REVIEWS

"THE OBJECT OF MY AFFECTION"

I was (once again) dragged to a chick movie. See, there are some chick movies that I like, such as "Steel Magnolias" and "Terms of Endearment." The ones I DON'T like are the sappy romantic comedies. Lame, boring, predictable romantic comedies are a waste of my time. You basically sit there and wade through pointless crap until the inevitable occurs. But sometimes, the road to the predictable end is a good one. I was surprised that I enjoyed "Picture Perfect," which featured Jennifer Aniston's first starring role. Yes, it was horribly predictable, but it was entertaining nevertheless. Now her new movie is out, another romantic comedy, and again, it was better than I thought. This romantic comedy is different, though. The girl is in love with a gay guy. Does that mean that the ending is tough to figure out? Nope. In the middle of the movie, there's a scene that immediately clues you in as to how it may end... and it does.

Jennifer Aniston seems to be doing well with romantic comedies, so maybe she'll fly past Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullock to be crowned the new queen of romantic comedies. Bullock's last few films were big disappointments, and if not for "My Best Friend's Wedding," people woulda forgotten who Julia Roberts is. The thing is, Jennifer Aniston is very good in these roles, and very believable. I think she's a better actress than most people give her credit for. As for the rest of the cast in the film, they were very good. Paul Rudd (he was Alicia Silverstone's stepbrother in "Clueless") as the gay guy she's in love with is very good, but I think that it's the supporting characters who stand out. John Pankow (he's "Ira," Paul's cousin in "Mad About You") as Aniston's crass boyfriend is really good, and so is Alan Alda as her brother-in-law. Then there's Nigel Hawthorne. He plays a theater critic guy or something, and he just takes over the screen, despite playing such a soft-spoken character. That guy was phenomenal.

"The Object of My Affection" was directed by Nicholas Hytner, who also directed Nigel Hawthorne in "The Madness of King George." He also directed the recent cinematic adaptation of "The Crucible," so this is his first "simple" American movie. It was written by Wendy Wasserstein from a novel by Stephen McCauley. I mention all that not really knowing how to make an opinion of their work individually. I mean, I liked the movie more than I thought, but it wasn't great. Oh well, whatever.

I think that a lotta people may dislike how it ended, but I think it ended the way it SHOULD have. There was one scene I was unsure about simply because I don't know if a gay guy would do that. Still, since I don't know, I can't criticize the film for it. You'll probably know what I mean when (if) you see it.

So there you have it. I liked this little romantic comedy. I REALLY need an action film fix, though. When's "Armageddon" coming out?

Scale of 1-10: 7