Class 5 Films, Olympus Pictures,
Mark Ruffalo, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim Robbins, Josh Gad, Joely Richardson, Patrick Fugit, Carol Kane, Pink
Adam (Mark Ruffalo) is battling his way through a 12 step program to overcome sex addiction when he meets Phoebe (Gwyneth Paltrow) who has, based on past experience, cast off all recovering addicts. So Adam has to lie to her, by swearing he’s not an “alcoholic” but leaving out the rest. As he battles through problems with his group, and with his sponsor (Tim Robbins) he finds himself really falling for Phoebe, but as in all romantic comedies, sooner or later the lies are going to catch up with him.
This is a fairly complicated romantic comedy, and is about the addiction as much as the romance, but it’s just not as good a film as it could have been. I just didn’t feel the chemistry between Gwyneth and Mark, and I just can’t see them really liking each other. Furthermore, Mark Ruffalo’s Adam is really rough. I never really got to care much for this guy. One bright spot was surprisingly Pink/Alicia Moore as Dede, a really funny member of the group. I am not sure I’ve seen her act before, and though her part was not really big, she was really good. Surprisingly the background characters in this film are much more interesting than the lead. This is not a really horrible movie, but I’m not sure where the target market is for this, as I don’t think the usual market for romantic comedies will enjoy the whole background sex addiction plot, and I doubt that 12 step addicts are big movie buffs for the most part. So it’s all rather ho-hum, and giving it three stars is probably even a little generous.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
