Synopsis
Danny (Greg Kinnear) and his wife Jennifer (Lauren Holly) are a happily married couple. They have reached the point in their marriage that they are now ready to start a family. The only problem is that for whatever reason, they are unable to conceive. Jennifer goes to her physician for a work up and is found to be healthy and able to conceive. Therefore she concludes that the couple problems are due to Danny. She tricks Danny into going a fertilization clinic to be examined. It turns out tha… his boys are the reason for the couple’s baby making problems. They then try IVF (in vitro fertilization) given that the likelihood of success is low but still higher than the good old fashioned way.
As the IVF proceeds, the marital problems begin. To make matters worse, Danny gets offered a job by Lindsay, who has more than a professional working relationship in mind. At the same time, Jennifer and her partner in the fragrance industry get the attention of a large fragrance company with their scent “The Seventh Scent.” Jennifer gets offered a position out of town. A series of “Three’s Company” style misunderstandings then proceed placing further strain on the hapless couple to the point of separation. The climax comes with the ultimate explanation of all of the misunderstandings and the pregnancy of Jennifer with triplets.
Now after reading that, was there anything in that synopsis that sounded even remotely funny? This is supposed to be a romantic comedy – but there are two problems with it. It’s not romantic and anything that could be described as funny coming out of this movie would be severely stretching the definition of the word “funny.” “Mildly amusing” would still miss the mark…”utterly boring”…now that’s more like it.
Video
The picture is presented in 1.85:1 ratio. The colors are fairly bright but there is some graininess during certain scenes particularly where it is either very bright or very dark. The black level is not well set as it tends to be a little to bright, but this is not a major problem. The skin tones are well reproduced.
Audio
The movie is presented in English 5.1 Dolby Digital surround and there is a 2.0 French track. The audio needs of this movie are well met by the 5.1 track – the dialogue from the centre speaker is clear. The music, while underwhelming, is adequately reproduced through the right and left speakers. There is little use of the surround speakers and bass – but in a movie (and I use the term loosely) like this, there is little need for the full surround experience.
Special Features
Do you consider “Widescreen Version Enhanced for 16:9 televisions”, Dolby Digital 5.1 Sound, and English subtitles special features? Well Paramount’s DVD division does.
Final Thoughts
“A Smile Like Yours” definitely wastes the talents of Greg Kinnear and Lauren Holly. Rent this if you have a “rent one get one free” coupon. Actually, scratch that. The 97 minutes that you spend watching this will definitely cost you more than the “free.” Just remember – that’s 97 minutes of your life that you will not get back.
Special Features List
- None
