TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews Review of If Lucy Fell

If Lucy Fell (1996)

Even Sarah Jessica Parker's charm couldn't save this stillborn romantic comedy

[1/10 · 20 January 2005]

This is one of the better examples of how Hollywood have lost their edge, and how easy it is to make a romantic comedy. The plot is uninspired, the acting is unimpressive, the characters are poorly written and uninteresting, and the pacing is just awful. It goes too far for laughs, that never actually come. Ben Stiller is unfunny, and the rest of the cast are uninspired. Even Sarah Jessica Parker, who usually makes even the least entertaining film passable. The clichés are all there: best friends who should be together but can't see it, the main guy is infatuated with someone who doesn't know that he exists, etc. No new ideas or even semi-interesting presentation of old stuff. Parker plays a therapist, and I couldn't help but think of how happy I am that I don't have a therapist like that. She should seriously be fired, and have a letter of... uh... un-recommendation written that should be mandatory reading for every future possible boss. Yes, she's that bad. There's a scene of her giving children advice, and she charges them. She takes the money of young children... I'll let that sink in. Both of the main characters are annoying and at times despicable, so I suppose they fit together quite nicely. One final criticism: why is it, that no Hollywood film can contain a favorable of an artist, particularly a painter? Here he's presented as a childish, eccentric moron. Is that supposed to be funny? Final thought: only reason to see this film is to see the young and (already then) talented actress Scarlett Johansson in a very little role as a young child. I recommend this to women who don't care about the quality of romantic comedies and no one else. In fact, I urge you to avoid this at any and all cost, if you don't belong to aforementioned group. Yes, it's that bad. Believe me. 1/10