What a waste of my time!!!

An absolute waste of money

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Alex Sheldon (Luke Wilson) is suffering from writer's block and hounded by thugs looking to collect on gambling debts. He needs $100k in 30 days. He needs to finish his book before Wirschafter (Rob Reiner) is willing to pay him the money. He hires stenographer Emma Dinsmore (Kate Hudson) to help finish his book about a love triangle.This is a horribly unfunny movie from director Rob Reiner. Luke Wilson is not charming here and yet the movie expects him to be boyishly charming. He is pretty whiny. Kate Hudson is annoying rather than be her winning self. Reiner has done something with high difficulty. He has taken two charming rom-com actors and made a joyless romance. The combative nature of their relationship should be romantic heat but their arguments annoyed the heck out of me. The worst is the book within the movie. I couldn't care less about his poorly written story.

While it is not mentioned much, this film is an obvious remake/rethink of the Holden/Hepburn comedy "Paris When It Sizzles." This is a case of the remake being better than the original. Audrey Hepburn was always charming, but "Paris" is some of her worst, most posy, artificial acting work.The strength of the re-write is the re-writes of "the book" (film within the film) that give Hudson the chance to to big slapstick characters. Far from deserving praise as a great actress that she got for this role, these characters were as deep as the wigs, costumes, and huge caricatures, but she was FUN. It was like going to see your friend's daughter in her highschool play. 100 actresses could have done it just as well, but she got the part, and at least she is game to take some chances.Wilson is her straight man, and is always convincing in being the messy guy who falls for the girl even though he doesn't know it. Like "Paris" this film relys mainly on the leading lady's charms. Hudson is adequate. It could have been funnier and more original with more inventive casting. It would have been wonderful to see someone like the hilarious Jennifer Coolidge, or the brilliant chameleon Catherine O'Hara in this role, THAT would be ten stars. This ain't.

I've seen the movie yesterday, on DVD. I had read most comments after buying, but I do not regret. I found the beginning rather slow and not very much to laugh about. But when Emma is going to work for Alex, there is a plot. The way the film has been made, by showing the real story (writing a book) mixed with played scenes from the book (the characters come alive), I liked very much. Well cut, fast, telling, and never a dull moment. Not a magnificent film, but quite entertaining. I think if the parts had been played by famous actors, like Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, the appreciation would have been higher. But Kate and Luke have enough appeal to be attractive to look at and to be convincing.

I watched this movie on a day off from work early in the morning. It was so boring it nearly put me back to sleep. This is billed as a romantic comedy, yet there is nothing romantic or comedic about it. I can't think of two more annoying characters, so when the "romance" eventually danced into the movie, I couldn't have cared less. Perhaps it was because I was in a coma by then. This was, by far, the worst Rob Reiner movie I have ever seen. I didn't become a fan of Katie Hudson or Luke Wilson based on their performances. With a contrieved and ridiculous plot, boring characters, there is little to look forward to in this film. Avoid it all cost. This movie could be the cure for insomnia.