Nick (Juddy Talt) makes a good living writing Nicholas Sparks-style novels about love. That plus his Ralph Lauren looks means he can get a woman, but he can’t keep one. Why is that, you wonder? Does he have a disease? Kinky bedroom needs? A body in the fridge?
All right, you don’t wonder any of that, because the first glimpse of our hero at his desk shows this is a nice movie, and Nick is a nice guy. His problem is that he’s clingy and obsessive, begging his girlfriends to marry him almost as soon as they share their first morning-after breakfast. That’s why Violet (Lara Pulver) just left him.
Wait a minute, isn’t rushing commitment something women supposedly do? Yes, that’s the twist here, and a soggy half-turn it is, too.
Admittedly I’ve seen worse. There’s an amusing little vignette of Nick’s teary fans at a book signing, and some fun interactions with stuck-up Violet. But most of director Rocky Powell’s romantic comedy feels thin, from the softly strumming guitar on the score to Nick’s eventual connection with a kooky glasses-wearing babe (Kate French).
Part of the limp-rag ambience is due to Talt, who seems to be channeling Sarah Jessica Parker — which, unsurprisingly, does not work. Mostly it’s due to the script, which fails to meet the major romantic-comedy requirement of being clever about keeping lovers apart. All by itself, “The hero is kind of a drip” doesn’t cut it.