Release Date – 9/18/09
Burke Ryan is a self-help guru and motivational speaker. He wrote a book after his wife died in a car accident. It deals with overcoming loss in your life. He travels city to city talking to crowds of people trying to cope with a loss. But Burke isn’t happy. He’s a drinker, he’s alone most of the time, and has some inner problems he’s not sharing with anyone else. He meets a girl and thinks his life might be turning around, but is he ready to let her in? This is a pretty “by the numbers” type romantic comedy complete with cliché dialogue and plot. The only unique thing about it is the constant talk of death which was only used to pull at the heart strings.
Aaron Eckhart was a dynamite Harvey Dent/Two Face in The Dark Knight. He showed some acting chops. But I guess he likes to bring in the ladies on occasion too. Here as Burke Ryan he’s just going through the motions. Sometimes he gets fired up and I thought of his intense scenes in The Dark Knight but those scenes were few and far between. Jennifer Aniston is Jennifer Aniston. The same as usual. The quirky girl who has no luck with romance but might have found her dream guy. Does she do any other roles anymore? I’m pretty sick of Jennifer Aniston. Maybe she should just go back to TV. The shining light in this flick is a surprisingly toned down Dan Fogler (Fanboys, Balls of Fury). He provided the comedic elements because the other two sure weren’t getting it done. And then there’s the underused Martin Sheen who must have just been looking for a paycheck. His only pivotal scenes are in the end, and by that I mean the final 10 minutes.
When I say this movie is “by the numbers” here is what I mean. The self help guru can’t even help himself. OH THE IRONY! Girl has bad relationship issues so can she let this new guy into her life? I WONDER! Girl and guy have a falling out; I guess they won’t be together after all. OR WILL THEY? It’s a romantic comedy here folks, actually it’s just a romance movie because the laughs just weren’t there. The unique element in all of this was a theme of death. There are some emotional scenes when people are talking about their losses and it could really get the eyes watering. But then the switch back to rom-com just makes you forget about the romantic drama it could have been. I’m not the best person to review these types of movies. Maybe L-Stet would have given it higher but it just didn’t hit the right buttons with me.
IMDB – 6.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes – 16%
Movie Wiseguys – 4.5/10
