Alex & Emma

Rob Reiner is getting his worst reviews to date for his Alex and Emma, starring Kate Hudson and Luke Wilson. After dismantling the script, the direction and the performances, Elvis Mitchell in the New York Times remarks: To see a movie straining so hollowly to evoke the feel-good chumminess of Mr. Reiner's past romantic comedy success is disheartening; this film's failure reminds us that even passable romantic comedy is in short supply despite the large number of attempts that are released. Joe Morgenstern in the Wall Street Journal concludes: If Alex & Emma fails as comedy, and it does so ignominiously, it qualifies as a mystery. How could a movie with such likable actors be so deeply dislikable? How could a comedy be so airless and cheerless when it was directed by Rob Reiner? Jami Bernard in the New York Daily News mourns the fact that Reiner seems to have lost or at least misplaced the magic touch he has exhibited in past films. This is a movie full of tin-eared humor and situations too contrived to give romance a toehold, she concludes. Almost all reviewers remark that Hudson and Wilson display little chemistry on the screen -- all save Bruce Westbrook in the Houston Chronicle who writes a positive review of the film, ending with the comment: Chemistry is the key to a romantic comedy, and this one has enough to unlock guarded hearts.