The most impressive aspect of this frothy, underdeveloped 2005 romantic comedy is New Jersey-born Piper Perabo's flawless British accent. She is charming as is the rest of the cast, but they all seem to be working in a vacuum thanks to the rather generic efforts of screenwriter and first-time director Ol Parker. The story begins with the wedding of Rachel and Heck, a young straight couple, long-time best friends, where while walking down the aisle, she gets a glimpse of Luce, the florist her mother has hired for the event. Sparks fly between Rachel and the openly gay Luce, but of course, they deny their feelings for the sake of Rachel's marriage.
The inevitable clinch happens about an hour into the film, but it's a case of too little too late as Parker seems stuck on using tired movie clichés instead of generating real emotion. The one surprising angle explored effectively is the toll that the attraction between the two women takes on Hack. His struggles in dealing with Rachel's increasing emotional distance are quite poignant. Unfortunately, the rest of the plot is predictably eccentric in the same hit-and-miss way that recalls similar Brit trifles like "Love, Actually" and "Notting Hill". For instance, I particularly deplore the running gag of frustrated customers coming into Luce's shop, but I like how Rachel and Luce clandestinely run into a couple of gay men in the middle of a one-night stand in the park.
Both Perabo and Lena Headey as Luce make the love story reasonable though hardly electric, but they manage to convey the angst of their situation effectively. Matthew Goode is even better as Heck as he maintains the balance between nice guy and confused, cuckolded husband. Sue Johnson manages a few good moments as Luce's emotionally exhausted mother, but Celia Imrie and Anthony Head (whom I recall from the long series of pre-coital "Taster's Choice commercials back in the early 1990's) play more stereotypical characters as Rachel's parents.
Even the movie's title, taken from the opening line of the Turtles' 1967 pop hit, is second-hand, as Wong Kar-wai already paid tribute to the song in his more accomplished gay road film, 1997's "Happy Together". The double-sided 2006 DVD has an abundance of extras courtesy mostly of Parker, who contributes a self-effacing director's commentary track, an unusual "Director's Statement" about his motivation in making the film, and his explanations behind four deleted scenes that are featured. He, as well as Perabo, Headey and Goode, are also interviewed separately in brief, none-too-enlightening sessions. This feature is on the full-screen side of the disc, and the rest are on the wide-screen side.
The inevitable clinch happens about an hour into the film, but it's a case of too little too late as Parker seems stuck on using tired movie clichés instead of generating real emotion. The one surprising angle explored effectively is the toll that the attraction between the two women takes on Hack. His struggles in dealing with Rachel's increasing emotional distance are quite poignant. Unfortunately, the rest of the plot is predictably eccentric in the same hit-and-miss way that recalls similar Brit trifles like "Love, Actually" and "Notting Hill". For instance, I particularly deplore the running gag of frustrated customers coming into Luce's shop, but I like how Rachel and Luce clandestinely run into a couple of gay men in the middle of a one-night stand in the park.
Both Perabo and Lena Headey as Luce make the love story reasonable though hardly electric, but they manage to convey the angst of their situation effectively. Matthew Goode is even better as Heck as he maintains the balance between nice guy and confused, cuckolded husband. Sue Johnson manages a few good moments as Luce's emotionally exhausted mother, but Celia Imrie and Anthony Head (whom I recall from the long series of pre-coital "Taster's Choice commercials back in the early 1990's) play more stereotypical characters as Rachel's parents.
Even the movie's title, taken from the opening line of the Turtles' 1967 pop hit, is second-hand, as Wong Kar-wai already paid tribute to the song in his more accomplished gay road film, 1997's "Happy Together". The double-sided 2006 DVD has an abundance of extras courtesy mostly of Parker, who contributes a self-effacing director's commentary track, an unusual "Director's Statement" about his motivation in making the film, and his explanations behind four deleted scenes that are featured. He, as well as Perabo, Headey and Goode, are also interviewed separately in brief, none-too-enlightening sessions. This feature is on the full-screen side of the disc, and the rest are on the wide-screen side.