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Born Romantic

2001, Movie, R, 96 mins

Born Romantic: Review

BORN ROMANTIC
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A group of lonely London singletons with differing views on love play the dating game with varying degrees of success in writer-director David Kane's tiresome romantic comedy. Fergus (David Morrissey) arrives in London determined to right the wrong he perpetrated eight years ago, when he jilted his fiancé, Maureen (Jane Horrocks), a week before their wedding. Fergus wants her back, but he'll have to track her down first. Maureen, meanwhile, having had her self-respect badly shaken, has been living the life of a good-time girl — late nights out, casual sex — without actually seeming to be having a good time. Eddie (Jimi Mistry) is a mugger and petty thief who steals the wallet of Jocelyn (Catherine McCormack), a morbid young woman in a neck brace who tends other people's graves for a living, then uses the wallet to wheedle a date from her. But it appears to be a hopeless case: Jocelyn's obsession with death and her fear of life's consequences keep her from so much as entertaining the idea of a boyfriend. Suave Scottish sharpie Frankie (Craig Ferguson), who still lives with his shrewish ex-wife in a house that's slowly sinking, meets Eleanor (Olivia Williams), an elegant but hard-hearted art conservationist with the British Museum. He's smitten, but she wants none of it; sex is fine, but love is for suckers. Tying together these disparate stories is Jimmy (Adrian Lester), a driver for the aptly named Kismet Cab company, who dispenses unsolicited advice while ferrying these would-be lovers to and from their favorite nightspot, the just-as-aptly named El Corazon salsa club. This is a character-driven ensemble piece that lacks the benefit of flesh-and-blood characters; Kane simply piles quirks (Frankie loves the Rat Pack, Jocelyn hates her neck) on top of clichés (Jimmy's a thief with a heart of gold, Olivia's tough exterior hides a woman who's scared to love). Some of the talk is affecting, but there's something desperate about the film's clumsy attempts to work Salsa dancing into the plot, and the ubiquitous figure of Jimmy is a tedious conceit that borders on creepy. Is he stalking his fares, or is Jimmy the only cabbie in London? The shame of it all is that Kane somehow managed to assemble an extraordinary cast, whose fine performances can't surmount the tedium of his script. leave a comment --Ken Fox
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