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Someone Like You
Fox // PG-13 // September 18, 2001
List Price: $29.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
What kind of a generic romantic-comedy title is "Someone Like You"? It sounds like something that was invented by a committee of marketing suits, all violently allergic to calling the movie by anything that's actually fresh, creative, or representative of what the movie is actually like. A title like "Love, Sex, and the New Cow Theory of Relationships": now that would give some of the quirky flavor of the film, or at least the film's first half.
You see, Someone Like You suffers from a bit of an identity crisis. The first forty-five minutes or so of the film are wonderful: quirky, offbeat, and really funny. Meet Jane Goodale (Ashley Judd), no relation to the famous primatologist, who is desperate to make some sense out of the chaos of her wrecked love life. She in fact comes up with a truly oddball yet strangely convincing theory about men, based on... the sex life of cows. All this is narrated by Jane herself, in an intriguing out-of-chronological-order manner. Some truly funny moments arise from presenting the situation from Jane's perspective; one scene where she's watching a nature special on TV is priceless, not to mention the segments of the "cow scientists" doing research (as Jane imagines it, at least).
Unfortunately, the energy of that first half isn't sustained through the entire film. Slowly it runs out of steam, and by the last half hour, it has clearly moved from the category of "original and really funny" to the category of "ho-hum, another paint-by-numbers romantic comedy." There's no more voiceover, and no more of the oddball clips that show how Jane thinks about things or imagines them. It's also in this later part of the movie that I started recognizing how much Someone Like You draws on When Harry Met Sally, ranging from general elements to very specific scenes, including one where Jane describes her problem in almost exactly the same words as Sally from WHMS. These similarities didn't bother me in their own right, but given the predictable nature of the second half of the film, I see them as a symptom of dwindling creative energy. The ending felt flat and a bit contrived.
Ashley Judd is certainly fun to watch, and she puts a lot of energy and enthusiasm (and character) into playing Jane Goodale. She definitely carries the film with her expressive acting and distinctive voice on the narration.
Picture
Fox has provided Someone Like You with an anamorphic 1.85:1 transfer that's on the good side of average. A small amount of noise is present in the image, and the contrast seems a bit harsh in a few scenes. For the most part, though, it looks good, with bright colors and respectable clarity and sharpness of the image.
Sound
For a dialogue-driven movie, it's hard to go wrong with the soundtrack. Someone Like You's Dolby 5.1 track gives nothing to complain about. The music score isn't particularly memorable, but it stays in good balance with the dialogue, which is clear throughout the movie.
Extras
The special features section of Someone Like You has a reasonable, if not exciting, selection of extras. The featurette is very short and is nothing more than a promotional clip with the actors describing their characters. Apart from that, there's a commentary from director Tony Goldwyn, the trailer and TV spots, an alternate ending, and seven extended scenes. The extended scenes were presented in an interesting way: the material that made it into the final film is presented in black-and-white, and the deleted material is shown in color, making it easy to tell where the editing cuts were made.
Final thoughts
If the style of the first half had been maintained throughout the whole movie, I'd be making a much stronger recommendation. As it is, Someone Like You is a fun, light movie, but I'd stick with renting it first.
You see, Someone Like You suffers from a bit of an identity crisis. The first forty-five minutes or so of the film are wonderful: quirky, offbeat, and really funny. Meet Jane Goodale (Ashley Judd), no relation to the famous primatologist, who is desperate to make some sense out of the chaos of her wrecked love life. She in fact comes up with a truly oddball yet strangely convincing theory about men, based on... the sex life of cows. All this is narrated by Jane herself, in an intriguing out-of-chronological-order manner. Some truly funny moments arise from presenting the situation from Jane's perspective; one scene where she's watching a nature special on TV is priceless, not to mention the segments of the "cow scientists" doing research (as Jane imagines it, at least).
Unfortunately, the energy of that first half isn't sustained through the entire film. Slowly it runs out of steam, and by the last half hour, it has clearly moved from the category of "original and really funny" to the category of "ho-hum, another paint-by-numbers romantic comedy." There's no more voiceover, and no more of the oddball clips that show how Jane thinks about things or imagines them. It's also in this later part of the movie that I started recognizing how much Someone Like You draws on When Harry Met Sally, ranging from general elements to very specific scenes, including one where Jane describes her problem in almost exactly the same words as Sally from WHMS. These similarities didn't bother me in their own right, but given the predictable nature of the second half of the film, I see them as a symptom of dwindling creative energy. The ending felt flat and a bit contrived.
Ashley Judd is certainly fun to watch, and she puts a lot of energy and enthusiasm (and character) into playing Jane Goodale. She definitely carries the film with her expressive acting and distinctive voice on the narration.
Picture
Fox has provided Someone Like You with an anamorphic 1.85:1 transfer that's on the good side of average. A small amount of noise is present in the image, and the contrast seems a bit harsh in a few scenes. For the most part, though, it looks good, with bright colors and respectable clarity and sharpness of the image.
Sound
For a dialogue-driven movie, it's hard to go wrong with the soundtrack. Someone Like You's Dolby 5.1 track gives nothing to complain about. The music score isn't particularly memorable, but it stays in good balance with the dialogue, which is clear throughout the movie.
Extras
The special features section of Someone Like You has a reasonable, if not exciting, selection of extras. The featurette is very short and is nothing more than a promotional clip with the actors describing their characters. Apart from that, there's a commentary from director Tony Goldwyn, the trailer and TV spots, an alternate ending, and seven extended scenes. The extended scenes were presented in an interesting way: the material that made it into the final film is presented in black-and-white, and the deleted material is shown in color, making it easy to tell where the editing cuts were made.
Final thoughts
If the style of the first half had been maintained throughout the whole movie, I'd be making a much stronger recommendation. As it is, Someone Like You is a fun, light movie, but I'd stick with renting it first.
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