Love and Other Disasters

Image Entertainment

This is the message of this sweet and formulaic ensemble romantic comedy about pretty Londoners looking for love while they balance big dreams with the quasi-reality of their quasi-bohemian lifestyles: love means never having to say you're sorry you ripped off Breakfast at Tiffany's, or any number of other romantic movies. Just wink at the audience and telegraph your influences while you trot out every cliche in the book, and you can call the whole enterprise a homage! But darn it, this slick tactic actually works, making this slight flick at least as satisfying as it is predictable. Brittany Murphy is at the center of this glossy world of small problems, playing an intern at U.K. Vogue who talks vaguely like Audrey Hepburn. She's so busy trying to set up her vaguely gay best friend - I mean he's identified as gay, but he's nearly as neutered as Rupert Everett in My Best Friend's Wedding - with a vaguely South American photographer that she fails to notice the Latin stud is falling for her. Add in more misunderstandings and a colorful cast of supporting characters nicked from Nora Ephron and Richard Curtis, and you've got gentle escapism that doesn't make much sense but offers breezy good fun.