Danielle I wanted to like this movie, I really did, but it didn't manage to be likable in a sustained way. There were some funny and interesting moments, but overall it was not a great film. Every character was so exaggerated - Elizabeth Resaser and Donal Logue were so unpleasant, how could their uber-sweet partners have ever found them appealing? Especially we're supposed to believe that Selma Blair has been married to this schmuck for 7 years? How did she last 7 minutes? And how could Patrick Wilson have spent 6 months with the shrill and obnoxious Bernadette? And Ed Burns character was also ridiculous - how could this man, who refers to himself in the third person as "The Murph," possibly be a successful literary lawyer? I'm not a fan of Selma Blair - I've always thought she was quite wooden and charmless, but she actually did a passable job in this role. But the whole movie was so stuffed with clichés and caricatures, it's just not worth sitting through for the few winning moments. Disappointing, because it had a promising premise. I expect more from Ed Burns.

dandan-dandan The truth is the movie has a mediocre plot, which means the movie could turn out either way, good or bad, and it all depends on the execution by the actors and directing. Personally, I am okay with the directing. It's somewhat realistic. However, I am really bored by the acting by the 2 leads. The supposed leads Blair and Wilson have almost zero chemistry, almost devoid of any honesty and feelings in their interactions. I am annoyed by the obvious 'acting" by Wilson, and the lack of energy and presence from both. It's totally unpersuasive that Blair's character could be a "talented, passionate and honest" writer. Neither the script nor the acting could convince us either way. What's really funny was the scene where Logue broke up with Blair. She was hardly really upset, but then the dialogue made it sound like she should have. There are three really awesome actors in this movie, who saved the movie by keeping the audience from walking away midway. And that's Messing, Burns and Logue. Messing and Burns should have been the leads. They simply steal the show, especially Messing. The thing is she has presence, and lots of authenticity to her acting, that convinces you that she is the character, even though the plot makes her out to be an unlikely grumpy woman. Donal Logue did a fantastic job to show himself a talented actor in this movie, where he was cast a character much different than he was type-casted into before. Even his body language and postures adapted to a younger and more sophisticated New York resident with a foreign background. For a second there, I though this was a younger foreign actor. But the confidence and presence drew me to notice it was indeed Logue! Great job.Yes, I must agree. There's a degree of trying too hard to be woody Allen in this movie, but lacked all the essence of acting. All I got to say is that if they redo this movie, and make Messing and Burns the lead, they may make triple the box office. Not for the names, but for the acting.

gkeith_1 Oh, Patrick Wilson (Brian). I have seen him in Phantom of the Opera, Little Children, Evening and now Purple Violets. He is excellent. He was wasting his time with the "Ecstasy" woman in this one. I am glad he got rid of her. Patti is nicer, and more his cup of tea.......... Edward Burns (Murph) was comical, and his comeback from screwed-up alcoholic was redeeming when finally his ex-girlfriend (Kate) ended up (spoilers here) with him near the end of this movie. I am glad she made him wait, and kept him dangling on that string for so long.......... Patti's husband was a total moron, and such a liar when he was talking with Patti near the end -- and at the same time a slutty bimbo was waiting for him back in the bedroom. I mean, he was such a loser. She must have been better than the online porn, but maybe it was Brian's ex. Maybe she and Patti's husband deserved each other............ Kate was tough, and a good friend to Patti. All those years after college, you mean to tell me she had no relationships with anyone else after Murph? Score one for her -- making Murph take her to the best restaurant in NY.......... Finally, Patrick is a singer. He sang a little in Evening, and did a great job in Oklahoma (Youtube). I tell ya, this boy has a great future. He was very sexy in Evening, AND Phantom of the Opera, PLUS the scene in the laundry room with Kate Winslet (Little Children) was one for the memory books!!!!!!!!!Finally, does every story have to make sense? People IRL don't always have cut-and-dried-endings to their stories. Some are ongoing. Besides, we know that Patrick will end up in yet another movie, always being that sexy sweetie-pie self. I know that this is not the typical story about football players, car chases and people trying to out-run the police. This is a quiet story that somehow blends thoughts and dreams of thirty-somethings, who knew each other once upon a time, and who now hope to continue with the threads that will lead into their futures. I watched this movie to the end, and for me that says it was good and enjoyable. 10/10.

