The Romantics (2010) Reviews

• Filled with potential, but ultimately disappoints

  llsee2011-02-19

  I wanted to like this movie, I usually enjoy small character studies, but sadly this film was a disappointment. Maybe it was too much to expect Katie Holmes to carry the story. Unfortunately her lack of range and/or talent is obvious in this film. And, Anna Pacquin, who is so good and fiery in True Blood, is left with little to do except be a bitch. Malin Ackerman plays a riff on her 27 Dresses role. Candice Bergn is mostly absent in the film. Finally, Josh Duhamel stumbles through the movie with the same stunned look on his face for the whole film. It is hard to imagine either woman in this film would be attracted to him. Character driven films are only enjoyable when we learn and understand the motivation behind the characters, or when we watch them grow and evolve. In this film we learn little of the character's background story or motivations, and there certainly is no growth. Overall the film is a sad mess, and I will not be recommending it to my friends.

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• I had to fast-forward to finish this movie.

  gpcheng872011-05-07

  this was terrible - a waste of the 45 minutes i was able to whittle it down to. josh duhamel's character is a spineless cad (he leaves katie holmes outside under a tree?! and she's OK with that?!), which highlights the most fatal flaw of this movie, and i think another user's review mentioned it already - you don't feel for any of the characters. the movie tries to make you pity them, how they are lost and torn, and still searching for happiness and drowning their sorrows in alcohol, but you really just end up rolling your eyes. the final blow was the ridiculous, anti-climactic ending. did the weather really save the groom and the maid of honor, or will the wedding be rescheduled? why are they smiling at each other? because they are terrible people? the failure of this movie is not on the heads of the actors. someone did say that anna paquin might have been miscast, but i think adam brody stuck out like a sore thumb to me the most. he sounded like and acted like his TV series character, and seemed like he was still in high school, much less than having graduated 10 years ago. only the soundtrack was good, and although it could have launched this review to 3 stars, it went back down to 2 because of the strange, poorly chosen final track, an upbeat tune that closed out a confusing, muddled tragedy.

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• Boring script, bad acting, limp direction

  sleemon2011-02-10

  Since Galt Niederhoffer wrote the book and screenplay and directed this movie, she has nobody to blame for its terrible awfulness but herself. The screenplay has lots of boring gaps in which this supposedly bright, witty group wanders around without saying much at all. Although they are all supposed to be college buddies, the obvious ten-year age gap between Anna Paquin and Josh Duhamel makes this proposition laughable. Katie Holmes acting here is so bad that it makes Josh Duhamel look like DeNiro, which is saying something. The whole movie hinges on the chemistry between the two leads, and there is none whatsoever. Sidekicks Jeremy Strong and Rebecca Lawrence are virtual non-entities. Candice Bergen does the same geriatric reprise of Murphy Brown that she recently did on the TV series "House," with no better results. If Elijah Wood was going for creepy he succeeded, but to no great purpose. That leaves only the performances of Anna Paquin, Malin Akerman, and Adam Brody to save this stinker. Akerman is the standout of the three, and it's only when she is on screen do you have the sense that something interesting could happen. Unfortunately, she not on screen all that much.

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• Such a disappointment

  Agriff_20002011-02-11

  Having read the book, everything about this movie was wrong, in my opinion. The characters in the book read as self-indulgent, out-of-touch post-Ivy Leaguers, but at least you have the benefit of being able to read some of their back stories. You know NOTHING about any of them in the movie - the viewer is given no reason to even try to care. I said to the person with whom I watched this, the most interesting thing about this movie is the music. And the music wasn't even that interesting, nor was it present as much as it could have been. I felt the movie was wholly miscast. Anna Paquin, while blond, was nothing like how I envisioned Lila while reading the book if only because she was about a foot too short. They took the one interesting feature of Laura's away (she's Jewish) and removed the part that really set her apart from her WASPy Yale buddies. Elijah Wood, while talented, was not creepy enough to play Chip, the bride's brother and Candice Bergen was not severe enough to be Augusta. I was also disappointed that they diminished her part - she kept everyone on their toes. I highly recommend skipping it all together. I wish I had that hour and a half of my life back.

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• Dull, Boring, Characters with No Chemistry and Poorly Developed, Awful Screenplay and Story, Dreadful Film

  claudio_carvalho2011-10-20

  Five former college friends travel for the wedding of the wealthy Lila Hayes (Anna Paquin) with Tom McDevon (Josh Duhamel) at her family's beach house. The maid of honor Laura Rosen (Katie Holmes) was the roommate of Lila in the college and the groom Tom was her boyfriend. Laura still misses Tom and the groom is not sure that he shall marry Lila. Along the eve of the wedding day, they have a dinner rehearsal and drink a lot of booze, and Tom and Laura get close to each other and rekindle their love. "The Romantics" is a film about reunion and this there have produced solid movies and my favorites are "Peter's Friends" and "St. Elmo's Fire". Unfortunately "The Romantics" is dull, boring, characters with no chemistry and poorly developed in an awful screenplay and story. Summarizing, it is a dreadful film. Laura is a despicable characters and I do not understand why she goes to the wedding to be the maid of honor and spends the night with the groom and vomits her feelings to Lila ten minutes before the wedding. Tom is a weak and uncharismatic character. Candice Bergen seems to be constipated with her grimaces and the sexy Swedish Malin Akerman and her thighs are the best that his film can offer. My vote is two. Title (Brazil): "O Casamento do Meu Ex" ("The Marriage of My Ex")

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