9/10
Unexpectedly well-written and gorgeous comedy
9 February 2012
You may have seen trailers for this terrible-looking romantic comedy about two CIA agents who fight over the same girl. My friend and I attended an advance screening with the expectation that I would hate the movie.

We loved it.

The movie was a delight from start to finish. It was gorgeous, for one thing, and I am not just talking about the actors, although they're gorgeous, too. The cinematography is splendid.

Furthermore, the characters were actually multi-dimensional, including Lauren Scott (Reese Witherspoon), the woman in question. Far from being a trophy, she was smart, competent, and talented, and she had her own issues to work out and her own lessons to learn about love. Although the movie was undeniably more about the men than it was about her, I didn't feel like she was just there to motivate them, which is always a danger in this type of romantic comedy.

The theme of the movie was communicated through her as well as through the men—which brings me to my next point: the movie actually had themes and character development. I typically expect only to be entertained by a comedy, not to be impressed in any intellectual way, but in addition to being nonstop hilarious and occasionally moving, this one was all over proper writing technique.

My friend and I ended up being completely in love with it, and we cannot wait for the official release so that we can share it with all of our other friends and see it again ourselves.
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