Review: A Lot Like Love

Rated PG-13 | 107 mins

IMDB Info

If there was anyone outside of teenage girls who woulda thunk that a “romance” starring Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet would actually be a good movie, it wasn’t me. I walked into the screening of A Lot Like Love as pessimistic as could be, ready to chew the it up and spit it out in this review. And who could blame me? The film was advertised as the identical of Kutcher’s previous project of insufferable cinematic inhumanity, Just Married. But guess what? It turns out that it was falsely marketed in such a fashion so that it would attract the actor’s usual fan-base. In actuality, the movie is of surprising depth; it seamlessly uses circumstance-driven acts of coincidence to build a relationship-dynamic between the two main characters. A Lot Like Love may echo several superior films in its genre, but it’s always unique enough to be able to be both thoughtful and sensual.

As for Kutcher and Peet—these are probably the performances of their careers. While her work has impressed me in the past, his always seems to curse everyone and anyone who comes near it. Here, the two show genuine chemistry together, supplementing each other’s strengths and weaknesses, many of which I had no idea that they had. Director Nigel Cole should not go without mention for making this happen, either, as he allows the duo to glow onscreen. Cole paces the movie with a certain poetic elegance rarely found in Hollywood romances anymore, especially those of this nature. Contrived his movie may be, but it’s beautifully contrived because it uses its assets well. A Lot Like Love is one of the most pleasant surprises of the year thus far.