Simply Irresistible

2/4

Starring: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Sean Patrick Flannery, Larry Gillard, Jr., Patricia Clarkson, Dylan Baker

Rated PG-13 for Brief Sexual References

"Simply Irresistible" was just a bad choice - and for that it was a great learning experience.  I wasn't ready to make that movie.  I was too young.  The script was not ready. I knew in my heart before I left to make it that I should back out."  -Sarah Michelle Gellar
I see what she means.  Putting it simply, the script is awful.  Too little of it works, and the actors are forced to try to carry it through.  They give it a game try, but to make matters worse, director Mark Tarlov hasn't got a clue how to make a movie like this.  It's like "The Astronaut's Wife;" some scenes are pushed too far, and others are not pushed far enough.

Amanda Shelton (Gellar) is a chef in Soho.  She's running a struggling restaurant with her aunt, and it's going belly up after her mother, who was apparently a whiz in the kitchen, passed away.  Then one day a mysterious man gives her a magical crab, which promptly crawls up the leg of rich businessman Tom Bartlett (Flannery).  They meet and there's an attraction.  Soon circumstances are pulling (or is that pushing?) these two together.

The good news is that the romance works.  Sarah Michelle Gellar and Sean Patrick Flannery have an acceptable amount of chemistry that we want them to end up together.  Gellar does not have a lot of range as an actress, and this is an adequate performance from her.  Flannery is a better actor, although he plays down to her level.  Solid support is provided by Patricia Clarkson (as Tom's supportive secretary), Larry Gillard, Jr. (who plays the obligatory character whose sole function is to boost the lead's confidence and offer her advice), and Dylan Baker (as Tom's nervous boss).

The hook of this movie is the magical realism, and it's the film's biggest fault.  It doesn't really work.  Unfortunately, it's a huge part of the movie.  The movie never establishes rules of how it works, and it's not effectively presented (I didn't know that it was the crab's doing until I read it in a review).  Director Tarlov also has no sense of balance; this stuff couldn't be less subtle if he tried.

The ending is the worst.  It flies right in the face of the obligatory break-up and is played so far over-the-top that it's eye rolling.  I wanted to vomit.

Bottom line, this is good for a romance and nothing else (the comedy is more awkward than funny).

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