Monday, August 21, 2006

If Only (2004)

Despite it being a Groundhog Day lookalike, I was all ready to see this movie and possibly enjoy it. And for the first, oh, ten minutes or so I did. A little over-the-top at times, sure, a little contrived, but I was willing to suspend disbelief enough to watch it. And then the main plot point happened (the boyfriend relives the day his girlfriend dies) and everything just went down the tubes. I'm not sure whether it was a horrid script or a horrid actor (I've never seen him in anything else), but that boyfriend was probably the least believable character I've seen on screen in a long time. Hammy, making ridiculous accusations, acting the way no normal person would... On careful consideration, I think it must have been at least 3/4 the fault of the script, because the girlfriend seems to go through mad mood swings, too. On that morning she's convinced he's the only one she could ever love, and in the evening she announces, very out of her set character, that she wants to break up with him because he doesn't appreciate her. It also has the bleakest ending of ANY chick flick I have ever seen. Most chick tearjerkers have at least a semblance of hope, or an "Oh, my gosh, that's so sweet," but that final scene of her standing on the mountaintop is one of the most depressing things I have seen in my entire life. Skip this movie. Really. 1 star.

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