She's the One

source: She's the One

What's to say about a film in which Cameron Diaz is one of the better actors? The unexceptional young cast varies from okay-ish to really bad, and the script isn't much better. Aniston tries hard but she is utterly talent-free, McGlone is simply awful, Burns's girlfriend is stiff and boring, and only the director Burns seems to have a little bit of charisma to be able to play in a film like this; however, he isn't much of a director (or writer). The film tries hard to be one of those clever, sophisticated, modern relationshit comedies but comes off as lame and pretty stupid (and rather unfunny). The humour and the dialog are strictly your average TV sitcom material, except that there is no laughing track to save the jokes; and this is no "Seinfeld" - it's more like "Murphy Brown" or "Friends" or some other nit-witty, pathetic show. The dialog is forced. I haven't laughed once during the film. The bubble-gum characterization also doesn't help. Many of the relationshits in the film don't make sense, and the film as a whole is just unconvincing; the acting, the dialog, the plot, the characters - practically everything. A few questions; how has Burns "screwed up" with his wife so that he had to apologize at the end? He didn't do anything wrong. Did he upset his wife because he punched his brother's face? Or was it because he picked up a TV set from his long-gone ex-fiancée? The viewer is actually required to accept this nonsense. Absurd. And what about Burns's wife flying to Paris? Where the hell did she find the money for a ticket to Europe if she is so goddamn broke? (Or maybe I forgot what it means to be broke for an American: having "only" one car and eating out "only" six times a week.) But never-mind this little detail; it is not one of the reasons this film is so mediocre. It all comes down to the fact that too little talent has joined together to make a movie. It seems that in the 90s any Joe Shmoe can make a movie and be hailed as a writer-director-actor prodigy. If you want to read my parody/satire bio of Cameron Diaz (and other Hollywood morons), contact me by e-mail.

Ed Burns specializes in quiet New York comedy, which makes full use of NYC quirks, ethnicities, and conflicts. He is also an incurable romantic, who tends to have himself pursuing romance in a city full of cynics -- sometimes even including himself, which is somewhat self-contradictory, but humorous. In this case, he is waffling on his true love, while his brother, married to Jennifer Aniston, is cheating on her with Cameron Diaz -- definitely an interesting question of taste -- and Diaz is a former girlfriend of Burns. The complications are not profound, but are gently comic, as are the required just deserts.

This movie is all about great interaction between Ed Burns, Mike McGlone, and John Mahoney. The dialogue between them is perfect. Cameron Diaz is absolutely beautiful, but I wish there would have been more scenes between her and Ed Burns. I liked this film far more than The Brothers McMullen, and I'm expecting great things from Mr. Burns in the future.

Ed Burns wrote, directed, stars in "She's The One." After breaking up with his girl (Diaz) he is giving a taxi ride to a young lady (Bahns) and within 24 hours they are married. Destined to fail, right? Meanwhile his younger brother seizes the opportunity and cheats on his wife (Aniston) to begin an affair with Diaz, who worked her was through college as a hooker. This film is mainly about the relationships between the two brothers and their father. After Diaz marries a rich old guy, young brother cannot salvage his broken relationship with Aniston, rightly so. After first being hesitant to follow his new wife to Paris for school, Burns realizes his error, the film ends with the three men and the young wife heading out on the boat, going fishing, a break in the family tradition of "men only" fishing trip. This is symbolic of the changed way the three of them look at life and relationships, coming on the heels of dad finding out mom wasn't going to church each morning a 8AM, but fooling around with the old hardware store man who simply admired her and gave her attention. This is a subtle film, speaks volumes about relationships and our obligation to do the right thing. Not a great film, but good. In the story Bahns was from Vermont, and she really is from Vermont. In the film she became Burns' wife, while in real life they were dating. She was going to France, and in real life she speaks fluent French. Jennifer Aniston, Amanda Peet, Cameron Diaz were all still relatively unestablished in film, and that was what allowed them to fit into the salary cap for this film. I don't think Burns will ever become known as a great writer/director, but his films are honest and in that he has a lot going for him.

This is a great movie, Edward Burns did a great job. It is a great story with great characters. It also has an amazing amount of beautiful women in it (Diaz, Aniston, Bahns, Peet, and Mann). This movie is on Comedy Central all the time and is worth watching just for these amazing women, not to mention it really is a good movie. I highly recommend it.

A major distraction is that almost everyone smokes throughout the movie. Smoking not only adds nothing to character development, it actually distracts viewers from the dialog and the plot. In the past, smoking was used to distinguish good characters (protagonists) from the bad (antagonists), much as the good guys in cowboy movies wore white hats,while the bad guys wore black. In this movie, even the good guys (including Jennifer Aniston's character) smoke, and we found it to be unrealistic and distracting. It seemed to be just one long "sickaret" commercial. Can't help but wonder who was given how much money to have almost every actor in the movie smoke.

This is definitely one of my favorites! Very funny, Very well done. was laughing throughout the movie..especially the "family matter" backyard boxing! Hilllarious! Other favorite scenes include, Jennifers family discussion about the possibility of her husband being GAY!, " Ecxuse me!, My husband is not Gay" she exclaimes!. "You know he does wear that cologne" her Dad says. Great scene. Also... the Limo ride with the butler... "its a new day my man", "Today is the first day of my new life" "how do I look?" And... as he exclaims to Cameron Diaz "Maybe he loves you because your young blonde and beautiful and he's got one foot in the grave!" as he describes "grandpa".

This is the kind of movie that I like. The plot is well-written and well-directed. I like Edward Burns as an actor and writer. Even so, there are some pretty significant flaws in this execution of this wonderful idea. The most substantial problem problem with the movie is the casting of Maxine Bahns. She is a very poor actress. Since she was cast in the earlier "The Brothers McMullen", also written and directed by Edward Burns, I assume there is a friendship that misdirected that decision. Some of the characters don't play out quite right. The role of the brother, played my Mike McGlone, is well acted, but the writing made that character a little too two dimensional. I think there was a opportunity to create a character with a little more complexity than the wealthy, uncaring, superficial husband. There were some good performances by actors on their way to being A-list players. Cameron Diaz turns in an exceptional performance. Jennifer Aniston also shows her acting chops. Amanda Peet also turns in a short, but well-executed performance. In spite of some of the casting flaws and missed opportunities for some depth in characterizations, this is a very enjoyable movie. If you like character and plot-driven movies, this is a worthwhile way to spend some time.