“Alex & Emma” (Warner Brothers)
The new Rob Reiner film “Alex & Emma” is a misguided production from start to finish. It tells a love story in a way that starts out charming and soon goes downhill. Only the charisma of the two lead actors, Luke Wilson and Kate Hudson, saves the film from being doomed to oblivion.
Alex Sheldon (Wilson) is a talented novelist. He has one best selling book under his belt and his editor (Rob Reiner) thinks the second one is just a matter of time. But time is something Shelton does not have. He has some bad gambling debts in his past and two thugs are threatening his life if he doesn’t pay. His final bargain with them is that he will pay up within thirty days.
At the time the thugs are threatening him, they destroy his laptop which is where he generally composes his stories. Now he has to hire a stenographer to take down his dictation. Her name is Emma (Hudson) and for some strange reason she agrees to help him with his book even though she can’t be paid until he completes it.
Alex begins dictating his story of a young tutor (Wilson again) who goes to work for a beautiful woman (Sophie Marceau). He teaches her two children and while he teaches them he falls in love with the mother. But the woman, who is named Polina, needs money badly. Because of this she is considering marrying the obnoxious John Shaw (David Paymer).
There is another woman in the story. She is part of the household staff. At first she is called Ylsa, then she is Elsa, next it is Eldora, and finally Anna. Hudson is seen in all these roles. The tutor becomes torn between these two characters – the beautiful Polina and the lovely Anna.
As the story is being dictated the movie switches between the thirties and the present. Alex and Emma begin to fall in love but the specter of what is real and what is not real haunts their romance. Emma gets the impression there really is a Polina in Alex’s past and she fears he still loves her.
Wilson has a sort of aw-shucks charm in the film, while Hudson is more beautiful as the storied characters than as the mousy Emma. Still you are rooting for the two lovers to find the path to happiness before the movie ends.
The film is rated PG-13 for profanity.
If you are a fan of either Hudson or Wilson you will get more out of the film than you should. It is not a well made movie and you have to fight to get some fun out of it. But this is a case of the two stars making the movie more than it is and bravo to them for doing so.
I scored “Alex & Emma” a rewritten 5 out of 10.
