A Lot Like Love

Two young strangers (Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet) have an impulsive round of sex in an airplane lavatory and then keep crossing paths every couple of years, but the timing always seems to be wrong, until finally … Really now, is there any doubt how a plot like this is going to work itself out? A Lot Like When Harry Met Sally would have been a better title for this movie—except that it’s not. Colin Patrick Lynch’s script has none of the wit and charm that filled Nora Ephron’s earlier one to overflowing, and Nigel Cole’s direction lacks the light touch of Rob Reiner. That leaves Kutcher and Peet, and while they’re hardly Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan, they’re likeable enough. In a good romantic comedy, we want the stars to get together in the end; in this one, we just wish they were in a better movie.