Unfortunately, yes.
Heather and I went out on a date Saturday afternoon and saw the aforementioned romcom.
It was not that great.
The premise is that native New Yorkers Paul and Meryl Morgan (Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker) are a couple that have been separated for three months. Paul is trying to make up for the act of infidelity that caused the separation. After they finally go to dinner together, they witness a murder and have to be put into the witness protection program, and are sent to live with Clay and Emma Wheeler (Sam Elliott and Mary Steenburgen) in the tiny town of Ray, Wyoming. Hilarity does not ensue, spoilers follow.
The movie doesn’t stink, but it doesn’t rock, either. It’s just kind of boring, really. Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant don’t seem to have much chemistry together. The distance between them seems to put a distance between them and the audience, and it’s hard to connect with either character. She is unforgiving, and he spends about the first third of the movie groveling. The only healthy marriage you see in the movie is Clay and Emma. Side note, Mary Steenburgen is 57 and seems to have aged very gracefully. And no, I do not still have a crush on her from Back to the Future III.
The only common theme I could find among the couple was that the men in the three male/female relationships you saw in the movie all showed their devotion to their partners by groveling, buying them things, and being obedient, and you didn’t see any kind of reciprocity from the women. On that note, Paul spends three months trying to get forgiveness for his unfaithfulness, while Meryl is upset that Paul doesn’t immediately forgive her the same day she reveals her own infidelity.
My advice: skip it, and don’t wait for it to hit DVD.
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