Must Love Dogs

There's nothing remotely admirable about the relationship of the lead characters in this typical romantic comedy | Andrew Coffin

You've seen all of this before. But perhaps it's been a while since you've seen it all strung together so ineptly. That's about the sum of Must Love Dogs (rated PG-13 for sexual content), a romantic comedy that survives, if at all, solely on the charm of its performers.

Diane Lane plays Sarah, a recently divorced elementary-school teacher. The movie opens with an "intervention" in Sarah's kitchen. Her family has assembled to push and prod her back into romantic pursuits. Sarah's sister Carol (Elizabeth Perkins) takes the most meddlesome approach, signing Sarah up for an online dating service. The title of the movie refers to a line in Sarah's personal profile, which leads to her first interaction with a quirky wooden boat builder (romantic leads always need a hopelessly impractical profession) named Jake (John Cusack).

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August 06, 2005, Vol. 20, No. 30

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