A Lot Like Love - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

Manohla Dargis of the New York Times said the film "isn't half bad and ever so often is pretty good, filled with real sentiment, worked-through performances and a story textured enough to sometimes feel a lot like life. If nothing else, A Lot Like Love is a pleasant reminder of a Hollywood time, seemingly long gone, when boy met girl in a midlevel romantic comedy without arty aspirations . . . or low-brow yucks."

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times observed, "The movie is 95 minutes long, and neither character says a single memorable thing. You've heard of being too clever by half? Ollie and Emily are not clever enough by three-quarters . . . To call A Lot like Love dead in the water is an insult to water.". Ebert awarded the film one out four stars, and ultimately included it in his list of "Most Hated Films".

Ruthe Stein of the San Francisco Chronicle said, "An unfortunate casting decision . . . comes close to sabotaging a witty script . . . As the sometimes couple, Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet are together in almost every scene, making it difficult to conceal the huge gap in their acting skills. Bland and with a small television face (words once used to describe David Caruso, but equally applicable here), Kutcher is incapable of doing the heavy lifting required to be a romantic lead . . . Peet, who has the looks and magnetism of a Kennedy offspring, makes Kutcher fade into the background, and you're left fantasizing what the movie might have been if Peter Sarsgaard had co-starred . . . Still, the movie is rich in the kind of details often left out because of a lack of budget or imagination."

Christopher Orr of the New York Sun said, "What do you call a shameless imitation of a shameless imitation? A rip-off squared? An homage once removed? Whatever label you choose, it can be comfortably affixed to A Lot Like Love, an Ashton Kutcher-Amanda Peet vehicle that is a lot like When Harry Met Sally, which was itself a lot like Annie Hall. Sadly, the resemblance does not extend to quality. Indeed, those with a scientific turn of mind may take the devolution from Annie to Harry to A Lot Like Love as yet another demonstration of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which says that in a closed system (an apt description of Hollywood if ever there was one) there is a tendency toward entropy - in this case, from acknowledged classic to memorable cable-television staple to dim, flabby dud . . . If one thing saves A Lot Like Love from disaster - and I'm not sure it does - it's an easy chemistry between the leads, though one that owes little to Mr. Kutcher's performance . . . Fortunately, Ms. Peet carries off the role of Emily with enough spark that even Mr. Kutcher gradually lights up . . . Since running away with The Whole Nine Yards five years ago, Ms. Peet has had altogether too little opportunity to showcase her sexy comic appeal. A Lot Like Love might have provided that opportunity, had it only featured something a little like a script."

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone rated the film two out of four stars, calling it "a lot like a lot of other romantic comedies that make two lovers of friends (When Harry Met Sally, Serendipity) and a lot not like the two witty and wise Richard Linklater movies - Before Sunrise and Before Sunset - that span the relationship between Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy for nearly a decade and leave you wanting more . . . About A Lot Like Love leaving you wanting a lot less, I am right."