Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

As in the TV series "The Office", which I never watched, a group of writers who meet periodically and call themselves "Authors Anonymous" is the subject of a documentary. In some scenes one or more members are being interviewed by someone we can't see or hear. In others it appears cameras are not following the group members, but occasionally someone talks to the camera or a character who is not part of the group asks about the cameras, so we can assume they are there.In the first scene, Alan and Colette are together at home. The first thing Colette does is talk baby talk to a dog. To me dogs aren't cute, so Colette is not scoring any points with me already. Adam is an eye doctor who carries a recording device constantly so he can record story ideas. Colette is a former masseuse who still likes yoga and meditation and is spoiled. Dr. Xiroman, who has taken a vow of silence, is her spiritual adviser.I think we see the entire group in the next scene, but I will go ahead and introduce the characters anyway.John K. Butzin (who, like Ed LaSalle, the most memorable character in a Mary Tyler Moore sitcom I can't remember the name of, uses his full name when talking about himself) is an older man who served in Vietnam and has written the book "Roaring Lion" about his experience. He is quite annoying but still a pleasure to watch somehow. Sigrid is his pretty German girlfriend.Hannah comes across as a dumb blonde in the interviews but seems more intelligent, if not educated, when talking with the other characters. Her book is called "Sleeping on the Moon". She lives with her divorced mother Maureen, who is nice.Henry delivers pizzas, cleans carpets, and struggles to produce anything as a writer. He wants to date Hannah, but is discouraged when she gets an agent Bernie, and later when she meets famous author Richard Brodwell. It is uncertain Henry and Hannah will ever be anything but friends.William is good-looking but very annoying, and I don't mean that in a good way. He doesn't produce much work either, but he gets on the nerves of people in restaurants as he writes down what they say for inspiration.The members of the group seem to get along pretty well at first, but over time they get on each others' nerves. Hannah is the first published author. Okay, that's not true. John K. Butzin pays $250 to have his book published, though there are mistakes. As each member of the group does something to upset one or more of the others, one wonders if the group will even be able to stay together. Hannah doesn't want to brag, but of course some in the group think her success means she is the star of the group so she is better than they are.Hannah and Henry try hard. Henry even introduces her to "The Great Gatsby", which she has never read. She has never read anything. Even a pretty waitress where they are eating has read the book and is impressed. I was going to say the actress has one line but makes the most of it, but she actually has many more lines later and shows that she was capable of more.David Kelleher is a memorable patient of Alan who might be able to help one or more members of the group make it as a writer.Kaley Cuoco was my main reason for being interested in this movie, even when it looked like a failure. She gives a great performance and is of course quite good-looking, especially in a tank top or shorts or both, or nothing but a man's dress shirt. She wears a spaghetti-strap top in one scene. But she has such a great personality. I won't say her looks don't matter because they are important to the plot, but they're not that necessary. And she's great with Henry, but not all that romantic. She wears glasses to read, but while I wasn't crazy about her first pair, her second pair look worse. No, in the photo representing the movie on IMDb, she's wearing a pair she tried but didn't like.Dennis Farina once again reminds us how much we have lost. He's not a particularly likable character, but one we can love to hate. His misfortunes are hilarious, helped along by Tricia Helfer.Teri Polo and I have a history. Her character in "Northern Exposure" was so unpleasant I all but quit watching the show. That's how bad it had gotten. And she's just as terrible here, at least to me. In the first scene she has pretty hair but not a pretty face. Later, with more makeup, she's somewhat good-looking. But her personality is really hard to take. She does have some good scenes that even I couldn't criticize. I believe people will like her. Just not me.Chris Klein is someone you want to root for, but watching his difficulties is actually kind of fun. He's pleasant enough.Overall, it was pretty good.

I wasn't sure whether or not to give this one a go considering the current low rating (which was 4.4 when I wrote this review) but I must say I'm glad I did.It's not the most amazing movie of all time or anything but it kept me entertained throughout it's running-time.It feels like it was heavily inspired by the TV-series 'Modern Family' and Christopher Guest's filmography with a fake documentary approach having the characters talk straight to the camera occasionally about their lives and the other characters etc.If you want to get technical some angles could simply not have been captured the way they were in the movie by a documentary-crew, with for instance multiple- angle close ups of characters sitting opposed to each other at a table but no camera-man in sight in any of the shots, but it doesn't take you out of the movie or anything.As far as the movie goes it had a lot of funny moments with a stellar cast (good to see Chris Klein again) and even though the plot is hard to describe as it's not really a plot-based movie but merely about some odd characters with hopes of becoming successful writers (some odder than others) it does entertain and that's all I wanted from the movie.

This is not the best movie I have seen but it is still not the worst. It's a sweet movie and it just showcases the actors abilities to improv, which in itself, is fun. Teri Palo was hilarious. I am not sure why it got completely panned. I can see where someone is looking for a complete comedy but at times it was a dark comedy like the sad side of wanting to be a published author. Yes, I think Chris Klein could have done a better job. He looked tired and bored. There were some very predictable moments. Of course, I rented this and didn't pay full price, which may have given me more reason to give it less stars. It's a good movie to see on a lazy afternoon or when you are procrastinating from a big project you need to do. Still, I enjoyed it and am glad I rented it.

Well I love everything literary, but I certainly didn't love this movie. As soon as I saw Kaley Cuoco of Big Bang fame I decided to watch it. I'm also a fan of Chis Klein but he fails to impress in this movie. Kaley appeared exactly the same as her ditzy character in Big Bang, I sincerely hope this is not her true personality and she is just being type cast which is a real shame. All the characters were overblown and farcical, I presume this was intentional. I found nothing funny about it, didn't laugh once and dare I say it, didn't even smile. What another waste of time and effort. How do they get the money to make these movies? Very disappointed yet again. The premise was interesting, but the heavy handed script writing ruined any chance of an enjoyable movie. Why do they insist on treating us the paying viewers as if we are dumb? Shame, shame, shame.