Ace Weekly

Rob Reiner once carried the romantic comedy hopes not just of his generation, but of Hollywood as a whole. The dream is officially dead. Rehashing the best moments of his lauded entry in the genre, When Harry Met Sally, with no success, the director's latest effort falls hopelessly flat.

Positing Kate Hudson's prudish stenographer as muse to Luke Wilson's blocked writer, Alex & Emma attempts to drum up romantic yuks by pulling the familiar trick of playing life against art imitating life. Wilson's promising young author, unable to finish his sophomore effort, is running scared from the Cuban mafia after gambling away his advance. Now, holed up in his shabby Boston apartment, he's 30 days away from his deadline and his promised death. His only hope is to deliver the manuscript and the corresponding check to the bookies. Of course, when said bookies drop by and burn the chump's computer in a demonstration of the wrath to come (you know it's a romantic comedy when the thugs break someone's laptop instead of their legs), our hero is suddenly in need of someone who can... take dictation.

Hudson shows up at his door with all the pent-up sexuality of Meg Ryan's virginal Sally, sans the charm. Unfortunately, Hudson's Emma has none of the quirkiness that made Ryan so irresistible in Reiner's pitch-perfect prior effort. Everything about Ryan's Sally that made her quintessentially lovably high maintenance, from her intolerable need for "on the side," to her willingness to fake an orgasm in a deli to prove a point, is in Emma, but less notably. Emma's strange food fixation is that she peels her tomatoes. And, oddly enough, Emma even picks up a trait from Harryshe reads the last page of a book first, to see if it's worth reading.

The bulk of Alex & Emma is spent on the dull fiction being spun by the second-rate author/hero.

Regurgitating his novel like it was last night's dinner, Wilson's Alex blurts out a yarn about a guy (like himself) who gets trapped in a love triangle while vacationing on a ritzy New England island.

Setting his book in the roaring '20s, Alex's doppelganger, Adam Shipley, goes to the fictional St. Charles to tutor the children of a wealthy French heiress. When said heiress turns out to be gorgeous, Adam is smitten. Things become complicated when Adam also falls for the sweet and cute maid (played by Hudson).

Drawing more from his own life than he should, Alex continually amends his story to mirror his own unfolding drama.

As Emma becomes more appealing and less offensive in real life, the character she inspires morphs accordingly-she changes from a Swede named Ylva to a German named Elsa to a Spaniard named Eldora and finally an American dubbed Anna.

Without any of the whip-smart dialogue that Reiner is known for, Alex & Emma is as familiar as it is tired.

The tepid lead characters, inhabited by actors who don't share the slightest chemistry, finally have nowhere to go in a film as flat as its interior dime-store novel.

FILM Cheese Factory Been there, done that By Rachel Deahl Wow, those Dockers® really are stain resistant! Rob Reiner once carried the romantic comedy hopes not just of his generation, but of Hollywood as a whole. The dream is officially dead. Rehashing the best moments of his lauded entry in the genre, When Harry Met Sally, with no success, the director's latest effort falls hopelessly flat. Positing Kate Hudson's prudish stenographer as muse to Luke Wilson's blocked writer, Alex & Emma attempts to drum up romantic yuks by pulling the familiar trick of playing life against art imitating life. Wilson's promising young author, unable to finish his sophomore effort, is running scared from the Cuban mafia after gambling away his advance. Now, holed up in his shabby Boston apartment, he's 30 days away from his deadline and his promised death. His only hope is to deliver the manuscript and the corresponding check to the bookies. Of course, when said bookies drop by and burn the chump's computer in a demonstration of the wrath to come (you know it's a romantic comedy when the thugs break someone's laptop instead of their legs), our hero is suddenly in need of someone who can... take dictation. Hudson shows up at his door with all the pent-up sexuality of Meg Ryan's virginal Sally, sans the charm. Unfortunately, Hudson's Emma has none of the quirkiness that made Ryan so irresistible in Reiner's pitch-perfect prior effort. Everything about Ryan's Sally that made her quintessentially lovably high maintenance, from her intolerable need for "on the side," to her willingness to fake an orgasm in a deli to prove a point, is in Emma, but less notably. Emma's strange food fixation is that she peels her tomatoes. And, oddly enough, Emma even picks up a trait from Harryshe reads the last page of a book first, to see if it's worth reading. The bulk of Alex & Emma is spent on the dull fiction being spun by the second-rate author/hero. Regurgitating his novel like it was last night's dinner, Wilson's Alex blurts out a yarn about a guy (like himself) who gets trapped in a love triangle while vacationing on a ritzy New England island. Setting his book in the roaring '20s, Alex's doppelganger, Adam Shipley, goes to the fictional St. Charles to tutor the children of a wealthy French heiress. When said heiress turns out to be gorgeous, Adam is smitten. Things become complicated when Adam also falls for the sweet and cute maid (played by Hudson). Drawing more from his own life than he should, Alex continually amends his story to mirror his own unfolding drama. As Emma becomes more appealing and less offensive in real life, the character she inspires morphs accordingly-she changes from a Swede named Ylva to a German named Elsa to a Spaniard named Eldora and finally an American dubbed Anna. Without any of the whip-smart dialogue that Reiner is known for, Alex & Emma is as familiar as it is tired. The tepid lead characters, inhabited by actors who don't share the slightest chemistry, finally have nowhere to go in a film as flat as its interior dime-store novel.

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