Movie Notes: How To Lose Your Lover

April 3rd, 2009

= 3 stars

Starring Paul Schneider, Jennifer Westfeldt, Poppy Montgomery
Directed by Jordan Hawley

Synopsis

An earthquake convinces hack writer Owen (Paul Schnieder) to insult all his friends and abandon Los Angeles once and for all. Unfortunately, he runs into Val (Jennifer Westfeldt) and they spend a week “speed dating” to see if they have a future together.

The Good

• Extremely sarcastic. Most of it takes place in L.A., with a handful of discussions about how awesome L.A. is and who would ever want to leave. I can’t imagine it was meant to be taken seriously.
• Uniformly solid acting, in particular Schnieder and Westfeldt, plus smaller contributions by Poppy Montgomery and the inimitable Fred Willard.
• Plot twists keep things interesting, and a surprising ending which I didn’t see coming, but in retrospect makes perfect sense.

The Bad

• Identical outline to countless other romantic comedies: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, yada yada yada.
• Only one honest, likable character, the aforementioned Val (Jennifer Westfeldt).
• Tori Spelling plays an aggressive lesbian. If that piques your interest, please unsubscribe from this blog.

Conclusion

Despite moderately interesting but ultimately amoral characters that quickly overstay their welcome, and often feeling like YATCIRC (yet another tired, cynical indie romantic “comedy”), How To Lose Your Lover is saved by a great ending. The last ten minutes earned an extra star.

IMDB: How To Lose Your Lover
Rotten Tomatoes: How To Lose Your Lover