When I saw When Harry Met Sally, certain parts stuck in my mind: the first was 'can a man and a woman be friends?' According to Billy Crystal, and after a long constructive discussion, no – men are approaching women because they sooner or later want to 'intercourse' them. Another one was that NYC is not big enough to avoid meeting the same person by chance again and again. Finally, I remembered Meg Ryan's scene pretending to have an orgasm in the middle of a restaurant – well, I think that this one stuck in a lot of people's minds.

In Rob Reiner's film Harry and Sally meet in a long trip by car, chatting, flirting, arguing, and eating. Over a period of 15 years they occasionally meet and see their life going by, with boyfriends, ex-boyfriends, marriages, and separations. They start being 'someone that you know', and end up taking care of the other after break-ups with their partners. Finally they realize that maybe the right partner is just beside them. The same recipe is used for A Lot Like Love, starring Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet, but instead of 15 years, it's seven years on-and-off; and instead of being set in the 70s and 80s, it's in the 2000s.

Emily (Peet) and Oliver (Kutcher) met – actually 'intercourse' – in the toilet of a flight from LA to NYC. Emily, an impulsive independent girl who just broke up with her 'Bon Jovi' boyfriend, needed some 'anti-stress' in the flight – and why talk? And there was Oliver, an innocent graduate student visiting his brother in NYC. Afterwards they met by chance in the City and we discover Oliver's plans for the future: in five years he wants to have a job, a car, a house and a girlfriend to marry. They make a deal, Emily will call him in five years time to find out if his 'plan' has been achieved.

We don't have to wait too long; just three years later Emily is left by her new boyfriend and, trying to arrange a New Year's Eve date, calls Oliver, who is once again the consolation prize. After a fantastic night out, Oliver moves to San Francisco to start a new job. Two years later, Oliver's girlfriend leaves him. In his desperation he goes to visit Emily. They go for a ride (ehem) to the mountains, but, unfortunately, Oliver has to leave the next day to NYC for a business meeting. Things go on like this for some time, and inevitably feelings flourish between Emily and Oliver – but circumstances are still not ideal. But wait, wait...

A Lot Like Love gets points for being an entertaining romantic comedy: two good-looking characters; the separation is not their fault (they are in the wrong place at the wrong time); cheesy songs like Bon Jovi's 'I'll Be There for You' or Chicago's 'If You Leave Me Now' performed as karaoke... But it would have helped to have a good connection between Peet and Kutcher, and also good dialogue. Better conversations would have made everything more digestable. Harry and Sally talked about sex, love, man-woman relationships; Oliver-Emily practice more and talk less, and when they begin to talk (about feelings) they break off with a 'Don't! Don't ruin it!' At least the restaurant scene could have been more memorable, but Peet just chokes on some food – something that, hopefully, will not stick in my mind. So, entertaining, but not enough.

Rated 12A (see IFCO website for details)
A Lot Like Love is released on 24th June 2005.
A Lot Like Love – Official website