Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Tom Hanson (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a wannabe architect who inexplicably works at a greeting card company. One day, his boss gets a new assistant, a woman named Summer (Zooey Deschanel). Tom is instantly captivated by Zooey, saying that she’s the kind of girl that makes everyone do double-takes as she walks by and that instantly brightens up every room. But Tom being the quiet, unassuming guy he is, doesn’t think that he has a shot with Summer, so he just admires her from afar.

But we the audience already know that he and Summer get together because the story is told in nonlinear fashion. Prior to each scene, a number flashes on the screen to show us where Tom and Summer are in their relationship. For instance, we might see Day 15 — where the two are experiencing the sheer joy and emotional high that new love brings — in one scene before jumping to Day 156 — where things have clearly deteriorated and the two barely talk anymore — in the next, and then drifting back to day 72 in the scene after that.

As the story unfolds, viewers are able to piece together what happens to Tom and Summer in their relationship. Basically, Tom is a good guy while Summer is a bitch most of the time. She refuses to commit to the “girlfriend” or “boyfriend” label, and slowly pushes Tom away just as he’s looking to get closer. Eventually, they break up, which sends Tom spiraling into a depression. Things look even bleaker when Tom learns that Summer is engaged just a few months later.

But Tom eventually comes to terms with what happened and is ready to take his life in a new direction. He quits the greeting card company, applies to architecture firms, and even meets a new girl at one of the interviews. Her name? Autumn (Minka Kelly), whom viewers hope will indeed be the complete opposite of Summer.

My Reaction: (500) Days of Summer received an incredible amount of buzz for an indie flick, and did rather well at the box office, grossing $30 million domestically against a $7.5 million budget. Therefore, I was excited to see it and just hoped it would live up to its billing. Though I didn’t think it quite justified all the hype, I enjoyed the experience well enough.

One of the main purposes of the script was to get viewers to like and sympathize with Tom, while despising Summer for treating him so badly. On this front, I think the writers accomplished what they set out to do. I’d never heard of Gordon-Levitt before, but he had an earnest, endearing air about him that made me root for him right from the start. And Zooey Deschanel was able to pull off being a bitch — though she wasn’t quite beautiful enough to make me believe all those superlatives that the narrator laid out about the double-takes, etc.

The time jumps were a bit gimmicky, as it wasn’t strictly necessary to tell the story that way. But I found that they added to the charm of the film — though I’m not sure I’d feel the same way after multiple viewings.

Overall, (500) Days of Summer was a pretty good film. The story itself wasn’t all that original (nothing unusual happens), but the writing and execution were above average, which makes me give the movie an above average rating of 4 stars out of 5.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Jennifer Aniston stars as Sue Claussen, a woman who travels the country selling corporate art (think: cheesy motel prints and paintings) to various businesses. On one trip, she stays at a small, family-owned motel in Arizona, where the night watchman Mike (played by Steve Zahn) is instantly attracted to her. In order to interact with Sue, Mike pretends that it’s hotel policy to offer a complimentary bottle of wine to all guests. He brings it to Sue’s room, then stands around hoping she’ll ask him to join her. She doesn’t. The next night, he returns with a bottle of champagne, at which point Susan asks him if his routine ever “works”. She feels a bit sorry for him, so she says he can touch her ass, but then has to leave. The next morning, Sue sees Mike as she’s on her way to the airport. Impulsively, she drags him into the housekeeping closet and has sex with him before leaving.

To Sue’s thinking, that one tryst is all that will ever happen between them. But it means so much more to Mike, who becomes more determined than ever to get something going with her. Towards that end, he uses all his savings to buy a one-way plane ticket to Maryland and unexpectedly drops in on Sue at work. She is completely taken aback, calling his actions “inappropriate”. But she lets him stay at her place, then spends the next day doing fun things with him before putting him on a bus back to Arizona.

The rest of the film more or less follows this pattern, with Mike continuing to pop up in Sue’s life no matter where she happens to be in the country. Mike is totally and completely in love with her, and won’t let go or move on — even when Sue tells him that she’s going to marry old flame Jango (Woody Harrelson) because she’s pregnant with Jango’s baby. Eventually, Mike’s persistence pays off. Sue comes to realize that Mike loves her more than anyone else ever has and decides that the best thing for her to do would be to let him continue to do so.

My Reaction: I like Jennifer Aniston, but had never even heard of Management before coming across it at Blockbuster. Did this movie go straight to DVD or something? I don’t remember it being in theaters or even seeing previews for it.

I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it was a straight-to-DVD affair. This movie had absolutely nothing going on! It’s billed as a comedy, but does not play like a typical romantic comedy at all, and there are very few laughs along the way. And yet the premise was just too silly and preposterous to classify this as a drama.

