SPOILERS THROUGHOUT:
Must Love Dogs is both fun and funny as well as being extremely relateable and filled with charm. It also features a terrific cast. This isn't a perfect 10 but as far as romantic comedies go, it really is tremendous fun as well as being very modern and true to life in the way it presents certain situations.
There is something inherently likable about Must Love Dogs. I knew it would be cute but was unprepared for, both the high degree of humor, and the quirkiness of some of the characters and situations, many of which were very relateable. It is not just a romantic comedy in the traditional sense but also unexpectedly hilarious and manages to be a bit different in it's approach.
The focus on internet dating is a plot that hasn't really been overdone yet and since that is such a major part of life these days, it was refreshing to see this highlighted in the movie. I loved seeing the various men Sara meets-from the crier to the guy who tells her she'd look really beautiful in handcuffs to being accidentally matched up with her own father. All of it was refreshing and fun to watch. I was engaged from the beginning.
Other plot points of particular interest-The all night "condom search" was utterly hilarious, the characters of Sara's father and his girlfriend Dolly-both played with excellence-were touching and realistic-and Dermot Mulroney's character, the "other man", was slick, yet somewhat charming and believable. All of the Supporting cast were very good.
Cusack and Lane, the two stars are good as always but interestingly (and this is the main negative) the subplots are more interesting then the two of them are together. I mean there is so much going on around them and they have such limited screen time together that other things wind up sticking in one's mind more. One quibble I have is that Lane's character of Sara never seems terribly into Cussack, it is Mulroney whom she seems most drawn to. The relationship between the leads is not built up so that when they do fall in love, it's kind of hard to swallow but then again this is a movie (and a problem in many romantic comedies.) Still, I'd have liked a bit less awkwardness between the leads and more natural, built up romantic chemistry.
I'd also have liked an ending that had one iota of credibility, especially because the rest of the movie really did. Really, the two leads could have gotten together in a more realistic way, maybe through internet instant messaging since the internet seemed to be one of the main themes of the movie. That would have been just as romantic in a much more believable way.
Must Love Dogs, though, is so likable it's almost possible to forget many of the flaws. The whole cast is great and I mustn't forget to include the dogs in that. It's a refreshing change for a movie such as this, to actually feature characters that seem a bit believable and it's a double refreshing change to see situations that really do go on in the real world. My vote on this one is 7.5 out of 10.
Must Love Dogs is both fun and funny as well as being extremely relateable and filled with charm. It also features a terrific cast. This isn't a perfect 10 but as far as romantic comedies go, it really is tremendous fun as well as being very modern and true to life in the way it presents certain situations.
There is something inherently likable about Must Love Dogs. I knew it would be cute but was unprepared for, both the high degree of humor, and the quirkiness of some of the characters and situations, many of which were very relateable. It is not just a romantic comedy in the traditional sense but also unexpectedly hilarious and manages to be a bit different in it's approach.
The focus on internet dating is a plot that hasn't really been overdone yet and since that is such a major part of life these days, it was refreshing to see this highlighted in the movie. I loved seeing the various men Sara meets-from the crier to the guy who tells her she'd look really beautiful in handcuffs to being accidentally matched up with her own father. All of it was refreshing and fun to watch. I was engaged from the beginning.
Other plot points of particular interest-The all night "condom search" was utterly hilarious, the characters of Sara's father and his girlfriend Dolly-both played with excellence-were touching and realistic-and Dermot Mulroney's character, the "other man", was slick, yet somewhat charming and believable. All of the Supporting cast were very good.
Cusack and Lane, the two stars are good as always but interestingly (and this is the main negative) the subplots are more interesting then the two of them are together. I mean there is so much going on around them and they have such limited screen time together that other things wind up sticking in one's mind more. One quibble I have is that Lane's character of Sara never seems terribly into Cussack, it is Mulroney whom she seems most drawn to. The relationship between the leads is not built up so that when they do fall in love, it's kind of hard to swallow but then again this is a movie (and a problem in many romantic comedies.) Still, I'd have liked a bit less awkwardness between the leads and more natural, built up romantic chemistry.
I'd also have liked an ending that had one iota of credibility, especially because the rest of the movie really did. Really, the two leads could have gotten together in a more realistic way, maybe through internet instant messaging since the internet seemed to be one of the main themes of the movie. That would have been just as romantic in a much more believable way.
Must Love Dogs, though, is so likable it's almost possible to forget many of the flaws. The whole cast is great and I mustn't forget to include the dogs in that. It's a refreshing change for a movie such as this, to actually feature characters that seem a bit believable and it's a double refreshing change to see situations that really do go on in the real world. My vote on this one is 7.5 out of 10.