I wish that I could say that this is a cute piece of whimsy, a moving commentary upon the perils of love, life, family, and coming to terms with the knowledge that we all must, eventually, die - some sooner than others.
Except this movie was spoiled for me first and foremost by Meg Ryan's casting as Sarah, Mom to Lucy(the radiant Kristen Stewart), the potential love interest for Carter(the capable Adam Brody, reprising his usual character), who has returned to his Grandmother's home after years living in Los Angeles, to run away from a bad break up with his movie star girlfriend, Sofia. Meg, once the iconic definition of romantic comedy, has been transformed by bad cosmetic surgery into a clown mask, behind which, she struggles to emote - which calls for acting chops she has never, sadly, possessed. This creates two problems. First, her role is at the emotional heart of the film, and she never captures those moments.This might be caused, and is certainly contributed to, by the second problem - her freakishness makes it impossible to fully commit to the fictional world, because every time she is on camera, the only reaction possible is "Ohmigawd - that's freaky!", which reminds us we are watching Meg Ryan, not Sarah.
If the movie had overcome this disaster, would it have worked? Although the ending is not the classic rom com convention (it is in fact delightfully open ended in at least one crucial way), the plot developments are foreshadowed in obvious heavy handed ways, redoubling the sense of watching a movie rather than immersing in an alternative reality.
The positives - Brody, Kristen, Makenzie Vega as Lucy's precocious sister Paige, Olympia Dukakis as Grandma, the whimsical moments of humour and occasional triumph, rescue this movie from a sub par "wish I never wasted an hour and a half of my life on that", but only barely.
Except this movie was spoiled for me first and foremost by Meg Ryan's casting as Sarah, Mom to Lucy(the radiant Kristen Stewart), the potential love interest for Carter(the capable Adam Brody, reprising his usual character), who has returned to his Grandmother's home after years living in Los Angeles, to run away from a bad break up with his movie star girlfriend, Sofia. Meg, once the iconic definition of romantic comedy, has been transformed by bad cosmetic surgery into a clown mask, behind which, she struggles to emote - which calls for acting chops she has never, sadly, possessed. This creates two problems. First, her role is at the emotional heart of the film, and she never captures those moments.This might be caused, and is certainly contributed to, by the second problem - her freakishness makes it impossible to fully commit to the fictional world, because every time she is on camera, the only reaction possible is "Ohmigawd - that's freaky!", which reminds us we are watching Meg Ryan, not Sarah.
If the movie had overcome this disaster, would it have worked? Although the ending is not the classic rom com convention (it is in fact delightfully open ended in at least one crucial way), the plot developments are foreshadowed in obvious heavy handed ways, redoubling the sense of watching a movie rather than immersing in an alternative reality.
The positives - Brody, Kristen, Makenzie Vega as Lucy's precocious sister Paige, Olympia Dukakis as Grandma, the whimsical moments of humour and occasional triumph, rescue this movie from a sub par "wish I never wasted an hour and a half of my life on that", but only barely.