The witty stars of "A Lot Like Love" made this film funnier than the average chick flick.
The viewer first meets Amanda Peet and Ashton Kutcher seven years before the main events of the movie. Peet, playing the character Emily, puts up a tough fa?ade, exuding a "my way or the highway" attitude. Kutcher plays the role of Oliver, the nerdy college grad in khakis and Simple shoes, the classic Jason Biggs role.
Emily and Oliver, polar opposites, first meet when they join the "mile-high club" on an airplane en route to New York. Emily, of course, makes the first move. After the airplane incident, they spend time together in New York City and become friends. This is when the movie first delves into the lives of the two main characters. Kutcher travels to New York to visit his deaf brother, while Peet goes to visit her mother's gravestone. The movie skips forward a few years until the couple meets again. The movie continues to fast forward to different points throughout the seven years they spend time together. The pair meets again after a bad break-up and throughout a constant career struggle. While analyzing past relationships out loud to each other, they deny having ever experienced real love, but instead something "a lot like love."
The movie has a weird way of switching through the years. Intervals are either "2 years later," "3 years later" or "6 months later." This especially breaks up the development of the two main characters. The viewer figures out that Peet's mother died young, but never why. The viewer sees Peet sidestep her father and stepmother in the opening New York scene, but never understands why she ditches them.
The best part of the movie focused was the humor of Kutcher and Peet. The two act more as friends than lovers in the film, perfect for filmgoers wanting to see more of a comedy than a romance. They have no problem exposing their quirks to each other. It is a constant fight to see who can poke more fun at the other. At one point, Peet tries to cheer up Kutcher by putting drinking straws in her nostrils. Later in the scene, when Peet is upset, Kutcher sticks the backs of sunglasses in his nose. As ridiculous as it seems, the goofy, quirky relationship they share is more realistic than the usual serious love affairs seen in chick flicks, especially for a couple in their twenties.
This film still has its romantic side, putting great importance on fate. In the opening scene, Kutcher says he wanted to "get [his] ducks in a line" before having a serious girlfriend. He wasted seven years and lost a career before realizing that love does not wait on success or getting his "ducks" in order.
"A Lot like Love" is ultimately a new-age "Harry Meets Sally" and one flick not to miss.
