Nancy Myers can write and direct rom-coms. I mean, Something's Gotta Give, What Women Want, The Holiday... many reviewers say the same and gave this movie a thumbs-upYou have to give credit when credit is due, and she rightly sticks to what she does best.
You can't fault the script or the directing. But somehow, this movie didn't do it for me. I couldn't explain why, but the GF suggested it might be because of the casting.
It is more remote to expect 60-year olds to want to shag like rabbits. If the story was casted with 40 year olds, maybe - Patrick Dempsey for Alec Baldwin; Katherine Heigl for Streep and Jimmy Fallon for Steve Martin. The kids could be a little younger and it could be a bf instead of a son-in-law that knows the details.
You cannot fault the delivery of the actors (though GF thinks there was too much over-acting on Streep's part). But maybe it was the fault of the timing - too close to Julia Child's movie. All I could think of during the movie was how much Streep was acting like Child! The cooking, the speaking of bad french, the raptuous and seemingly fake laughter... Baldwin also did not detract too much from his 30 Rock role.
But the movie did have its saving points. I figured out what was wrong with the Morgans. There was no "awww...." moments. You know, the scene which makes your nose sniffle and heart melt? There are some in this movie.
The humour as compared to the Morgans was also a lot less slapstick and a lot more "OMG... don't do that... argh..." - that is, the embarrassing situation you know is going to happen if the actor does something like open the door, or pose in front of a laptop.
That is how rom-coms are supposed to be made.
2 down, 2 more to go. New York, I love You and Valentine's Day. More comparisons to follow. =)
6.5 / 10
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