michael-cohn8 Just saw this movie last night at the Tribeca Film Festival in conjunction with an unrelated product demo by a tech company. Even though it was the first time the movie had ever been screened in 35 millimeters, director Ed Burns was a no-show, though he was supposed to introduce it. None of the performers showed up either. A couple of producers did introduce the flick. They had formed a new company, probably because whichever movie studio initially green-lighted the project must have realized what a mess they had on their hands.The story made no sense, the script was full of clichés, the characters were uniformly obnoxious, and many of the performers overacted atrociously. Definitely the worst movie I've seen all year. It opens with a long ponderous shot of Selma Blair wandering out to the beach, watching the waves crashing while sappy music plays. You know then you're in for a dreadful experience. The only good thing was the New York locations. Much of it was filmed in Tribeca, obviously with an eye toward getting it in the festival, no matter how bad it turned out.All the characters are unlikable. They all live in luxurious New York apartments and carp about how unhappy they are. One of them is an English chef who runs a restaurant, but you never see him cooking except in his apartment kitchen while he torments his wife with sarcastic comments. She later catches him jerking off to Internet porn. I got the feeling he was based on a real chef whom Ed Burns wanted to settle a score with.Debra Messing has had a romantic relationship with Ed Burns before the movie opens. She spots him sitting in a restaurant while she's lunching with a friend and she tells her about their unhappy past. The problem is that she also briefly dated another Ed Burns character in Will & Grace. So I was sitting there during scenes like this hoping Will or Jack or Karen would come in and liven things up.Several of the characters like Patrick Wilson's and Selma Blair's are supposed to be bestselling authors, but they don't talk at all like writers. Ed Burns' character is a lawyer who represents authors, but he doesn't read their books, which makes you wonder how he could be so successful if he doesn't take any real interest in his clients' work.The Patrick Wilson character is shown in a couple of scenes at a book signing in a store that looks like a Barnes & Noble. But it's like no book signing you've ever seen. He goes in, gets introduced, sits down at the table, and doesn't read a single word from the book he's supposedly promoting. In the first book signing, people line up with copies of his earlier novels, not the one he's there to promote. Being a total schmuck, he refuses to sign the other books, even though many of them look like mint copies his fans may have just picked up. What bookstore is going to allow an author to come in and refuse to sign copies of books that customers intend to purchase there?Then near the end of the movie (warning: some spoilers coming up here), he has a new book out in which he has killed off his most famous character, a detective or policeman or something. Nevertheless, his fans have lined up around the block to get their books signed and they are begging him to bring the character back. Several of them are the same people he has mistreated in the previous scene. This time, he again gives them obnoxious answers, telling them the beloved character is dead and they should forget about him ever bringing him back (as if this never happened with Sherlock Holmes and countless other characters, or the idea of writing a prequel is out of the question). Then Selma Blair shows up with a copy of his earlier book, the one he wrote that was supposed to have literary value and that none of his detective book fans wanted to buy earlier. So even though the store manager is begging him to stay and sign autographs for a crowd that's lined up around the block, he insists on taking a break after just a few minutes and walks away to have a private chat with Selma. He tells her he wants to break off their relationship and he writes a message essentially saying so in her book, which he signs with just the initial B, so he doesn't even give her a real autograph.She opens the book later and for some inexplicable reason interprets his message as an invitation to come visit him at his beach house, which we have seen in the opening shots of the movie. In the final scene (again spoiler alert), she walks into his house and finds on his desk a copy of the manuscript with the same title as the movie, Purple Violets. She opens it to the first page and the opening sentence echoes the inscription in her book. So she seems to understand it to mean that his latest novel is all about her. She leaves the house, walks out to the beach, and he's sitting there, as if he has been waiting for her, knowing that she will somehow understand the message in her book, which to most people would seem to be that he's dumping her. But instead she comes over to him as some sappy rock song gets louder and louder on the soundtrack and sits down next to him on the beach. Then he embraces her in one of the most ridiculous happy endings I have seen in any movie.I could go on and on about how truly bad this movie is, but mercifully I fell asleep during stretches of it as a result of the wine they were serving.