Cast: Luke Wilson, Kate Hudson, Sophie Marceau, David Paymer
Director: Rob Reiner
Producers: Todd Black, Alan Greisman, Jeremy Leven, Rob Reiner, Elie Samaha
Screenplay: Jeremy Leven
Cinematography: Gavin Finney
U.S. Distributor: Warner Brothers
Alex and Emma is being positioned as counter-programming to the onslaught of testosterone-drenched films making their mark on the 2003 summer season. To combat several sequels and a certain green, hulking behemoth, Warner Brothers has bravely decided to release a romantic comedy into the maelstrom, hoping to siphon off women and date-movie couples from the general multiplex crush. It's a hit-and-miss philosophy that, in this case, may be doomed to failure by one simple fact: Alex and Emma isn't very good. Other than a high cuteness factor, there's not much here. This is a warmed-over, low-end recycling of director Rob Reiner's own When Harry Met Sally. And, although the romance is there, the screenplay isn't. When it comes to penning smart, appealing stories with love and laughter, Jeremy Leven falls far short of the bar set by Nora Ephron. (Strangely enough, Leven's original story is loosely based on Dostoevsky's The Gambler and the events surrounding its writing. Yes, that Dostoevsky - the Russian author well-known for his feather-light romantic comedies.)
Once, there was no surer sign of motion picture quality than to have Rob Reiner listed as the director. Of Reiner's first seven movies behind the camera, three are modern-day classics (This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally) and the other four are very good (The Sure Thing, Stand By Me, Misery, A Few Good Men). The wheels came off in 1994 with North (the movie that inspired Roger Ebert's now-famous "Hated hated hated hated hated this movie" explosion), and, since then, Reiner's career can best be described as uneven. Alex and Emma, his first outing in four years, is not the movie to get him pointed in the right direction. This is an unremarkable romantic comedy that fails at least as often as it works, and offers very little to engage an attentive viewer. Its occasional successes are more attributable to the natural charisma of the actors than to any other aspect of this trite and underwhelming production.
Alex and Emma has a dual structure, not unlike the one employed with much greater effectiveness by Neil LaBute in Possession. This picture follows the development of the relationship between an author, Alex Sheldon (Luke Wilson), and the woman transcribing his latest book, Emma Dinsmore (Kate Hudson), while simultaneously chronicling the romantic misadventures of the couple in that book: Adam (also Wilson) and Anna (also Hudson). In the contemporary portion of the story, Alex is on the hook for $100,000 owed to loan sharks. The only way he can get the money and avoid being dropped out of his apartment window is to finish his latest novel and collect his advance within 30 days. But he's suffering from writer's block and is apparently not a fast typist. So he recruits the services of stenographer Emma, who ends up not only typing his words, but offering comments and criticism, and acting as his muse. Meanwhile, Adam, Alex's fictional early 20th Century alter-ego, finds himself in a romantic triangle with the exotic Polina (Sophie Marceau) and Anna, the sweet, innocent au pair Polina employs to care for her children. He is torn between his feelings of affection for Anna and his sexual longing for Polina, who is also being courted by the rich and powerful John Shaw (David Paymer).
One of the things that's missing in Alex and Emma is a sense of romantic chemistry. Wilson and Hudson occasionally click, but the fitful sparks never catch fire. Perhaps part of the problem is that the movie keeps switching back and forth between the fictional characters and the actual ones without generating a feeling of romantic continuity. Because the story within the book is so lackluster, it's easy to lose interest in the moderately more compelling tale of Alex and Emma, even though the Adam/Anna pairing is still supposed to be about them, as well. To a certain extent, Reiner is trying to do what he did with The Princess Bride, but with far less success.
Alex and Emma tries too hard to be When Harry Met Sally. There are all sorts of nods to the 1989 movie. Adam's hypochondria echoes Harry's. Emma, like Harry, always reads the last few pages of a book before starting it. And there are times when Kate Hudson seems to be imitating Meg Ryan. However, although the screenplay for the earlier movie may not been grounded in the gritty reality of a modern-day New York, there was a pleasant, natural ebb and flow to the manner in which the story developed and the characters interacted. Not so in Alex and Emma, which feels painfully contrived from the beginning. The "meet cute" between the two leads is forced and, only once the relationship starts generating steam (about halfway through the movie) do things relax. Sadly, there's always the stupid plot element involving the loan sharks and the artificial deadline to jar us out of our reverie.
Kate Hudson's role in the film is not unlike that of Meg Ryan in Joe Versus the Volcano, in that she plays multiple characters (five, to be precise - four of which are variations of Anna). None of the parts challenges Hudson's limited range, but there are occasions when she is too obviously acting (or, to be exact, overacting). She's at her best when she allows her natural charisma to take over. Wilson, on the other hand, never has a problem with anything he's required to do as Alex or Adam. His easygoing charm is perfect; it's too bad he wasn't given a better script to work from. Sophie Marceau is consistently, intentionally over-the-top as the oversexed, money-hungry Polina.
Occasionally, Alex and Emma manages to throw out a witty one-liner and there are isolated occasions when the romantic elements show signs of life. But there's little debating that this is a disappointment, especially coming from a director with Reiner's impressive resume. Generic, mediocre romantic comedies are better left to no-name filmmakers trying to score a hit. With nothing to make it a standout, Alex and Emma will likely vanish into the summer whirlpool, only to once again surface in video stores, where it is a better match.
© 2003 James Berardinelli