Overachieving actress Rebecca must come to grips with her failing marriage to stay-at-home dad Tom. While Rebecca's slacker brother Tobey can't seem to commit to his aspiring-novelist girlfriend, Elaine. As both relationships spin out of control, the two couples embark on a quest to rediscover the magic and romance of falling in love in New York.
The fact that Freundlich tries to put some thoughtful commentary into a formulaic story is commendable, but in the end either his faith wavers or the studio intervened.
– Connie Ogle,
Miami Herald,
1 Sep 2006
rotten:
Two couples in trouble, one with kids, another considering them. Writer-director Bart Freundlich's challenge is to stress them and find a resolution to their conflicts in ways that aren't banal, predictable or witless. And he settles for one out of three.
– Roger Moore,
Orlando Sentinel,
1 Sep 2006
fresh:
Freundlich's outstanding cast (including Garry Shandling, Eva Mendes, Ellen Barkin, Bob Balaban and James LeGros) -- his best since 1997's The Myth of Fingerprints -- glosses over miscalculations with sheer star power.
– Tom Keogh,
Seattle Times,
1 Sep 2006
rotten:
It's a pity, because few romcoms pull off the basically sympathetic mining of personal vanities and social embarrassment that the film manages in its opening hour.
– Ben Walters,
Time Out,
21 Sep 2006
fresh:
I saw this at a festival and hated it, then sat through it again a year later and decided it wasn't so bad, aside from the god-awful ending.