Someone Like You

I love a good romantic comedy, where the heroine and hero have a rocky beginning, usually dislike each other but feel oddly drawn to to one another. And, as their acquaintance progresses, they realize at some culminating point in the movie, that each is the other’s soul mate, the perfect man or woman, the undeniable desire of their hearts, the one they can’t live without—which the viewer, of course, can sense from the beginning.

Although “Someone Like You” does have that basic formula, it fails to produce that warm fuzzy that a truly great romantic comedy inspires. The romantic comedy enthusiast will find this one a mediocre attempt. “Someone Like You” incites only a chuckle or two at best, and spends more energy on flaunting casual sex and a distorted view of relationships than on developing any depth to the characters and plot.

Jane Goodale (Ashley Judd), an employee of a TV talk show finds herself believing she’s in love with Ray Brown (Greg Kinnear), the talk show’s executive producer. After a short, seemingly wonderful six weeks of being in love, Jane and Ray get ready to take the next step—moving in together, but things just don’t work out. Out of desperation for a place to stay, she ends up moving in with Eddie (Hugh Jackman), another co-worker, who she doesn’t particularly like.

Unable to fully recover from her jilting, Jane becomes obsessed with her theory of why men can’t commit and compares the behavior of men to that of wild animals. She shares this idea with her best friend Liz (Marisa Tomei) who helps her voice her thoughts in a hugely successful editorial column, which at times is a source of contention between her and Eddie.

Ashley Judd turns in a quality performance as Jane Goodale and there are moments when you can see the potential chemistry between her and Eddie (Jackman), but it doesn’t seem to make up for the lack of character development and the lack of the normal buildup of attraction/tension you see in better romantic comedies.

Biblically, the primary problem with this movie is in its lack of morality. All of the main characters participate in pre-marital sex, Jackman is with a different partner almost daily and Kinnear cheats on his girlfriend when he first begins his relationship with Judd. But even more disturbing is the underlying sense in “Someone Like You” that sexual chemistry IS love.

In today’s world, of course, we are bombarded with the message that there is absolutely nothing wrong with pre-marital and casual sex and in fact, its pretty much something that everybody does. That message is evident in this movie. But the truth is, that sexual chemistry is only one small aspect of a loving relationship. God intended for sex to be part of marriage, a way of becoming one, the most intimate we can be with another human being. Only in the committed, vulnerable, and loving environment that marriage provides can we truly experience the FULLNESS of sexual intercourse, the way God intended it.

While this movie had no blatant nudity or sexual scenes, it heavily promotes casual sex and even seemingly rewards Jackman with the prize of “love” after his pairings with numerous other women.

Bottomline: if you want a warm fuzzy, and a glimpse of something with more substance—see “Return to Me” or “You’ve Got Mail.”