Ah chick flicks, if I only understood them then maybe I wouldn't have such problems with them, the movies, I will never understand women. Anyway this is a highly entertaining situational comedy that woman will enjoy much more than men. However, the ending is too conventional and the result, in my opinion, makes women appear dumb, just like the beginning of the movie.

Jane, played by Ashley Judd (Twisted,) is a producer of a daytime talk show and falls for a sophisticated man, who is also the executive producer, Ray, played by Greg Kinnear (Bad News Bears,) and ignores the sexist pig of a co-worker Eddie, played by Hugh Jackman (X-Men.) It turns out that the sophisticated man is also a pig and dumps Jane after he has 'tasted' her a few times and Jane becomes a very bitter woman. She decides to do a study of men and has her friend who works at a national magazine to publish her study under a fake name. The world of women embraces the study and Jane's pseudo character becomes the Dr. Phil for jilted women everywhere and people are trying to interview this doctor for their shows, including the star of the very show she produces. During this time, Jane is forced to move in with Eddie and she completely ignores the fact that even though he is a sexist pig who sleeps with a different woman every night, he is the one for her.

I would like to say that Ashley Judd should do more romantic comedies. Now that Meg Ryan seems to have retired that part of her career, there needs to be a leading lady that can put together a string of romantic movies. Ashley is drop dead gorgeous even though she is in her thirties and has a wonderful mature look that is lacking in the twenty something Hollywood actresses that are playing the roles now. She is very believable in this role and her dry wit, sometimes sarcastic, is perfect for these kinds of movies.

I enjoyed Kinnear's performance in the movie. It was great seeing him as the a**hole. He too is an excellent actor that needs to continue to work. It's hard to believe that he came from that TV show Talk Soup in the early 1990's. Anyway, his performance in this was quite good, never losing focus in his character, a character I have not seen him play before either.

I thought Hugh Jackman was pretty much typecast as the ego maniac, self-centered male that was the basis of the study for Jane. It wasn't a stretch for the actor because he could very well be that man in real life. I mean what good looking actors aren't self-righteous, egotistical a**holes. I mean come on, look at Brad Pitt. My problem is that his character is way too typical for this kind of movie and I blame the writer for that.

My main problem is with the screenwriter Elizabeth Chandler, unless the script follows the book exactly, then my problem is with the writer of the book Laura Zigman. I don't mind the fact that men are portrayed like they just want what's between women's legs, for the most part that is true. But in this movie, Jane gets dumped by an ass that is Ray, and then ends up falling in love with a guy that is also an ass to women in Eddie. Both of these guys are attractive, successful men who probably have notches on their bed posts of all the women they have scored. So my question is what is the difference between the two men? The only difference that I can see is that Eddie was burned by a woman in the past and Ray hasn't apparently. Well, too para-phrase from a Friends episode, Just because a guy gets burned by a woman, does that mean he should start going through them like underwear? I don't know, I mean as a guy I would say hell ya, but I don't see the argument from a woman's point of view. To me, Jane got dumped by Ray but fell for a guy just like him in Eddie. So what's the message? If he is good looking go for it? That doesn't paint woman very good, its what they are but hey that is a whole other issue. Or am I completely missing something, which is possible.

I liked this movie because of the comedy and the situations and because I love Ashley Judd. But I don't think it is that great of a romantic comedy because of the message of "It's ok to be with an A**hole as long as he is good looking." But then again I am bitter so what do I know.

Brian - the Naked Gun