source: Alex & The List

Watched because of Karen Gillan and gave up with an hour and 15 minutes left. So slow. I thought I was watching in half speed. The premise is good, but as soon as the list comes out it would have been end of relationship, bye bye. Karen Gillan's ancient speech about how men want women to be would be out of place in any modern film unless ot was set in the 60s.

This movie should NOT be rated PG! The amount of F words alone should rate it PG13(I didn't count, but there were ar least 10), but then there's a very explicit sex scene. I couldn't tell if Karen Gillian and Aaron Staton were supposed to be speaking with an accent or if their American accent was just that bad. Overall, a very disappointing movie.

The premise of this film is that Alex, the man who works wonders with dogs, is deeply in love with the appropriately named Katherine Stern, who is allergic to dogs. But the main problem is that there never appears to be any chemistry between the two characters. None. Zero. Zilch. Nada. The Empty Set. Early in the film, Katherine presents to Alex a typewritten list of things that she wants him to change about himself, in order to further their relationship. A number of the points are extremely trivial, such as "drive a German car" or "get your teeth whitened." Alex first takes a stand and says that he will not comply with her requests. But he then changes his mind when he senses that another man is pursuing Katherine. Out of jealously, he decides to complete the various steps of the list. The most interesting of Katherine's demands is that Alex convert to Judaism. There was some good advice given to Alex by the wise rabbi who becomes his mentor. The main concept was that of the soul mate, or "bashert." The rabbi also stresses that the list should only be a starting point in a relationship. Alex goes through the conversion process, including mikveh (immersion) and circumcision. He also gets his teeth whitened, learns about sports, samples liqueurs, and examines a Porsche. But the most important words of the rabbi, "You must live an authentic life" seem to be lost on both Alex and Katherine. This film was muddied in its goals and styles. On the surface, it appeared to be a comedy. But the preposterous idea of the list was taken so seriously by the characters that it turned into a drama. Throughout the film, the woman who appeared to be the true soul mate of Alex was Katherine's best friend Lily, the person who gave her the idea for "the list" in the first place!

The draw for me, to this movie, was Karen Gillian and Jennifer Morrison and the promise of some light romance. Both actresses gave good performances (Jennifer Morrison is a great romantic foil and Karen Gillian was characteristically goofy). What let me down was the writing. The premise was simple, although its implications were entirely predictable, but the path to it was long and arduous. There needed to be more meat inbetween: more depth in the character arcs, more humour, more meaning in the journey. It ended up being boring and lacklustre. I give this film a 4 (poor) out of 10. {Romance}

I am a fan of this actress looks and that's why I wanted to see the movie. However her looks are the only good thing about it. The dialogues are horrible and very slow. I was not able to finish it.

This movie is far better than its average rating. There are many hilarious lines and scenes. It's solidly written comedy with likable characters. I've seen far worse romcoms that deserve a 4.6 average. Shocked this one doesn't average out to a 6.4. Very strange bc i usually agree with the imdb averages. Anyway, it's slow in places and the music could improve but the story and scenes are all there. Cut out the best friend's child from the whole story- but I see what the writer was trying to do there. Michael Nouri is the perfect rabbi and it's wild to see Bob Gunton not play someone evil. I have a feeling the audience wanted the two "best friends" to get together, but that would be a whole other movie, an unoriginal one. This one is way more original.

I've seen some in my time but this movie is so bad my thesaurus called in sick due to overwork. I can't point to a single redeeming feature, awful characters, played by actors who are capable of better, awful soundtrack, awful plot, The whole concept is offensive to the rational mind, a woman gives her boyfriend a list of ten things he must do in order to keep dating her. Let's switch the genders and see how that works out. It's a god damned mess.

Alex and the List The best way to summarize the script is that it has to be one of the worst scripts ever made into a movie. It is completely formulaic, composed of a conglomeration of innumerable disjointed scenes that were supposed to be funny by themselves, which together comprise a very bad movie. I'd much rather watch one of the 100 Hallmark movies about cooks who fall in love than this film! The male lead who is supposed to be a nice dog walker turns out to be one of the lowest energy human beings that you could ever run into anywhere on this planet. Again, not in a very funny "The Office" (the movie) sort of way. His affect is that a dedicated pot smoker who walks through life completely stoned. To top it off, he is unable to make any decision by himself. He often seeks out guidance from a highly unlikely source of wisdom. The script is an insult to Michael Nouris's talent. He actually says some reasonable things (despite needing to work more on the consistency of his accent) as the "film's rabbi," which are immersed into the surrounding inane scenes. Jennifer Morrison who plays Katherine is a very decent actor as is the dog walker's best friend, played by Karen Gillan. Gillan is a great actress. To shine in the middle of a mess of a script is not easy. Katherine's father is played by Bob Gunton who is a normally a very good character actor playing a horrible role depicting a complete idiot of a father, and not in a humorous way. Thinking about his role now, I feel very sorry for the actor. It must've been a painful job. The character who is supposed to be challenging the dog walker for Katherine's hand is yet another stereotype. I assume the actor with the role can't act, but that might be unfair, because his part was so ridiculous. The way he keeps showing up is annoying and unrealistic. One would have to assume that Katherine was braindead or emotionally crippled enough to allow that to happen. The trouble is, she's not. It doesn't fit her character. Katherine's final ask of her to-be-fiancé is ridiculous given what we know about him... The most important scene near the end is beyond ridiculous. What is very sad is that it was supposed to be funny, and it wasn't funny at all. Loose ends are tied up in an absurd way. At this point you might want to throw something at your screen, but you won't because you realize there are good writers out there who will bring you better movies! The very last scene is a cute little bow the writer tied, and you will once again want to yell at your screen as a warning to the last person to appear in the cast. I apologize to the writer if this hurts your feelings, but you really should not have tried to sell this film. You should have taken it as a starting point to write something much better. I would've given this movie a one or a two which would be stretching it if it weren't for the acting. The actors don't deserve a two. Or maybe they should've just refused to take the role. I realize that working is sometimes prioritized over quality. I can understand that but it leads to a lot of lousy movies being made. In fact, I would suggest to IMDb that they separate the script score from the acting score, and have an overall score for the movie. This could be optional. If the script is very good and the actors are very good then you only need one score. PS For parents, there is a very graphically depicted sex scene despite the presence of panties on the woman involved who plays yet another horrific role - badly. The man is naked beneath her. It should've been rated R for that alone. Those who are offended by graphic sex should not be subjected to that scene...

The pacing is terrible, that's why the jokes (if any) don't work.... Too long... could have been good...