Review in a Hurry: Quirkier-than-average, predictable rom-com in which a busybody mom sets up her daughter with a rich architect, while her spawn pines for a hunky musician and gets all angsty about which to choose. Poor, poor li'l Mandy Moore.
The Bigger Picture: What the hell happened to director Michael Lehmann? His first three movies—Heathers, Meet the Applegates, and Hudson Hawk—were quirky, surreal comedies that, like 'em or not, played by their own rules. Nowadays Lehmann seems to be scrupulously following every rule of boring chick flicks. Maybe he's just doing it to meet women—Piper Perabo, Lauren Graham and Mandy Moore play three hot and horny sisters in this one, with Diane Keaton as the fussy mom who kvetches as much as, well, Woody Allen.
Moore's Milly is somehow unable to find a good man, despite looking like Mandy Moore, so mom tries to secretly play matchmaker. So, are we supposed to sympathize with the manipulative, lying mother? Or the gorgeous daughter who tries to have it both ways by simultaneously dating a sensitive artist family man (Gabriel Macht) and an uptight yet successful Italian-speaking architect (Tom Everett Scott)?
Lehmann manages to give his characters a little bit more personality than is the norm in such movies, but he doesn't bother to hide the contrived paces he puts them through. Yes, there's a scene of the whole family singing together. Yes, people get pushed into cakes. And yes, you'll forget about the whole thing before it's even over.
The 180—a Second Opinion: If you really want to love this movie, of course, remember that Mandy Moore is great to look at. And there's this one part where she describes what an orgasm is like. It's not quite Meg Ryan-esque, but it's still pretty cool.
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