Alex & Emma (Widescreen) [Import]

"Alex & Emma" is actually a remake of the 1997 UK-Hungarian film 'The Gambler' starring Michael Gambon and Johdi May. And the original is about the Russian writer Dostoevskey, and what happened to him while writing the novella of that title. You should keep this in mind, because "A & E" suffers from the wrong-headed judgment of modernizing the setting of the original which was deep in the 19th century.

The story of this romantic comedy is, simply put, "When Alex meets Emma (or vice virsa)" directed by Rob Reiner, who knows a few things about this genre. Alex (Luke Wilson) is a writer stumbled on the writer's block, and in debt. He must make money in 30 days, and to do so, he hires a stenographer Emma (Kate Hudson), and attempts to finish writing a novel.

The novel develops, thanks to the unexpected inspiration from Emma. It is about Adam, a tutor living in the 1920s, who falls in love with a French lady Polina (Sophie Marceau). From then on, we see two stories one after the other, both influencing each other.

NOW, the good thing about "A & E" is that Kate Hudson (who plays five roles in this film) is delightful to see. Luke Wilson is also good and likable, and they make a couple of man and woman who must fall in love with each other. And we know it, and welcome it.

BUT the problem is, as I said before, the setting. In the original "Gambler", Dostoevskey had to submit his rights for publishing his novels to the greedy publisher, not his life as depicted here. No one believes in the central story of "Alex & Emma" when it talks about the 30 days limit and being killed. Think about it. Some mobsters are after you, and they want the money back. However, they burn (yes, literally burn) your lap-top PC, which only prevents your scheme of returning money.

That's a too obvious and tactless device on the filmmaker's side to have Alex hire Emma. And in the original, the stenographer has no other place to go except the writer (it was the 19th century, and women's jobs were quite limited). In "Alex and Emma," though Emma needs money (she comes by bus, see?), and she knows Alex is broke because of gambling, she still decides to work for him as long as 30 days without being even paid in advance! And to make matters worse, what Alex writes is not funny at all, but still we are to believe this "story within story" is to be a hit to pay back all the debt. Sorry, but I can't believe it.

"Alex & Emma" is engaging only when it forgets its plot, which is a poor excuse for bringing the leads together. And Luke Wilson and Kate Hudson do their jobs quite nicely. Pity that the characters are empty, and the story unbelievable. "When Harry met Sally ..." are about real people. The same cannot be said about "Alex & Emma."

I wanted to like this movie; honestly I did. I ignored the horrible film critic reviews and the lack of hype, sure that somewhere in the premise of this movie there would be a glimmer of interest, spark, or maybe even just a little bit of good acting. So... I took a risk and rented this movie.
Bad idea. Bad, bad idea. I don't know which I want back more: my $4 rental fee or my two hours.
The only, and I mean only, decent thing about this film is that you get to look at Luke Wilson for an extended period of time. Enjoy it, because if you make it to the end of the film, even his cuteness may not keep you from hating him for subjecting you to his aversive non-acting for so long.
Kate Hudson is also cute, in the puppy and kitty sense of the word, but she's also utterly forgettable. One word describes it best: bleh.
Don't get me started about the circa-1920 plot-within-a-plot, which is the only thing that could possibly be worse than the present-day part of the movie.
Of course, this is a romantic comedy, so somebody has to fall in love, but by the time you reach that obvious conclusion, you simply don't care. Don't worry, the characters don't act like they care either.
Few films inspire me to get on the Internet and write a scathing review, but if I can keep just one person from wasting their time and brain cells by watching this insipid flick, it'll be worth it.

Luke Wilson and Kate Hudson--both of whom star, independent of one another, in two movies I love, Almost Famous and The Royal Tenenbaums--were painful to watch as they tried to breathe life into a truly terrible script.

What was Rob Reiner thinking? The director of such splendid fare as A Few Good Men, The American President, When Harry Met Sally, The Princess Bride, and This is Spinal Tap appears to have lost his touch--he hasn't made a good film since 1995.

But I blame Jeremy Leven, best known for the dud The Legend of Bagger Vance, for writing this movie in the first place. Who could have possibly thought that a movie about writing a book under threat of death due to gambling debts--and falling in love with your mouthy stenographer--would make for an entertaining movie? (OK, so maybe the premise doesn't sound that bad. The execution is.)

Lines are delivered without any conviction. The mildly humorous convention of changing the appearance of the book's characters to reflect how Wilson is rewriting it works once, maybe twice, but begins to grate by the third try. The denouement is silly--in a very unfunny way--and the ending is both hokey and overblown through one of the most cringe-inducing closing scenes in recent memory.

Please, follow the advice in the headline and avoid this film like the plague.