The movie is kind of a one-two punch about relationships and the responsibilities of men within the relationships.
It does a fantastic job outlining and fleshing out the female characters. As such, Cameron Diaz and Jennifer Aniston's characters are probably some of the better written and most believable characters in the movie. (In fact, Cameron Diaz stole the show) You really do feel for some of the female casts.
This, however, does not mean it gets a free pass with it's less than stellar characters... Maxine Bahns was... mediocre at best. But the rest of the male characters come across more like caricatures then real people. Mike McGlone is basically what happens if you take every alpha male stereotype, roll it through some dirt, and mix it together. I'd like to say that it's a good concept, but he comes across as just too unbelievable to me. The same can be said about John Mahoney's character, who while not as much of a caricature, can basically be summed with "chauvinistic conservative patriarch who ends up screwing up their son's lives". The only person that is even remotely likable, being Edward Burns character is a little unbelievable at times too. I think the only good moments that Ed Burns has are from the scenes where he's with Cameron Diaz. And in the end, these characters are not written to be people, they were written to be ideas and archetypes to be used for commentary.
However, having said that, some of the dialogue is pretty entertaining and some of the repartee between the characters are fun to listen to.
The thing is though, funny dialogue doesn't give character depth.
Not bad as far as a romantic comedy goes, but definitely not home run movie.
It does a fantastic job outlining and fleshing out the female characters. As such, Cameron Diaz and Jennifer Aniston's characters are probably some of the better written and most believable characters in the movie. (In fact, Cameron Diaz stole the show) You really do feel for some of the female casts.
This, however, does not mean it gets a free pass with it's less than stellar characters... Maxine Bahns was... mediocre at best. But the rest of the male characters come across more like caricatures then real people. Mike McGlone is basically what happens if you take every alpha male stereotype, roll it through some dirt, and mix it together. I'd like to say that it's a good concept, but he comes across as just too unbelievable to me. The same can be said about John Mahoney's character, who while not as much of a caricature, can basically be summed with "chauvinistic conservative patriarch who ends up screwing up their son's lives". The only person that is even remotely likable, being Edward Burns character is a little unbelievable at times too. I think the only good moments that Ed Burns has are from the scenes where he's with Cameron Diaz. And in the end, these characters are not written to be people, they were written to be ideas and archetypes to be used for commentary.
However, having said that, some of the dialogue is pretty entertaining and some of the repartee between the characters are fun to listen to.
The thing is though, funny dialogue doesn't give character depth.
Not bad as far as a romantic comedy goes, but definitely not home run movie.