Guelph

It's a rare thing to see five men in their twenties march into a movie theatre and buy tickets for a date movie. But this is exactly what happened last night. Of course, these five men were pretty sure the previews were misleading and that this would be standard Kevin Smith fare, full of spaced-out characters and snappy dialogue about such topics as relationships, sex and Star Wars. Well, you get one Star Wars reference, but you have to be listening really carefully to catch it, and as for the characters, well, the weirdest you'll get are George Carlin's two bar buddies, played by Mike Starr (Dumb and Dumber) and Stephen Root (Newsradio) The first 2/5 of the movie is Smith all the way. And you begin to realize, okay, phewf, this is going to be good after all. But somewhere around the middle, actually, somewhere shortly after Liv Tyler comes into the picture, the movie turns into an extended episode of Full House, complete with tantrum-throwing kids running up the stairs while everyone else looks on in awe. Okay, I don't need to see cameos from Jay & Silent Bob or Dante to enjoy it, but the movie just lacks edge. It's almost as if Smith left the picture halfway through and let (fill in the blank with any Hollywood romantic comedy director) take over. I know Ben Affleck got his big break in Kevin Smith pictures, and he's usually pretty good in them (and only them) But he sucks in this. He only shines when he's acting like a jerk and any time he tries to show any kind of emotion other than angry, snobbish or annoyed, he comes off looking like an extra from Relic Hunter. In fact, the best point about this movie would have to be little 7-year-old Raquel Castro, who plays Affleck's daughter. She's a feisty little one and she looks more than enough like J-Lo to be convincing. She acts circles around Affleck, embarrassing him in any emotional scenes they share. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad flick. In fact, it's cute and funny, but I recommend a nationwide search for Kevin Smith, for it is clear someone has kidnapped him and stolen his identity.

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