Astronomer Matthew Broderick sets out to spy on his ex-girlfriend and her new lover; when the man's jilted fiancée comes into the picture, the two conspire to bust up the budding romance. Amiable, rascally, but ultimately predictable comedy is more about transitory love than love addictions. Sunny Meg Ryan gets to work with a little more shading and edge than usual--and she works well with Broderick--but the second-half of the movie skitters around trying to come up with an ending (the finale is cute, like the rest, but some of the wind has already gone out of the picture's sails). Director Griffin Dunne stages a few beautiful comedic scenes (as with the restaurant critic), but Broderick's 'friendship' with the new man in his girl's life is just silly, and the whole conceit of Broderick and Ryan setting up shop in an abandoned building right across the street from the loving couple is fairly ridiculous. Still, there are finely wrought, surprisingly telling moments in the movie, such as the two leads sneaking over and going through the things in the love-nest or Kelly Preston telling her Frenchman that she would sell pencils on the street with him if she had to. "Addicted to Love" is better than it had to be. *** from ****
Review of Addicted to Love
