Dating is a bad luck business in director and co-writer Chris Hall's cynical romantic comedy.
Small-town friends Zack (Brad Hunt), Bleckman (Harland Williams), and Abbey (Lauren Graham) have known each other since childhood. Though handsome and courteous, Zack grew up in a dysfunctional family that eroded his self-confidence; from grade school through young adulthood, Zack has felt unworthy of Abbey and never gave her an inkling that he was interested. He finally decides to declare his love right before Abbey is about to leave for Manhattan – even Bleckman, who's clueless about the opposite sex, recognizes that as world-class bad timing. Zack decides that his best chance of success with Abbey lies in examining his failures with his 12 previous girlfriends. His crusade to
root out what’s wrong with him gives a dozen belligerent exes the opportunity to vent. One, a stutterer, labels Zack a poor listener. The babysitter who seduced him says he's insufficiently aggressive. Other disgruntled Juliets point out Zack’s stinginess, awkwardness, and refusal to commit. But even if Zack manages to make positive changes based on their suggestions, he's still going to be popping the question to a woman focused on career goals elsewhere. Can the re-invented Zack prove that he is Abbey’s Mr. Right?
A doofus dreamboat in the Owen Wilson-mold, Zack is sensitive to women’s needs, not smart enough to threaten her or ambitious enough to outdo her. But this paean to romantic infantilism is itself an underachiever, not worth the time it takes to watch. --Maitland McDonagh
