User Reviews

I watched this movie because I saw Chris Messina in "The Giant, Mechanical Man" and liked him in that a lot. I liked this movie for lots of reasons. It's laugh-out-loud funny at many points. I love the whole exploration of the analyst/therapist community, and the penultimate scene in which all the analysts & therapists that you've seen throughout the movie come together. That was a hoot--so funny! I thought Chris Parnell and Jason Alexander were particularly good--really good--in their performances as therapists (probably the best thing I've seen both of them do outside of SNL and Seinfeld, respectively). Jason's line in that penultimate scene truly nails/identifies Ira's worries. I mourned and groaned over Ira's repeated failures to realize the treasure he's stumbled upon in Abby. Abby's honesty, openness, and care for everyone was really funny and well-written, but also personally refreshing, which rightly attracts--and ultimately makes insecure--Ira. Abby's point (on the day they meet) about marriage in today's world is a valid one--essentially, she says: "Since 50% of all marriages end in divorce, and we seem to really like each other, why not just get married and give it a go? I mean, we have just as great a chance as anyone else at succeeding at it, right? Why go through seven years of dating and the wasted energy of engagement and a big wedding? Let's just get married." Good point! I loved that the movie explored many typical pains of marriage in a good sampling of couples, especially in regard to faithfulness and unfaithfulness. The question of coping with a spouse's unfaithfulness (and the guilt and fear experienced by the one who's in the midst of unfaithfulness) is explored a good bit across the couples. Jennifer Westfeldt is stunning in her performance. It's so well done. Her character is so bright, without being fake, and so kind, that even though she's not a knockout in looks (though not ugly, certainly), her personality made you think, "This is the most beautiful woman ever!" Her character is a testament to the fact that sincerely caring about people can really make a difference (and even be transformative) in their lives. This is presented very humorously, but as the viewer, you also get the point. Also, Westfeldt does a masterful job in showing hurt and insecurity, especially in the scene where all the in-laws and they have gathered for the annual Halloween photo. The significant part I didn't like was the movie's conclusion--its final answer to the question, "What is the use of marriage?" Ugghhh. Wrong answer. How about, instead, the answer that the whole movie has built up: "Do like Abby: love and trust your spouse, and be kind and concerned for them"? How about, "Provide security for someone else by being committed to them no matter what"? This is the thing for which Ira and Abby both long throughout the movie--to have the other be committed to him/her no matter what. In Parnell's office, that's the great pain. Ira and Abby's conclusion about marriage at the end doesn't follow what the movie has more-aptly demonstrated, and leaves you saying, "Huh?" Their conclusion was so disappointing and empty.

The protagonist of this film, Ira Black (Chris Messina)--who has two analysts for parents and was preconceived as the glue for their upcoming marriage--is studying to become an analyst himself, and has been in therapy with the same analyst for 12 years. (The movie emphasizes the difference between psychiatrists and analysts, which boils down to: psychiatrists talk, while analysts listen--or daydream, plot infidelities, write their Hannuka cards, etc., etc.) Every day Ira breakfasts at a diner, but can never order by combo number, and always calls back his long-suffering "Greek waiter" (Spiro Malas) multiple times with wishy-washy additions and deletions (Ira never "knows" his own mind). Feeling fat, he decides to join New York City's famed Paris Health Club (actually used extensively as a filming site), where he meets serial nymphomaniac Abby (Jennifer Westfeldt), who always knows her mind--and takes out food exclusively from McDonald's. Beyond being seen with the offerings of the Golden Arches several times (and extolling the virtue of eating your fries while they're fresh and hot), Abby's ad jingle-producing dad Michael Willoughby (Fred Willard) apparently gets a piece of the McDonald's ad account. Maybe the video stores and down-loaders should be required to couple this rental with Morgan Spurlock's SUPERSIZE ME to counteract IRA & ABBY'S clearest message: if you eat at independent restaurants with character you're a neurotic wimp, but if you're loyal to McDonald's you're a fun-loving problem-solver who's good in bed. Hopefully this flick's producers (Declan Baldwin, Ged Dickersin, Ilana Levine, Stu Pollard, Douglas G. Smith, Jennifer Westfeldt, and Brad Zions) are each getting a lifetime of free clogged arteries--oops, I mean free food--from McDonald's.

