The film is a promising idea that is totally wrecked by a director who has no confidence in his material. If Jim Carrey had directed a film, it would look like this -- every joke telegraphed, overdone, and milked past any laugh it honestly deserves. There's a real contempt for the material, and absolutely no attempt to make the characters anything more than cardboard cutouts.
Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor labor to bring life to their thin characters, and whatever charm and humor the film has rests on their hard work. But the director constantly undercuts them by turning them into comic book figures when they should be real people (no matter how silly the situation).
David Hyde Pierce comes off the best, since being the comic sidekick doesn't require depth. He also has the best lines -- some that are actually funny.
A film that shamelessly rips off gags from Austin Powers is really scraping the bottom of the barrel. And when you have to resort the pressing-the-wrong-buttons-and-wrecking-havoc gag -- old and trite back before any of the Doris Day films were made -- you know something is very wrong.
Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor labor to bring life to their thin characters, and whatever charm and humor the film has rests on their hard work. But the director constantly undercuts them by turning them into comic book figures when they should be real people (no matter how silly the situation).
David Hyde Pierce comes off the best, since being the comic sidekick doesn't require depth. He also has the best lines -- some that are actually funny.
A film that shamelessly rips off gags from Austin Powers is really scraping the bottom of the barrel. And when you have to resort the pressing-the-wrong-buttons-and-wrecking-havoc gag -- old and trite back before any of the Doris Day films were made -- you know something is very wrong.