If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Rom-coms are notoriously hard to get right, when one such genre piece is all but a direct to DVD offering it really doesn't bode well for a good film. It Had To Be You isn't a great film, but it's the sort of sweet and harmless piece that fills a time slot when you are stuck for a viewing one afternoon.Natasha Henstridge {Anna} and Michael Vartan {Charlie} play two pretty people, who are soon to be married to other people, who get to know each other in the course of planning their respective weddings in the Big Apple. Cue pretty people clearly meant to be together unable to do so out of loyalty to their respective, and clearly wrong for them, intended aisle walking partners. Cue best friends involved, gags and set ups come and go and the ending is never really in doubt. There's even time for some demon exorcising thrown in for added emotional impact.If that sounds cheekily simple in summary? Then that's because it's befitting the film. It's a simple tale that's been told many times before, both better and worse than this. Vartan and Nat fail to generate much chemistry yet remain charming throughout, and the comedy is good enough to raise a smile or two. Particularly from Michael Rispoli & Olivia d'Abo as the couple's best friends. It's decently shot and unobtrusively directed, while that obvious ending still has the ability to warm the cockles of even the coldest of hearts. Should have been better for sure, but by no means a time waster in the basic sense of the saying. 5.5/10

I bought this DVD after seeing Natasha Henstridge in 'Species'. Her beauty seemed to leap off the screen. The fate of her male victims seemed an acceptable price for spending some quality time with her. Natasha has remarked in her IMDb biography that she has difficulty judging the merit of submitted scripts. Her appearance in this film is proof of the accuracy of that observation.The Anna Penn character (Natasha Henstridge) is clearly conflicted about her upcoming nuptials. She spots the very handsome Charlie Hudson character (Michael Vartan) in her hotel lobby and deliberately joins him in the elevator on the way up to their rooms. She flirts with the handsome stranger and finds out his name and room number. Anna, realizing that Charlie is in the room directly below her, cleverly creates a flood in his room by overflowing her bathtub. This is guaranteed to make an impression on Charlie and create another opportunity to meet him. Although I would have expected Charlie's bathroom to be directly below Anna's and the flood would not likely be directly over his bed.Charley Hudson is engaged to Claire Parker (Joelle Carter), a shrewd and ambitious business woman who in reality would never even consider him a suitable mate. Charlie is a kept man in his fiancée's swanky home while attempting to write the great novel he is ill-equipped to produce. He is so out of step that he pecks away at a portable typewriter years after real authors have switched to computer word processors. Do publishers still accept typed manuscripts instead of e-mail or on computer disks? Strangely, Claire notices nothing amiss in Charlie's archaic choice of equipment to produce his breakthrough novel. I doubt that the writers of this screenplay produced their product on typewriters, why are they consigning their character to such an obtuse choice of equipment?Anna's best friend Tracy (Olivia D'Abo) first appears with a dark wig in her job in a beauty parlor. In every subsequent appearance, Tracy has this horrible strawberry blonde hairdo that is hardly attractive. Somehow, I would expect a hairdresser to look more appealing than that if she ever expected to get other women to trust their hair to her.Anyway, Charlie really starts to warm up to Anna and eagerly accepts any excuse to keep the new relationship going. Anna now starts to get cold feet and back off on their undeclared romance. This seems strange considering the fact that Anna's mother and prospective mother-in-law clearly despise each other when the three women meet for a luncheon. The effect of this animosity would almost certainly doom any marriage. Anna seems determined to marry her fiancée while clearly enjoying the company of Charlie more than she should.I really wondered at all the mutual hugging the cops engaged in in this movie. No parting of friends or successful accomplishment of a suicide prevention was complete without a lot of hugs. I suppose that cops have become a lot more sensitive types since the days of Dick Tracy. The criminals in New York must look on with tearful approval on the new enlightenment.The conclusion of the film was so contrived as to be unbearable. Anna's fellow teacher reads Charlie's completed novel and relates the plot over lunch in the teacher's lounge. Anna realizes that both she and Charlie have broken off their engagements and are free to wed. The two love birds reunite and tie the knot and all is resolved.The film ends with the wonderful song 'At Last' by Etta James. This song does a lot to end the film on a high note (literaly). Natasha and Michael do their best with such a flawed script. Some parts of the film are even enjoyable, if you don't think too much about the plot. The two leads had detectable chemistry and you wanted them to get together. Let's hope they choose better material if they want long careers.

There was a quote where the main actress checks into the hotel and the bellboy says something to the effect of "walk by the fountain, you'll feel like you're in Rome" I could have sworn i heard this in an old classic somewhere. I wondered if anybody remembered seeing it. I gave the movie 5 stars because I don't like Romantic comedies, but I didn't want to tank it based on my bias. I don't want my vote to throw the balance off one way or the other. It is interesting that Michael Vartan later played Michael Vaughn in alias. As a younger actor his director must have forced him to take on the name of Charlie :). For what it is worth i know i watched this movie in the theatre with my wife but it didn't impact her enough for her to remember it the next time around.

" It had to be You" is another sign that Hollywood is running out of ideas. This picture is about Charlie Hudson a former police officer turned Author. When Charlie's fiancé goes out of town he's stuck with all of the wedding planning. He spends a week at a fancy hotel and meets Anna Penn a teacher who just happens to also be getting married. The two quickly become friends and set out to plan their separate weddings together. This is when the plot gets boring, Charlie falls in love with Anna and she has to choose between a safe life or Charlie. This movie rips off every romantic comedy ever made and just has you waiting for the end of the movie so you can do something else. Micahel Vartan and Natasha Henstridge give really mediocre performances which just makes this movie all the more gut wrenching to watch.