This film is about as contrived and pretentious as a movie can get. If you picked random lines out of a hat and handed them to the actors you would have a better script. Not even a decent cast can help this atrocity. The only good thing I can say is that it is a cure for insomnia. Very few details about this film are authentic. For example, Abby (Westfeldt, who is also the writer and producer, which should give you an idea of how self-indulgent this film is), who is supposed to be a gym instructor, is seen munching on McDonald's french fries, and never even pretends to actually work. Ira, an annoyingly self-pitying specimen (why do so many recent films set in Manhattan include such nonentities?), suddenly says he feels fat and goes to her gym, whereupon Abby instantly asks him to marry him and have sex. If you think this is plausible, then you will probably like this film, and you also believe that George Bush will find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. This is another of those "independent" films where absolutely none of the characters bears any resemblance to a human being, and where you feel you have wasted 90 minutes of your life. Beware of movies where the writers, actors, and the producers are the same people.

It's the kind of movie I hate with every fiber of my being: overwritten in a self-congratulatory way, talky with nobody saying anything interesting or substantial, whiny, preposterous in every detail -- not a single word or action bears any resemblance to anything that has ever happened on planet Earth -- profoundly unfunny, overstuffed with sketched-out characters but lacking a single one to care for, much less like or root for, replete with undertalented actors and a couple of talented ones all mugging their way through (why bother being human when the script is SO false?), predictable whenever it thinks it's taking a chance, trite when it thinks it's being original. It takes place entirely in Movieland -- that it gets its Manhattan geography all wrong on Ira's opening-credits walk through the city was the first clue -- and succeeds almost uncannily at producing the opposite of the desired reaction in every scene: when the filmmakers aimed for sweetness and romance, they instead delivered crassness and vulgarity; when they aimed for Woody Allen-style neuroticism, they found only snarkiness and endless therapist clichés; when they aimed for laughs, they got only stone faces from my audience. It's this year's equivalent of 2001's "All Over the Guy," with Judith Light in the Andrea Martin role. Avoid it like the plague.

This film was one of the worst I have seen in years. The script reminded me of a childhood game where you supply random nouns, verbs, and adjectives, and then insert them into a previously written paragraph. Actually, the game was funnier than this movie. The worst aspect of this film is the lack of authenticity that permeates the film. None of the characters has a personality; they all behave as if they were in a bad sitcom, reciting random lines that are supposed to be quirky but which are trivial at best. In addition, none of the characters displays even a cursory knowledge of the profession they are supposed to be in. For example, Ira is supposed to be working on a dissertation, but you never hear him talk about it or even mention what university he is supposed to attend. As for intelligence, Ira exhibits no more brain activity than a fruit fly. He makes no cultural or scientific references in the entire movie, making it impossible to determine what his "dissertation" might be. As for Abby, she is supposed to be a gym instructor, and maybe a physical therapist, but all she does is munch on junk food and spew out psychobabble. I have been in physical therapy, and I certainly never encountered anyone as vapid as Abby. This adds up to a film without any value. In a Woody Allen film you will hear references to literature, philosophy, and history, and the sound track will frequently feature classical and jazz music that meshes with the action (for example, Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" quartet in his "Crimes and Misdemeanors"). In this film, you have a cultural void. Sadly, the films I see from Iran and Bangladesh at the Montreal Film Festival have more cultural references than this film. Another terrible aspect of the film is its use of clichés. In one scene, the characters are forced to go into the subway (horrors!), and of course there is a man who brandishes a pistol and holds up the people in the car. Naturally, Abby has to make this funny, so she takes up a collection. To those of us who used the subway for decades, and whose chief concern was trying to deal with the delays and the inaudible sound system, this paranoid view of the subway is one more false note in the movie. Later, a flashback serves as an excuse for a sick adolescent male fantasy, as Ira imagines that Abby makes out with all the men in the car. I know that movies that display firearms have a better chance of getting distribution, and that women behaving licentiously (in other bad films women usually kiss other women for no reason) tends to be seen as edgy, but these devices are presented in an extremely contrived manner. In short, you would be hard pressed to find a movie with less content or intelligence.

Watched in via streaming Netflix.

