Note: I’m reviewing this based off an early screening I saw a month ago, so I’m not sure that the version in theaters is exactly what I watched (they said the movie would be edited from what we saw). I feel like it’s 95 % the same movie, and I don’t foresee any big changes to the plot, but sometimes editing a hundred little moments out can make a big difference either for good or for bad. And in this case I feel like the movie will have some of its flavor stripped away. With that caveat…
What Works: Emily Blunt could play a role like this in her sleep, and would definitely be my first choice for the girl part in any romantic comedy (she’s the rare actress that can infuse sharp sarcasm with warmth underneath), so the fact that she’s in this instead of Katherine Heigl/Reese Witherspoon/Rachel McAdams automatically adds ten points. Plus, her and Segel have an easy chemistry that felt a lot more organic than most romantic comedies where movie stars just exchange one-liners off each other. Then there’s a protracted bit in the middle of the movie that takes place in Michigan where Segel is allowed to be depressed and wallowing in it that is much deeper than most glib rom-coms would allow. [And it doesn’t hurt that this section has the hilarious Chris Parnell in it as a quietly desperate hunting buddy of Segel’s.]
What Doesn’t Work: Despite a few little tweaks to the formula, this thing still has a pretty solid stench of generic coming off it, and it’s safe to say that there isn’t much here you haven’t seen in movies before. It has all the hallmarks you’d expect: sister of the female lead (the good Alison Brie)? Check. Asshole bachelor friend that no one on this planet actually has (a not-so-good Chris Pine)? Check. Mindy Kaling in the part her and Judy Greer swap back and forth? Check. A wise-cracking peripheral black guy friend (Kevin Hart)? Check. Lame conflict and brief separation? Check. A rival guy? Unfortunately, check (the second Rhys Ifans shows up as a hotshot professor to Blunt, you know what he’s doing there). Plus, I can’t say I really felt Jason Segel’s commitment to this role. He’s serviceable here, but it’s obvious he’s rather be fucking around with the Muppets (his passion project), and someone could accuse him of phoning it in here. [Go see him in “Jeff, Who Lives at Home” instead, and marvel at what an open, empathetic actor he can be when he cares about a part.]
What I Would Have Done Differently: Shit, what can you do with romantic comedies at this point? White ones (anything with Sandra Bullock/Witherspoon/Heigl/Aniston) have been done to death. Black ones (some Tyler Perry films, the Think Like a Man type of movies) are equally programmed. Interracial ones are never attempted (where’s Ryan Gosling and Tom Hardy fighting over Zoe Saldana or Rosario Dawson?). Judd Apatow ones are usually praised to the heavens but are overrated. And you can’t stick Emily Blunt in the same part for the rest of her life, so what can be done? I have no idea, but it might be time to give up on all the phony constructs the genre has (for starters organize a single rom-com around something besides a wedding or pregnancy, and pick-up before or after that), and really get them to reinvest in what it’s like when two people genuinely form a bond in a world bombarded with a ton of “friends” but so little connection. Do what standup comedians have been doing for years and make a funny examination of what it’s like to date when nobody talks on the phone, text messages are meaningless, and people would rather hang out with their friends than get married.