film - Must Love Dogs

2.75 /5

Diane Lane portrays Sarah, a divorced 40-something woman who her family is trying to find a match for. They show up at her house with photos of elligible men they know, as a kind of intervention, so that she gets back into the dating game. She seems to be the "go-to" woman at the moment for playing older, single women seeking a fresh start on romance.



Soon, she discovers that one of her sisters has created an online dating profile for her. She is supposed to meet recently divorced Jake (John Cusack) on a park bench. One of Jake's friends saw Sarah's online profile and set Jake up to meet her.

Along the way, she meets the divorced father of one of her students, the grey-haired PhD student Bob, played by Dermot (not Ben or Brian) Mulroney. Both men are smitten with her. She's interested in both. Things happen that sour both relationships, etc.



The acting was fine all around. Christopher Plummer portrays her dad, the single, poetry-reciting 70-something who is looking for companionship since he has already had the "love of his life." Liz (Wilma Flinstone) Perkins portrays one of her well meaning sisters. John Cusack (39) was excellent as the boyish, reluctant Jake. Diane Lane is impossibly beautiful at the real age of 40 and that is both part of what makes the film appealing but also less interesting. She's so attractive that you don't stop for a moment to pity her for being a single woman, eating small quantities of chicken at home by herself. On the other hand, her looks make her a very credible love interest for her two suitors. Still, there's not enough crisis to make this anything other than a lightweight, pedestrian, romantic comedy and certainly not one of the very best.



This film is clearly aimed at an older demographic than, say, Wedding Crashers, and some people will find it enjoyable. Based on the novel by Claire Cook.