
The love story will always be clich?. There’s no room around it. Two people meet, they fall in love with each other but an obstacle is in their way, but in the end it all works out.
A Lot Like Love is that clich? love story, and if it were not, then it wouldn’t be a love story.
What makes this movie unique is that every aspect of the clich? is primitive, hardly the typical aspect of a clich?, though not that uncanny. Every movie has a twist that will set it apart somehow. This movie tries to do it throughout, that when the clich? eventually becomes complete, you’re relieved.
Ashton Kutcher stars as Oliver, who at first is a child stuck in a recent graduate’s body. He has a five-year plan, but it’s nothing more than becoming rich and getting married. He meets Emily, played by Amanda Peet, as they exchange eye contact in an airport terminal.
Before they speak, they are in the plane’s compact washroom, joining the mile high club.
(Step one: two people meet.)
They have a chance encounter in New York the day after the plane lands, which leads to the occasional get-together over the years. He likes her; she likes him. But every meeting, either one of them is too vulnerable after breaking up with someone or one of them is involved with someone else.
Step 2: They fall in love with each other but an obstacle is in their way.
And the third step is inevitable, as even the trailer suggests.
Kutcher shows once again how his acting ability stretches farther than his role on That ’70s Show. He is convincible playing Oliver, who changes dramatically each time a few years pass. The movie takes place over a decade, and Kutcher must stretch his acting muscles to play what seems like a few different characters. Oliver matures in every scene; as does Emily, who transforms her punk lifestyle into a career-driven woman.
Peet isn’t as convincing playing the youngest Emily. Though like Kutcher, Peet’s ability to have her character mature with age is superb.
The bonus features include a music video from Aqualung, commentary, deleted scenes (not that interesting) and bloopers (more interesting than the deleted scenes, and worth watching).
4*