The comments here seem to indicate a preference for the movie not reflected in the overall rating of below 5. I think that's because the people who love the film are answering a perceived wrong, that critics/viewers want a typical romantic comedy storyline, that completely misses the point. The reason this film is not good is the basics: story details and acting.
I actually think the major lead roles were miscast--too old to be college students, or even young professionals (it was hard to tell exactly how old they were supposed to be throughout the movie), and not entirely convincing in their performances.
But then the story details were not all there. I liked the concept of the random connections the main characters shared, and didn't have a problem at all with the fact that they didn't meet until the end (although I agree with another reviewer in that I would have liked to have seen something more than just 1st meeting directly to 10+ years later with a child). But it was not very well executed, and details fell through the cracks.
Many of the minor characters were so 2-dimensional. Jennifer Aniston's "best friend" character was hardly given a chance to develop. The saving grace of this film for me was Sarah Jessica Parker, who was able to cover a range of behaviors so believably in a character that had the potential for caricature.
I actually think the major lead roles were miscast--too old to be college students, or even young professionals (it was hard to tell exactly how old they were supposed to be throughout the movie), and not entirely convincing in their performances.
But then the story details were not all there. I liked the concept of the random connections the main characters shared, and didn't have a problem at all with the fact that they didn't meet until the end (although I agree with another reviewer in that I would have liked to have seen something more than just 1st meeting directly to 10+ years later with a child). But it was not very well executed, and details fell through the cracks.
Many of the minor characters were so 2-dimensional. Jennifer Aniston's "best friend" character was hardly given a chance to develop. The saving grace of this film for me was Sarah Jessica Parker, who was able to cover a range of behaviors so believably in a character that had the potential for caricature.