DVD Review: The Romantics

“Nothing complicates friendship like love,” claims the DVD cover of The Romantics. Not a bad tagline to accompany a film with a stellar cast such as this one. Katie Holmes, Josh Duhamel, Anna Paquin, Adam Brody, Elijah Wood, and Candice Bergen come together to create a fantastic assemble for first time director Galt Niederhoffer to work with… If only the outcome had been different.

The film revolves around seven college pals who reunite for a wedding of two of their dearest friends Lila (Paquin) and Tom (Duhamel). The catch is that Laura (Holmes) and Tom might not quite be ready to put their past… in the past. The movie spans roughly a 24 hour period before the wedding where it becomes quite clear to the viewer that this entire group of friends have some rather large loyalty issues.

The concept of the film is actually quite good; in fact, I bet the book, also by Niederhoffer, is worth checking out. But as a film, everything just came across as being not quite finished – which metaphorically works in some ways mimicking the relationship between Katie Holmes and Josh Duhamel’s characters. However, I’m not sure if Niederhoffer intended the lack of a finishing touch on the film to be metaphorical or not. If it was just the ending left un-ended – then sure, I could have seen that. However, there were technical issues and continuity issues throughout the film that made it difficult for me to take the overall story seriously. Shall we start with Katie Holmes going for a night swim in the ocean and then coming back on shore being completely dry on her front and soaked on her back? Or with the fact that there were two scenes which visually did not match the quality of the rest of the film? It appeared there was poor lighting in the scene and someone tried to up the contrast and brightness settings while editing the film which resulted in a horrible grainy look that I could have shot more successfully on my Flip cam.

Special features are nothing to get excited about either. There is some behind-the-scenes footage and that’s it. Overall, it’s got a hint of promise… if only it had been done differently. On the bright side, the soundtrack is quite good.

Grade: C+
Official Site: http://www.theromanticsmovie.com

Review By: Emma Loggins