It's not formulaic, it's actually interesting most of the time and it has a few nice jokes sprinkled around.
The happy-ending is way too cheesy and actually ruins a lot of the movie, as, up to that point, it was mostly realistic. I mean, just one story of how a guy gave his little sister a toy when they were kids doesn't erase the fact that he's a jerk and, among other things, dumped Anna Kendrick over the phone. It's way too little for her to just "click" and chase him to the lake and shout out her eternal love for him across said lake. If they were to actually show Anna Kendrick's baby-poppa jump into water when she called him across the lake, it would have been _terrible_ (as is, it's merely bad). The happy ending for Lisa Kudrow felt much more real, while the happy ending for the Indian boy was also off.
Another problem with the movie is that Anna Kendrick didn't do her job as well as one would expect. She's not nearly as lovably quirky as she can be. She's not pretty or hot, so, what we're left with is not all that interesting or likeable, thus it's hard to participate in her struggles. Quite frankly, you feel more connected to Amanda Crew, who, while being a jerk, is doing a good interpretation of "I'm hotter, yet this jerk choose her, but I'm gonna show her now".
But, with it's several major and some more minor flaws, it's still good-enough, if you take into account other rom-coms.
The happy-ending is way too cheesy and actually ruins a lot of the movie, as, up to that point, it was mostly realistic. I mean, just one story of how a guy gave his little sister a toy when they were kids doesn't erase the fact that he's a jerk and, among other things, dumped Anna Kendrick over the phone. It's way too little for her to just "click" and chase him to the lake and shout out her eternal love for him across said lake. If they were to actually show Anna Kendrick's baby-poppa jump into water when she called him across the lake, it would have been _terrible_ (as is, it's merely bad). The happy ending for Lisa Kudrow felt much more real, while the happy ending for the Indian boy was also off.
Another problem with the movie is that Anna Kendrick didn't do her job as well as one would expect. She's not nearly as lovably quirky as she can be. She's not pretty or hot, so, what we're left with is not all that interesting or likeable, thus it's hard to participate in her struggles. Quite frankly, you feel more connected to Amanda Crew, who, while being a jerk, is doing a good interpretation of "I'm hotter, yet this jerk choose her, but I'm gonna show her now".
But, with it's several major and some more minor flaws, it's still good-enough, if you take into account other rom-coms.