OK, first off, what's up with Ben Affleck's teeth. Maybe it's because I can't shake the scene from "Man About Town" in which he gets terrible veneers but his teeth looks screwy and he is almost worryingly gaunt in the film. The Star could use pictures from this film to make up a cancer story about Affleck (or at least a manorexic headline).

That aside, the film is half great, half groan. Part of that was the structure. I'm a big fan of slice of life movies and don't feel the need to always have an overriding story or destination towards which every character moves but those films are hard to pull off. In this case, they weren't able to make it work. In fact, while the first half of the films was fairly "Day in the Life" style, the second half relied on numerous momentous events (the heart attack, the sex in the office, the spurned advance/inability to function in any way, shape, or form, buying the house). The first half of the film watched relationships unfold naturally; the second half showed what happens in contrived situations.

The moment the film switches gears is obvious. When Ginnifer Goodwin's Gigi throws herself at Justin Long's Alex and he turns her down, you could almost hear a record scratch (or in the case of rom-com's, the cliched string/piano music). After that, the film because just another schmaltz fest and, honestly, almost slipped into parody a few times. If, during the second half of the film, you took a shot for every scene scored by soft strings/piano music, you'd probably be into hugging your toilet. 

The second half of the movie also undoes every strength from the first half of the film and, in the end, further strengthens the misguided teachings that it disected in the beginning. The idea that Bradley Cooper is the lying bad guy, Justin Long was a nice guy in hiding, Drew Barrymore's love was right under her nose, Scarlett Johannson is a bimbo, Jennifer Connolly is happy alone, only relationships built on ultimatums fold,  etc. are just as misguided messages as the mom's advice in the opening.

Again, the turn was the moment when Gigi hits on Alex. Up to that point, Alex had been a womanizer. His reaction to a girl jumping on him would not have been to push her away and go off on a monologue about relationships. If anything, he would have banged her and used the monologue the next morning as a reason for her not to call him. And you know what, if he did actually like her, that would have made things all the more interesting since the sex, rejection, and emotions would have been realer AND more dramatic. It would have been messy but if love and relationships are anything, it's messy. Instead, Long pushes her away, turns out to be the exceptional guy who is really a nice person despite all the notches on his headboard. The movie had a chance to be intriguing but instead opted for strings, pianos, and happily ever after.

But of course, that's why the film was made. It wasn't trying to be an honest film about the intricacies of human relationships. It was just a sugary confection designed to make women swoon and it was a definite success at that. I heard more than a handful of gasps and sighs from the ladies in the theater.

When all is said and done, the film is cute enough and had some great moments but it is what it is. It's a very well made film but one that isn't really all that memorable.