I didn’t understand why anyone would read this script and think, “Now that sounds like a great movie!” It made no sense for Mike to suddenly be attracted to Sue and follow her all over the country. Sure, Sue was beautiful, but she was a total bitch to him at first. Hadn’t he seen other beautiful women at the motel before? Did he stalk them as well?

And as for Sue, there was no adequate explanation for why she changed her mind about Mike in the end. She herself even said to him, “Sometimes being sweet just isn’t enough.” That’s all Mike ever was, so what changed? It couldn’t have been his decision to turn the motel into a homeless shelter, because she had already left Jango by that point. Even though I fully expected Mike and Sue to end up together, the writer never convinced me that this was something the characters would actually do.

I wanted to be entertained by Management, but there simply wasn’t enough substance here to make me care about or believe in the motivations of the main characters. The movie lost me as soon as the action shifted to Aberdeen, and never recovered from there. I give it 2 stars out of 5.

Plot summary (with spoilers): Margaret Tate (played by Sandra Bullock) is a take-no-prisoners editor at a major New York City publishing house. She’s the kind of boss who inspires frantic text messages amongst her underlings to let each other know that she’s coming and that she’s on the warpath. Her assistant, aspiring writer Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds) appears to be the only one that can deal successfully with Margaret. But that means anticipating her every order and catering to her every whim — something that clearly bugs him. Of course, there’s an ulterior motive here. Andrew puts up with Margaret’s crap in the hopes of being promoted to full editor someday and of having his own manuscript published.

One day, Margaret gets a warning from INS saying that she has failed to acknowledge previous notices about her visa expiration. She no longer has permission to work in the United States, and will be deported back to Canada within days. Margaret is shocked by the news, but quickly formulates a plan to stay in the country. She’ll force Andrew to marry her so she can get a green card. In return, she’ll finally give him the promotion he’s been working for for three years.

Andrew immediately accepts. However, the INS agent Mr. Gilbertson (Denis O’Hare) is suspicious about the circumstances of the upcoming wedding. He promises to grill the couple thoroughly regarding personal details that real couples would know the answers to, and threatens jail time if he can prove their fraudulent intentions.

To get to know each other better, Andrew and Margaret decide to take a weekend trip to Andrew’s hometown in Alaska to celebrate Grandma Annie’s (Betty White) birthday. There, Andrew introduces Margaret to his mother Grace (Mary Steenburgen), father Joe (Craig T. Nelson) and the rest of his family and friends as his fiancée. Everyone is surprised, but don’t suspect the real reasons behind the engagement.

As the weekend progresses, Margaret softens up quite a bit as she sees this other side of Andrew. She realizes that she can’t let Andrew risk jail for her, so she calls the whole thing off, and heads back to New York to pack up for Canada. But at the same time, Andrew realizes that he has come to love Margaret, so he rushes after her. This time he proposes for real, saying he wants to marry her so they can start dating.

My Reaction: Romantic comedies usually aren’t my thing, but I was intrigued by the strong word-of-mouth The Proposal has generated, as well as by its $140 million plus take at the box office thus far. With several other attractive choices at the theater, I decided to see this one. I wasn’t disappointed!

Sure, the premise of this film was rather flimsy (it’s not like being sent to Canada is as depressing a prospect as, say, being deported to the Sudan) and I saw this exact same storyline unfold on Desperate Housewives last season, but Bullock and Reynolds had quite a bit of chemistry and were both great in their roles. At first it seemed that Andrew would be a total pushover like he was in the office, which would have been very boring. Fortunately, he grew a pair as soon as they were back in Alaska, and that made the bickering between him and Margaret all the more fun.

There were lots of chuckles and smiles in this film, and several laugh-out-loud moments as well (particularly, when the two crashed into each other completely naked). That’s all I ask for from romantic comedies! (Seriously, though, I could have done without seeing Oscar from The Office as an erotic dancer.)

Overall, The Proposal was a fun movie that was actually enjoyable and entertaining. This would be a great choice for a date, a girls’ night out, or for anyone looking to turn their brain off for a couple hours. I give it 4 stars out of 5.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Matthew McConaughey stars as Connor Mead, a self-absorbed, womanizing fashion photographer who has hated the notion of commitment ever since getting life lessons as a teen from his Hugh Hefner-like uncle Wayne (played by Michael Douglas). Connor is quite content to go from woman to woman, and doesn’t even bother pretending to respect them or anything. In fact, he breaks up with three of his current flings on a conference call — with each other.

Now Connor is on his way back home for little brother Paul’s (Breckin Meyer) wedding to Sandra (Lacey Chabert). Of course, since Connor dismisses monogamy out of hand, he tries to get Paul to rethink the marriage. Fortunately, Jenny Perotti (Jennifer Garner), one of the bridesmaids and a childhood friend of Connor’s, is there to rein him in at least for the time being. The wedding will proceed as planned.

