lmpondela A very bad movie. No connection with the title and the content. Waste of time!!!

lavatch Of all of the zany ideas for Hollywood romantic comedies, this one has to be one of the strangest. A couple, Calvin and Lauren, falls in love, but the relationship is built around an infidelity competition. The couple will test their best friends who will be seduced by a stranger. If the majority of the guinea pigs reject the seduction and remain faithful, then Calvin and Lauren will remain permanently in their relationship. But if the test subjects succumb to their lust, then the Calvin-Lauren relationship will end in six months. What a bummer of a compact for an interpersonal relationship?After setting out this inane premise, the filmmakers do not even execute it very well. The comedy should have been based on the five competitions where the five couples are tested. But as we approached the "last" test for Calvin's friend Jacob, I had only counted three previous tests that had taken place. Either the filmmakers goofed and forgot one of the five tests...or I lost interest somewhere along the way...or both!The film had a spark of potential because the two leads had some chemistry at those rare moments when they were not obsessing on their competition. Still, Chris Klein overacted his role of Calvin, while Thora Birch underacted her interpretation of Lauren. It was as if Klein was back in one of his "American Pie" farces, while Birch was recycling her moody daughter character in "American Beauty."There is earlier film called "The Competition" from 1980, which is about the rivalry of two concert pianists. That film involves a real competition, it includes some light-hearted moments, and it is still an eminently watchable film today. Unfortunately, the more recent competition film included some lovely footage of Portland, Oregon, but never rose to the level of either a memorable romance or a comedy.

peisli I watched this movie just because i loved the trailer. Story is unusual. Acting is great, i didn't regret watching it at all. Still believe there are good men out there.

mathmaniac If this film played a part in a meal, it would be a palate cleanser. It's simple, it's clean. It's not very filling, It's a break from the fatty stuff, the sweet stuff, and the heavy stuff.I enjoyed trying to guess where the movie was shot - Oregon, I think. Never been there, don't know what it is like. But the Voodoo Doughnuts were a clue and Portland is mentioned in the dialogue. So, Oregon it could be. Beautiful, different, and looks very nice - for the non-tourist, just someone watching actors in this setting. The dialogue is relatively uninspired (until the end, when Chris Klein has a nice monologue). The choices of the actors are inspired, though - they play 'normal' people. For once, the female lawyer does not have a sleek suit with a shirt that highlights her cleavage. Clare Coffee plays that lawyer. Her sister is the scientist, one of the central characters. Thora Burch plays that scientist. Burch can easily look like she's 14 years old, but in this film, she simply looks a little weary, a lot cynical, and more likely to frown than smile. For once, a scientist seems more like an average person and not made to look like a lab technician or a woman ready to throw off her jacket and show that she's wearing a bustier around the workplace. These people look like they have jobs. They dress like they are people who live among other people with jobs and aren't ready to have sex with co-workers on office desks or among the file cabinets. This is not 'Suits.' I am glad I stayed with the film and watched it to the end, although I lost interest in the 'competition.' The romance is sweet and subdued. But still - oh, so sweet.