Reviewed by Doug Cooper
Stars Jessica Alba, Kathy Bates, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Hector Elizondo, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Carter Jenkins, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Taylor Lautner, George Lopez, Shirley MacLaine, Emma Roberts, Julia Roberts, Bryce Robinson, Taylor Swift
Certification UK 12A | US PG-13 | Runtime 125 minutes
Written by Katherine Fugate | Directed by Garry Marshall
If you're single then you might wish to avoid this light-hearted confection. If you're loved up and attached you'll find it more palatable. It's a piece of froth, efficiently and smoothly done but lacking in laughs and mawkish in spots. It has the same feel as Love Actually – a roundelay of different characters all experiencing romantic issues, with interconnecting stories in some cases.
Kutcher runs a flower shop and proposes to his live-in girlfriend Alba. His soulmate Garner has fallen for two-timer Dempsey. Her best friend Biel is single and mourning her predicament while doing PR work for sportsman Dane. TV reporter Foxx is fed up with covering the lovey dovey day and shows a liking to her for giving him a scoop. His assistant does a piece about young love in college, interviewing ditsy Swift and clumsy Lautner.
Emma Roberts plays their pal who may or may not want to lose her virginity with her boyfriend Jenkins. She looks after young Robinson when he is not with his grandparents MacLaine and Elizondo, who are experiencing marital problems. Hathaway plays a temp working for Latifah who moonlights as a sex phone operator, much to the chagrin of new beau Grace, while Julia Roberts plays a soldier journeying home on a plane sat next to nice guy Cooper.
All the cast acquit themselves well, but it's Swift of all people who registers the biggest surprise. The singer displays promise as a comedienne in her portrayal of the intellectually challenged student. It's shot all over the sunny environs of LA, utilising many of the palm tree-infested streets of Beverly Hills. Inoffensive and forgettable, it washes over you in the same way a bland sitcom does. The script isn't funny and nor are the few brief out-takes over the end credits. Disposable fodder for the eminently undemanding.