Peet Makes Liking Love Easy

Emily Friehl (Amanda Peet, Changing Lanes) and Oliver Martin (Ashton Kutcher, The Butterfly Effect) met flying to New York crammed into a bathroom. You can use your imagination as to what they were doing, and if you want to insert the word “mile” into that thought process you wouldn’t be on the wrong track. Needless to say, when Emily decides to go her separate way upon landing, Oliver is more than a little disappointed. No matter, something else will come along. Something always does.

Of course, sometimes that something just happens to be the same thing from before, the young, fresh out of college clean-cut gentleman running into the grungy rocker girl and her parents outside of a New York eatery. On a whim she coerces Oliver to spend the day with her, the two of them journeying around the city, wandering through Central Park and visiting a bar or two for a quick shot and some playful conversation. Soon the topic turns towards the future, and a six-year life plan is thrown on the table for Emily to examine. In the end a bet is made, a phone number is given, memories are forged and the two, once more, part seemingly never to meet again.

It’s a beginning, the start to a romance neither really sees coming until it hits them square in the face. Somehow finding ways to keep in touch and build a friendship, the duo discover love is like a snowball rolling down hill, starting small only to blossom into something gigantic and completely unexpected. But, when all the years are counted and life’s decisions take them both into completely unanticipated directions, will love get its chance to shine or has their moment to finally be together come and gone like a cool breeze whispering across a country hillside?

A Lot Like Love is the year’s first completely winning romantic comedy/drama. It is an utterly irresistible collection of amorous vignettes, held together by Nigel Cole’s (Calendar Girls) confident direction and the ferociously captivating charms of actress Peet. It’s a sublime piece of pop entertainment, so good it can’t help but draw comparisons to When Harry Met Sally… or Sleepless in Seattle. And while I’m not quite ready to elevate it up to the territory claimed by those two modern-day classics, I’m also not quite ready to say it’s not worthy either. Only time, and a few repeat viewings (and more than a couple boxes of Kleenex), will be able to answer that.

There are some things holding it back from greatness, at least on initial viewing, not the least of which is Kutcher. Billy Crystal or Tom Hanks he’s not, although the extreme vitriol I’ve always seemed to hold for the Punk’d auteur and My Boss’ Wife and That ‘70’s Show performer is starting to ebb. While not a great actor, not by any stretch of the imagination, with this and his perfectly decent turn in Guess Who Kutcher just might not be the insipid thespian I once thought. Still, he’s decidedly lightweight, and A Lot Like Love has trouble sustaining momentum whenever it focuses solely upon him.

Also, not all of the quirks and twists buried within Colin Patrick Lynch’s debut screenplay pan out quite the way they should. A late-movie tryst between Peet and Jeremy Sisto (Wrong Turn) seems tacked on and underdeveloped, while best friends played by Ali Larter (Final Destination 2) and Kathryn Hahn (Around the Bend) get so little opportunity to make an impression they’re essentially just window dressing. And, while I realize a multi-year love story built on chance is going to have to rely on coincidence, there’s one or two here that stretch plausibility all the way to the breaking point.

Still, when a movie is as downright entertaining and wonderful as this one it’s hard to get too worked up over the small stuff. The majority of Lynch’s script is smartly sublime, deftly moving though time with heart-shaped ease. Splendidly photographed by John de Borman (Shall We Dance) and using a soundtrack filled with pop songs that actually help propel the movie forward (and aren’t just there to sell soundtracks), A Lot Like Love is certainly an easy movie to watch. Even better, Cole and Lynch fill their film with subtle quirks that scream of reality, adding a level of authenticity to the picture making some of the more squishy segments much easier to swallow.

In the end, however, the reason for the movie’s success rests with Peet. The actress has always been an acquired taste, some of her performances (Saving Silverman, Whole Nine Yards and High Crimes) being so acerbically annoying just the sight of her was enough to send audience members scurrying for the exit. That’s definitely not the case this time. Peet’s splendiferous and multifaceted work is a wonder, easily the best of the young actress’ career. Segueing easily from light to dark and from up to down with relatively intoxicating ease, Peet makes it easy to get wrapped up into A Lot Like Love and it seven-year tale of love and heartbreak. Simply put, I adored her in this, her performance just the type of calling card that can turn an actor into a superstar.

Film Rating: êêê  (out of 4)