"Alex & Emma"
In the tradition of John Candy's 1991 comedy, "Delirious", helmer Rob Reiner mixes "real" characters Alex (Luke Wilson) and Emma (Kate Hudson) - a novelist working under a desperate deadline and the stenographer he hopes will help him meet it and, thus, remain among the living - and the fantasy world as the characters in his book come to life on the screen in "Alex & Emma."
There isn't a great deal of depth to "A&E" as we first meet Alex when he naively tries to hide from a pair of tough Cuban loan sharks that he owes a cool $50K. They are about to dump him out a window when he cuts a deal: he'll finish his new book and pay them double what he owes - if they'll give him an additional 30 days. They agree and Alex hurriedly seeks a stenographer to whom he can dictate his work-in-progress. Enter Emma, a pert, pretty, business-like young lady who answered his ad, which says the job is to take dispositions for the law firm of Polk, Taylor, Pierce, Fillmore and Van Buren. (This, believe it or not, is one of the better jokes in the film for those paying attention.)
She initially mistrusts slovenly Alex but she sees something in the guy (talent maybe?) that causes her to drop her guard and agree to take on the proposed task. Things start out a bit rough but the writer soon proves that he can, indeed, write and they get to work. But, Emma disagrees with the paths Alex's story takes, especially about sex, and freely offers him advice on what he needs to do to make his sophomore work appeal to readers like her. (Well, not quite like Emma who has the quirky habit of reading the end of a book to see if she would like to read the whole thing, which drives Alex to distraction.)
Once the quasi-adversarial relationship is set up the story then jumps back and forth between A&E's daily routine and the story as it develops and matures. It's the turn of the 19th century and Adam (also Wilson), a poor tutor (with a gambling problem much like Alex's own), takes a job teaching English to the children of French beauty Polina (Sophie Marceau). He is smitten with the lovely lady right away and has designs on her affections. But, he's broke and another suitor, wealthy John Shaw (David Paymer), is on the brink of proposing marriage to Paulina. When the au pair makes her entrance, first as Ylva the Swede, followed by Elsa the German, then as Eldora the Spaniard to, finally, Anna the American, all played by Hudson, the triangle becomes a quad.
This is a light-hearted (and too thinly written) little story that doesn't cover any new ground and depends on its stars to carry the whole of the film. The "Delirious"-style story is not original and requires some level of suspension of disbelief as the inevitable romance unfolds to a stock ending. There is a nice chemistry between Hudson and Wilson and they provide likable performances but are stuck with a script that underutilizes their talent. At times, instead of paying attention to the story, I found myself being distracted by Hudson's uncanny likeness and mannerisms of her mother, Goldie Hawn.
The production is simplistic and seems beneath the previous efforts of Rob Reiner, who has done far better work in the past - "The Princess Bride" and "A League of Their Own" come to mind. There is not much spark in his direction and the burden to carry the film falls upon the shoulders of his stars. Techs are almost rudimentary with little attention paid to set with one room in Alex's apartment as the main place of action. This has the look of a small budget film that relies on its name director and its rising stars to cover the numerous flaws. I give it a C+.
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