Truly Dreadful Film

The Worst Film Ever

Powerful

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.

It's the small seaside New England town of Loblolly By The Sea. Book shop owner Helen MacFarquhar (Kate Capshaw) sends her daughter off to camp. She's been emotionally closed and her ex is stiffing her on child support. Janet Hall (Ellen DeGeneres), Johnny (Tom Everett Scott), and Jennifer (Julianne Nicholson) work at her shop. George Matthias (Tom Selleck without his mustache) is the hunky fireman. Helen finds an anonymous love letter which sets off a series of mistaken assumptions.At best, this is a miscommunication sitcom. I'm a little confused about the confusion setup. I'm not sure why Johnny thinks that Helen wrote that letter to him. I don't understand why Janet would think the letter is for her when Helen reveals that she got the letter before her. It's not that compelling. It's not that romantic. It's not that funny. Ellen's slapstick barely cracks a smile. It's more like a jigsaw puzzle of one dimensional characters. It's interesting to see this group of actors although Selleck without his mustache is no Selleck at all. I like these actors but it's a chore to watch.

This film is about a mysterious love letter that turned 4 people's love life upside down.The idea of the film is interesting, and the film could have been funny. However, this film is simply what a romantic comedy should not be. The characters are inadequately introduced at first, so it gets so confusing. The supporting characters come and go without adequate reasons, as if they exist just for one particular scene and then vanish into thin air. The pacing is awfully slow, that it makes 90 minutes seem more like 180 minutes.It could have been romantic and funny, but this film spectacularly failed to do either.

First of all, Blythe Danner doesn't look anywhere NEAR old enough to play Capshaw's daughter (and in fact she isn't -- only ten years apart).I understand this is supposed to be one of those magical, Moonstruck type supernatural romances but this is beyond the pale. Very, very weak in terms of acting, script and direction. The only one who really shines here is Ellen DeGeneres, who makes this film watchable -- if not really believable herself as she's cast as a bit of a heterosexual sex hound. But endearing nonetheless. Actually, DeGeneres and the skin shots of the young guy Capshaw dallies with together make this watchable. But no one can really tell if Capshaw is really in love with the young guy or not; neither the script nor her acting pull it together for us and we're left to wonder how she really feels.

This is a movie about people receiving a love letter. Nobody knows who sent in and nobody knows who it is for. A good cast, headed up by Kate Capshaw, Tom Selleck and Ellen DeGeneres. This, however, is a completely dopey plot. As an example, the Capshaw character, one of the leading citizens of a small town in New England, takes up with an immature college student who works in her bookstore during the summer. She chooses him instead of Tom Selleck, the town firefighter who is crazy about her. If that isn't the epitome of stupidity, I don't know what is. Just an example of how dopey this movie is. Watching Kate Capshaw jog is a pleasure, but you immediately realize that she has never jogged a day in her life. Another obviously dopey part of a dopey movie.