Watching Mike Binder in this movie is truly difficult. He has no funny inflections of voice or gestures. The movie itself is a cheap by the numbers gimmick, without freshness or imagination.
It's also remarkably chauvinist - e.g., men automatically get girlfriends when their wives get fat (and of course that wife must be shown gorging on food every chance she gets - don't worry her husband will take her back when she goes on a diet), the "good" woman not only cleans up the coffee her husband spills, but rushes to bring his breakfast, etc.
In its attempt to offend everyone, there are even completely gratuitous and repeated shots at Republicans ("this is a no-Republican zone. Get out").
Binder's habit of repeating everything he says ("So I thought we'd go out, you know, go out" "so let's go upstairs, ok? Go upstairs?") is excruciating.
He is so ugly and without charm (from start to finish), so self-absorbed, so detestable, that it is impossible to imagine what Mariel Hemingway is doing married to this small-minded fellow (she's looks about 5 inches taller than this balding little whining fellow).
The movie is a showcase for Binder's ego, which is colossally greater than his talent. Someone like Albert Brooks might have done something with the premise - in part because he's likeable - Binder's not. From the first moment he appears on screen (angry that his coffee spilled), he's an ass.
It is very sad to see wonderful comic actors like Kevin Pollak, Taylor Nichols (from the Whit Stillman movies) and Holland Taylor in this - and in tiny roles - that's the business, I suppose.
More than any movie in which I've seen her, Mariel Hemingway shows what a wonderful actor she is. To light up the screen with SUCH flimsy material is remarkable. For example, the scene in which she attempts to "act natural" is a lesson in physical acting.
At 40, Hemingway's face and figure seem absolutely unchanged from twenty years ago. Her grace has increased with maturity, and she's a better actress than she was then - as also shown in The Contender - despite the lameness of this script and her opposite actor's inability to, well, act.
Someone below wrote, "Mariel Hemingway is still beautiful, still talented, and she deserves to be pitched much better scripts than this one, and someone needs to tell Binder that his fantasies are simply just not rip-roaringly hilarious". This is absolutely true.
So, if you'd like to see a wonderful actress and what she can do with nothing, watch this movie. Otherwise stay clear.
It's also remarkably chauvinist - e.g., men automatically get girlfriends when their wives get fat (and of course that wife must be shown gorging on food every chance she gets - don't worry her husband will take her back when she goes on a diet), the "good" woman not only cleans up the coffee her husband spills, but rushes to bring his breakfast, etc.
In its attempt to offend everyone, there are even completely gratuitous and repeated shots at Republicans ("this is a no-Republican zone. Get out").
Binder's habit of repeating everything he says ("So I thought we'd go out, you know, go out" "so let's go upstairs, ok? Go upstairs?") is excruciating.
He is so ugly and without charm (from start to finish), so self-absorbed, so detestable, that it is impossible to imagine what Mariel Hemingway is doing married to this small-minded fellow (she's looks about 5 inches taller than this balding little whining fellow).
The movie is a showcase for Binder's ego, which is colossally greater than his talent. Someone like Albert Brooks might have done something with the premise - in part because he's likeable - Binder's not. From the first moment he appears on screen (angry that his coffee spilled), he's an ass.
It is very sad to see wonderful comic actors like Kevin Pollak, Taylor Nichols (from the Whit Stillman movies) and Holland Taylor in this - and in tiny roles - that's the business, I suppose.
More than any movie in which I've seen her, Mariel Hemingway shows what a wonderful actor she is. To light up the screen with SUCH flimsy material is remarkable. For example, the scene in which she attempts to "act natural" is a lesson in physical acting.
At 40, Hemingway's face and figure seem absolutely unchanged from twenty years ago. Her grace has increased with maturity, and she's a better actress than she was then - as also shown in The Contender - despite the lameness of this script and her opposite actor's inability to, well, act.
Someone below wrote, "Mariel Hemingway is still beautiful, still talented, and she deserves to be pitched much better scripts than this one, and someone needs to tell Binder that his fantasies are simply just not rip-roaringly hilarious". This is absolutely true.
So, if you'd like to see a wonderful actress and what she can do with nothing, watch this movie. Otherwise stay clear.