By Tanya Batson-Savage, Staff Reporter
Kate Hudson and Luke Wilson - Contributed
ALEX AND Emma, starring Luke Wilson and Kate Hudson, is a great movie for those who like romances, and like a bit of comedy thrown into the mix, as opposed to those who like a comedy with a bit of romance thrown in.
Many of today's romantic comedies have quickie romances with no true development of the intimacy between the major characters. After they get past boy meets girl, they sometimes seem to get distracted until they near the end, and so the coming together is a bit rushed.
Alex and Emma instead, goes back to the older formula, when it was the connection between the man and the woman that truly counted. Time is taken to show how Alex and Emma eventually fall for each other in the 30 days that their romance takes to bloom. It is not a case of love at first sight, an idea that Emma quickly throws out the window, but a real connection between two people. As such, the writers, Jeremy Leven and Adam Scheinman, allow real intimacy to bloom between them, rather than limit it to a single defining moment close to the end.
Alex (Luke Wilson) is a writer who is under duress to produce his second novel. Having made very bad bets in the pass, the Cuban Mafia has threatened his life if he is unable to pay them. As a result, he hires a stenographer, Emma Dinsmore (Kate Hudson) since he is unable to type as quickly who will help him produce a manuscript within 30 days.
The movie, directed by Rob Reiner, who directed When Harry Met Sally and The Story of Us, is split between the story that Alex concocts and the one that blooms between Alex and Emma. In doing so, Alex and Emma is allowed to poke some fun at the assumptions of romances and the creation of convoluted plot twists, idealised heroines, and the heroes more in touch with their libidos than their hearts (but unable to tell the difference). Of course, Alex and Emma also works with its own romantic cliché, since it is based on the romance truism that if you leave an attractive man and woman alone for several days they will fall irrevocably in love.
Because the movie depends so much on the creation of a story, there is no main plot. Alex and Emma are simply allowed to interact with each other and let Cupid take his course. The only real plot (and it is a deliberately predictable one) is the story within the story that Alex creates, with interruptions by Emma.
Both actors give a fair performance though the role of Alex might have been a touch out of Wilson's league. Although he does a decent job, he is unable to fully tap the potential of the character, which makes the movie a little less than it could be.
Additionally, Leven and Scheinman have produced a light, witty script. There are no huge moments of side-splitting laughter, but the entire product is entertaining nonetheless, producing well-paced amusement. Although at the beginning it is a bit slow, the movie gets clicking as soon as Alex and Emma meets and continues to improve through to the end.
Alex and Emma probably will not make it to the top ten list of great romantic comedies, nonetheless for those who love the genre, it is a good addition to the bag.
