Offbeat rom-com that my wife and I enjoyed.
18 August 2008
Warning: Spoilers
This one is a real mixed bag, mostly quirky characters in a quirky movie. But it works. There is a little bit of "10" in it, where Dudley Moore chases Bo Derek and when he finally catches her he finds out she is not that desirable after all. It makes fun of all the stories where someone sees a cute person and decides that is the person they are meant to be with.

The movie starts with words being typed, as if a script were being written, then the scene is what was written. Brittany Murphy is Emily 'Jacks' Jackson, living and working in London. Her roommate and best friend is Matthew Rhys as the gay Peter Simon. Jacks keeps up a relationship with her recent former boyfriend because it is convenient, but mostly it is safe, to be with someone you KNOW will never be your long term partner.

Much of the movie involves Peter trying to find a person, a guy, who he accidentally ran into, literally, in a hotel entrance, assuming the other guy was gay and perfectly suited for him. When he finally catches him, much like Dudley Moore found out, you can't judge a book by its cover.

Santiago Cabrera is Paolo Sarmiento, assistant to a famous gay photographer, and Jacks assumes the young Paolo is a boyfriend, and treats him like all the other gay guys she knows, running around in her underwear or inviting him into the bathroom to talk as she is taking a bath. But we know right away that Paolo is not gay, and in fact is really interested in Jacks. There is much humor as that confusion plays out.

But in the end what the story comes down to is a very good one, and a very important one. Do we look for love in the wrong way? Do we keep waiting for that special person to sweep us up? Or, does true love begin right inside us? Is it a decision that we make, and that the other person makes, to really get to know each other and commit to a relationship? Jacks has to make that decision with Paolo and we think we know where it is headed.
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