Unhitched (renamed for its U.S. release – it’s
originally titled The Best Man) tells
a pretty different story from What Rats
Won’t Do, but it reminds me a lot of that film. Both are highly
formulaic romantic comedies without many creative bones in their bodies. While each falls into a different rom-com
subset, they’re both textbook examples of their type.
What Rats Won’t Do sticks with the
tried-and-true “opposites attract” story, where the woman with the dull fiancée
realizes her love/hate relationship with a colleague is a lot more love than
hate, and the playboy is finally tamed by the Power of Love. Unhitched
instead goes for a “love at first sight” story, where the perfect woman is
engaged to a horrendous tool, but the guy who loves her is just too darned nice
to pursue her until he realizes how awful her fiancée is. Stop me if you’ve heard this one…
Olly, a
struggling writer, is the awkward nice guy, and Sarah, a sweet lady who screens
films to focus groups, is the perfect woman.
Naturally, they meet and Olly falls for her before he knows that she’s
marrying his old friend James, and of course, Olly has already agreed to be the
best man at the wedding. Olly tries to
leave Sarah alone, but his roommate sets out to galvanize Olly by proving that
James isn’t good enough for Sarah.
Another
big difference between this film and What
Rats Won’t Do is that PC has a lot less screen time. He shows up near the end as the priest for
the wedding. He’s only in a few scenes,
so there’s not too much to say. His
exasperation at all the rom-com hijinks that keep interrupting the proceedings
is funny, but… eh. This is probably one
of the films that made PC consider giving up acting before he scored the part
of Malcolm Tucker.
A few
faces I’ve seen recently – Stuart Townsend, one of the leads from Shooting Fish, plays Olly, and Anna
Chancellor (the unfortunate object of Pilfrey’s affections in Fortysomething) has a supporting role as
his boss. In bit parts, you’ll also see
Whoniverse alumni Simon Callow (Charles Dickens in “The Unquiet Dead”,) Burn
Gorman (Owen from Torchwood,) Daniel
Mays (the father from “Night Terrors” in series 6,) and Tom Ellis (Martha’s
cute doctor chum from The Year That Never Was.)
Seriously, did the TARDIS double as everyone’s trailer?
Accent Watch
Sounds
Scottish to me.
Recommend?
In
General
– Not in my opinion. Too predictable,
too cheesy.
PC-wise – For completists
only.
Warnings
Some
language and sexual references, including porn and an “adult” shop.
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