Addicted to Love

Starring: Meg Ryan, Matthew Broderick, Kelly Preston
Directed by: Griffin Dunne
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Box Office: $34,673,095
1997

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: After a bad break up, Sam (Matthew Broderick) tracks his ex-girlfriend (Kelly Preston) to where she is living with her new boyfriend. Sam reluctantly teams up with the ex-girlfriend of his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend. The two jilted lovers conspire to make their exes lives miserable.

Review:

Tim: This is a surprisingly better than it should be romantic comedy. I know most critics hated this movie, citing the nastiness of the main characters and the utter ridiculousness of the plot, but for certain films I can overlook those shortcomings. I liked this film because it really showed the ugly, scorned side of love. So often romantic comedies sugarcoat everything. Addicted to Love shows love for what it oftentimes can be- heartache, pain, and anger. It is refreshing to see this in a film.

Matthew Broderick can act, but the guy is seriously a pansy. Here, he plays a slightly darker, more likeable pansy. Way to go, guy. Meg Ryan is excellent as always (at least in rom-coms). Broderick and Ryan actually have a good deal of chemistry. Ryan is a little off the wall, but the two of them fit.

I will admit that much of the film is absurd- like the film's insistence on trying to make Meg Ryan out to be a badass by showing her in scenes riding a motorcycle. Ryan is cute and loveable, but there is no way I will ever believe that she is incredibly tough. These were the most unbelievable moments of the film.

As far as romantic comedies go, Addicted to Love is no where near the top of the list. However, it has decent romance and excellent in its division of equal parts of romance and comedy. What this film does have going for it is that it is different from similar genre films by showing the ugly side of love. That was refreshing to me, and why I didn't absolutely hate this movie.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



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