Thing has a few funny ideas here and there, it never really hits its stride as a comedy.

The movie also misses with its characters. Christina, Courtney, and Jane are meant to come across as funny and spontaneous, but they cross the line into crass and inconsiderate. Normally, this would be fine for a raunchy comedy, but the characters are not likable enough to get away with it. The movie spends so little time treating them like people that there is no reason to side with them when the situation inevitably gets awkward.

The one redeeming quality of The Sweetest Thing is its cast. Cameron Diaz, Christina Applegate, and Selma Blair are fun, vivacious, and well-suited to their roles. If the script showed even a little more restraint, the trio could be the backbone of an excellent comedy. Instead, they are given jokes that are at best hit-or-miss and a story that barely bothers to go through the motions of romance.

The Sweetest Thing will have a niche for the right viewer. Its solid cast and explicit, over-the-top humor at least give it a distinct identity, and some audiences will appreciate what it has to offer. But the extremes it goes to will turn off most ordinary viewers, and the story and characters are not enough to make the jokes worthwhile. Approach with caution if you’re a fan of raunchy comedies, and steer clear otherwise.

For a better use of Cameron Diaz, try What Happens in Vegas or Knight and Day. For a raunchy comedy with a little more heart, try That’s My Boy. For one with similar problems, try Game Over, Man!. For a more romantic movie about a woman chasing after a man she barely knows, try Sleepless in Seattle.

[5.2 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0253867/). I give it a 4.5 for dodgy humor and a negligible plot.