Someone like You... is a clever romantic comedy that will likely be enjoyed by the following people: a) those who are planning to write their dissertation about relationships and b) those who have actually been in one.
The first group will be analyzing the time-compression that allows Ashley Judd to go through the complete cycle of a relationship with Greg Kinnear in only a few minutes of screen time.
The second group will notice that the movie offers a lot of truthful observations about the ways in which relationships develop and deteriorate.
Judd stars as Jane Goodale, a Kentucky native (she even gets to say "y'all") working in Manhattan as a talent booker for an upstart TV talk show hosted by the very driven Diane Roberts (Ellen Barkin).
Jane is repulsed by the advances of womanizing coworker Eddie (Hugh Jackman), and so when the seemingly charming Ray (Kinnear) joins the show's production team, genuine attraction develops.
We know this beyond any doubt because Jane becomes flustered when she meets him, because they make serious eye contact and because of the big intertitle that says "Attraction," as if this were a silent film offering chapter headings.
The entire movie is like that, surprisingly and humorously quirky, with a slightly skewed perspective on its material. (At one point, Hugh Downs shows up to give his commentary on the couple's progress.) In fact, every stage of Jane and Ray's relationship is titled for us. The fact that passionate kissing occurs in the "Attraction" stage, while "Establishment of Intimacy" includes full-throttle sex, explains a great deal about why these characters spend so much of the film unhappy and confused.
The third stage, "Vocalization of Emotion," when Ray says he loves her, comes a good six months into their sexual fling, and even then her best friend Liz (Marisa Tomei) is surprised by such a sign of commitment. But just as suddenly as it began, the relationship crumbles, as the two make plans to move in together.
Jane reads an article on the mating habits of cows and develops what she calls "New Cow Theory," the not-so-original postulation that men pursue relationships for sex and then move on to sow their oats elsewhere.
Under a pseudonym, she writes an article on the subject for a men's magazine, and her ideas become an overnight sensation.
Diane wants Jane to book the insightful writer for her show, but of course that is a tall order for her to fill without airing her own personal problems to the viewing public.
My plot description ends there, because the joy of watching Someone like You... lies in trying to figure out where it will take you. The movie offers two different romantic triangles, which overlap each other, and yet its beginning does not telegraph its ending.
The film starts as a fairly hardline feminist critique of male relational behavior but even in this regard does not follow the path we anticipate.
Ashley Judd is warm and engaging as a romantic lead, and Ellen Barkin, who is always worth watching, gives a pitch-perfect turn as a woman fully in pursuit of what she wants. Marisa Tomei, as the cynical sidekick who offers such witticisms as "Time wounds all heels," seems to be jump-starting her stalled career.
And director Tony Goldwyn (he was the bad guy who got whisked off to hell in Ghost) redeems himself after his messy debut, A Walk on the Moon.
One could argue that Someone like You... cheats a bit with its conclusion and tries to have things both ways, bashing men and later embracing them, but the complaint is only valid if you don't become involved with the characters.
Ultimately, the film succeeds because it is intelligent and complex and avoids the trap of taking a reductive view of men. Its characters deal with their grudges, acknowledge their fears and exhibit refreshing honesty.
How many romantic comedies fit that description?
Grade: B+
(PG-13, 100 minutes)