Chris Messina is Ira Black, son of two therapists, excuse me, 'analysts', and has a personal history of problems making decisions. As an example when he goes to he street café he orders one thing, then as the waiter starts to go away, changes his order, and does that a couple of more times. On a more serious issue, he has a girlfriend for 12 years but has not yet been able to decide to get married.

Jennifer Westfeldt is perky Abby Willoughby, who works in sales at a downtown gym. She has a knack for making friends with almost anyone. In fact, when on the subway and a guy brandishes a gun and asks for money, she goes up to him, asks him how much he needs, then proceeds to calmly collect from the other riders.

The love story starts when Ira, on a whim after seeing a poster, goes into the gym and is given a tour by Abby. Somehow she falls for him right away. She likes his face. She hugs his bare tummy after they compare 'bulges' in the mirror. He is taken aback by her interest, and he seems to like her too. But is shocked when she asks him, right away, to marry her.

So the unusual story takes many twists and turns on its way to its eventual conclusion. While it in no way helps anyone figure out where they might want to go with their lives, it is a fun and entertaining movie.

MAJOR SPOILERS: Ira and Abby go ahead and get married quickly, even though they don't know much about each other. Then certain revelations leak out, like the two other husbands Abby had had and then divorced. And Ira begins to feel uncomfortable that Abby doesn't seem to have any ambition, being satisfied with a small job that allows her to survive. They actually get the marriage annulled, then they re-marry. Meanwhile her dad begins an affair with his mother, which causes further family stress. In the end Ira and Abby are in bed, discussing their plans, including "I will never again ask you to get married" and they both sign the new divorce degree, happy to be in love.

Admittedly I'm hard on romantic comedies. Too often they are wildly unrealistic, filled with characters who are inexplicably wealthy and who act like people you just want to punch in the face because they're so neurotic and self-centered. At least this one doesn't have that problem.

But it has a different problem. Westfeldt doesn't really address the movie's main questions. Is it best to just "go with it", or do you have to build your relationship like you would build a building? How important is marriage, and what's the point of it anyway? Why can't people talk to one another directly? What happens to your present when your past jumps up to haunt you? If you love each other, does it really matter what your life ambition is?

These would be great things to think about, but instead Westfeldt bogs down the movie by having Ira's mom get into an affair with Abby's dad. Then when this news comes to light, everyone withdraws to their separate corners and plastic surgeons and therapists. (By the way, you could see the "therapists screw everything up" angle coming from the first five minutes of the movie - in fact, I'm still waiting for a "New York romance" movie to not involve a massive amount of complaining to therapists. Or analysts, as Ira's parents take pride in calling themselves.) Granted, it was at least funny to watch. But there's a scene near the end where Abby pulls in all the therapists, both sets of parents, herself, and Ira for a giant session. While everyone else starts yelling at each other, Ira and Abby look across the room at each other and mentally reconcile. The most telling thing to me was that at that moment, you could see how many unnecessary characters there were in the movie because the room was filled with them as Ira and Abby walked out together.

I liked this better when it was called about 20 other titles. Basically this steals the entire concept from Dharma and Greg with impunity. It was funnier as a sitcom. It was also more palatable in half hour bursts. Here the movie runs through about two and half romantic comedies worth of twists and situations, developing in an artistically random order. Half as many, with adequate writing would have been just fine. This showers viewers with clichés like a spring storm.

The characters are dumb so they can keep doing ethically naive, behaviorally idiotic things. These strangle-able, irritating naifs stumble over cliché after cliché, and are so ignorant (as are fans of this crap) that they don't know they're clichés. Somehow there's still time for product placement.

Skip it, it's not worth your time.

This is one of those films that I almost turned off a couple times, but got hooked back in with the humor and wit. It's a definite off-the-wall romantic comedy with enough quirkiness to make the characters and the story lovable. The thing that kept turning me off was the constant reference to the need for therapy, therapists, and over-analysis by Ira, the main character who is neurotic and has been in the therapy system his whole life. Fortunately, everything else the movie has to offer helps alleviate the constant stress I experienced thinking over and over "just let it go, Ira! Choose to be happy and accept your wife and her love and imperfections!!!!" I think, for the general masses, this wouldn't be a huge issue, and overall would be seen as an enjoyable, quirky film with a great amount of humor, just enough drama, and a good touch of heart.