Let me start out by saying that if your only interest in this movie is Rufus, you will probably want to wait until it comes out on DVD.  But if you like romantic comedies, this is one of the best that I’ve seen in a very long time and probably one of the best romcoms in 50 years.  Its pure fluff and fantasy very much in the tradition of the screwball/romantic comedies of the 1930’s and 40’s.  (The characters even talk about it… this is after all a post-modernist “meta-film”.)   These movies were trying to do nothing more than entertain and put a smile on the face of their audience, and that’s how I left the theatre from this movie with a big happy grin on my face.  It’s not much, but how often can we say that nowadays? 

Back to Rufus.  As we all know by now, he plays a complete cad, who has done our heroine (played by Kate Winslet) wrong, so you really can’t wait to get his “comeuppance” and for her to dump his ass.  To make it worse for Rufus fans, his total screen time is probably less than 10 minutes.  One might wonder why Nancy Myers bothered to cast an actor of his caliber in such a small role, but you do need someone in that small part who you believe that Kate Winslet’s character could have been in love with and pinning over for YEARS, and Rufus does fit that bill.  He’s good at being incredibly charming, disarming in a very small amount of time, so that you can’t help but like him a wee bit.  Rufus does have one nice acting moment with Kate later in the film.  Its one of those moments where you need an actor who doesn’t have to say a word, but where we know exactly what he’s thinking by the expressions on his face.  I’ll stop there, as even though this is a romcom and we all pretty much know what’s going to happen, but I don’t want to be the spoiler! 

I loved the four main actors in the cast of this movie (apparently the parts were written specifically for them and it really works.)  It is also refreshing to see two female actresses who clearly are allowing themselves to “age” onscreen and aren’t trying to hide behind Vaseline smeared lenses, gauze, soft lighting, etc.   But in my humble opinion, Eli Wallach steals every scene he is in. Thankfully, Kate Winslet and Jack Black are smart enough to stand aside and let him have the movie.

 ethereal_tb~

This has got to be my least favorite Rufus movie not only because of his lack of screentime but I couldn't help but wonder why he didn't get Jude Law's role. All the best parts were in the trailers, the picturesque English country cottage, Amanda schlepping thru the snow in spike heels, the email scene, Amanda's breakup with Ethan, the sexy banter with Graham. I was really looking forward to it, it could have been so great, how could it miss with a cast like that?

Rufus was great for his whole 5 minutes of screen time. I even kinda felt bad for him, he flew all the way to LA with his belated Christmas gift professing how he misses having her around - aawww! I'm sorry but I found it very boring, totally unbelievable, not funny at all and the Hollywood ending was way over the top in my opinion. Did I mention how nauseating Jack Black was?

pattirose~