What starts quite enoyable and funny, building on a promising premise, takes a turn to the bad, boring and trite astoundingly quickly.
It's as if the film makers tried to do stereotype bingo for a british comedy. The forced quirkiness, the funny overemotional gays, the people with no self-esteem who bounce back from tragedy, the hilariously blunt parents ... Whatever it is, it has been seen countless times, but funnier. And yes, Richard Curtis, he has been mentioned by other reviewers, but even the Godfather of british cliché comedy, has written better stuff than this. Although he clearly serves as an inspiration here - which is not a good omen either.
The actors are not to blame. They are just left with a boring script, too many punchlines that fall flat and an inept direction.
The often lamented fact that the characters are not likeable is really not the problem here. That they are kind of annoying is one of the better things here, because it actually makes them relatable ... Probably the only thing that Richard Curtis could learn from this mess here.
2 out of 4 found this helpful