During the rehearsal dinner, Connor has a bit too much to drink, and sees a vision of long-dead Uncle Wayne in the bathroom. Wayne tells him he’s going great, but he’s soon supplanted by Allison (Emma Stone), who will take him to revisit the ghosts of girlfriends past to show Connor exactly how his callous actions affected some of the girls he has hooked up with.

Anyone who knows the plot of A Christmas Carol by Dickens knows how the rest of the story plays out. Connor sees how much he has hurt people, realizes that he has always loved Jenny, and gets a glimpse of the cold, lonely future that lies ahead if he doesn’t reveal his true feelings to her. This being a romantic comedy, everything works out perfectly for the main characters.

My Reaction: I mostly saw this movie for Jennifer Garner and Lacey Chabert, since I really don’t like McConaughey at all. He plays the exact same jackass buffoon in all of his movies, and it’s getting pretty tiresome. I can’t believe that he keeps on getting all these leading roles. Are his films even successful? I know a lot of women think he’s good-looking, but he always looks a bit greasy to me. Ugh.

Anyway, I was surprised by Chabert here. I loved her as the bridezilla! Her tantrums were the only laugh-out-loud scenes in the entire film, so I’m thankful for that. Unfortunately, I thought Garner was wrong for the Jenny role. Connor had dated nothing but a string of supermodels, so it didn’t seem right that Garner (as Jenny) would be his type. I’ve loved Garner since her Alias days and think she’s above average in the looks department, but she’s not a stunner. Connor seemed like he was into the babes with super-fine bodies and not much going on upstairs. The pairing just felt off.

I can’t complain too much about the plot. I mean, with a title like Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, the viewer pretty much knows what’s in store. No room for surprises there.

Overall, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past was rather mediocre. There weren’t many funny scenes, there was zero chemistry between McConaughey and Garner, and the plot was obviously recycled. This might be ok for a rental, but don’t waste your $10 seeing it in theaters. I give it 2 stars out of 5.

I’ve been an Audrey Hepburn fan ever since I watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s back when I was 12 years old. Hepburn was just so glamorous and graceful as Holly Golightly that I instantly loved the character. I then went on to watch Roman Holiday and My Fair Lady with equal zest, but then kind of lost my enthusiasm for old films. I’ve recently decided to start up again, however, and picked out Funny Face when at the video store. Not exactly a great choice, but it was watchable!

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Maggie Prescott (played by Kay Thompson) is editor-in-chief of Quality magazine, a fashion and beauty rag aimed at women. She’s under deadline pressure to get out the next issue, but is underwhelmed by the mock-up she’s presented. Maggie thinks that Quality should do something new, give the public something they’ve never seen before. She’s tired of the same old models in the same old poses, and she’s sure everyone else is as well.

So Maggie turns to top photographer Dick Avery (Fred Astaire) for help. She says that she wants her models to have a more intellectual look, which prompts Dick to suggest heading out to Greenwich Village to put their models in a different setting. This might bring about the desired result.

They end up at a philosophy bookstore called “Embryo Concepts”, which is run by a young woman named Jo Stockton (Audrey Hepburn). Jo vehemently objects to the use of the store as a backdrop for a modeling shoot, but to no avail. Then later, when the prints don’t turn out quite how Maggie envisioned, she decides that Jo would be the perfect model for Quality magazine — despite her funny face.

The rest of the film then shows how Dick and Maggie attempt to convince Jo to go along with their plans, and how they finally get her over to Paris for a shoot. While there, Jo tries to reconcile her desire to engage in philosophical pursuits with some leading French intellectuals to her heightened feelings for Dick. Love wins out in the end, and Jo and Dick presumably live happily ever after.

My Reaction: Meh, I couldn’t really get into this story at all. I think it mostly had to do with the fact that I didn’t buy the Dick Avery-Jo Stockton pairing, since Fred Astaire was about 30 years older than Audrey Hepburn when this film was made. Are you kidding me? Like a 28-year-old intellectual would fall in love with a 58-year-old fashion photographer? I suppose it’s possible, but just highly unbelievable in the context of the film. I mean, if Avery had been a philosophy professor at NYU or something, I’d buy it. But a fashion photographer? No.

Besides my issue with the age differential between the leads, I just didn’t think the rest of the plot had enough substance to fill up an hour and forty minutes of screen time. So a magazine editor is on a quest for a fresh model? That model is reluctant about getting into the biz because she somehow thinks it compromises her philosophical principles? I don’t know… just too boring.

Also, who in their right minds would think that Audrey Hepburn has a funny face? Clearly she was beautiful right from the start, even when she was just a simple shopkeeper. Turning her into a model wasn’t quite the incredible transformation it was in My Fair Lady when she was a poor, lowly “guttersnipe” before being discovered by Prof. Higgins.

Overall, I’m not sure that Funny Face is suited to a modern audience. It might have been a hit in 1957, but I don’t think it has much staying power. The storyline just doesn’t resonate with today’s viewers. I give the film 2 stars out of 5.