Must Love Dogs

Herald rating: **

Must Love Dogs is a disappointingly formulaic romantic comedy about two people trying to get back into the dating game after divorce.

It's hard to believe that with such a stellar cast and a cute premise, this film could be so bland. Must Love Dogs is an exercise in wasted opportunity.

Sarah (Lane) is a lovely woman, but there's nothing particularly appealing about her. Date Sarah, and you're dating her large, interfering family.

Jake (Cusack) believes in old-fashioned values and repeatedly watches the film Anna Karenina. Instead of being all sensitive and intense, he comes across as a bit of a bore.

The two of them are made for each other, but Lane and Cusack don't fire together onscreen. The story tells us they're attracted to each other; they just don't let us in on it.

While Cusack and Lane suffer admirably with their clumsy, featureless characters, supporting cast members Elizabeth Perkins, Stockard Channing and Christopher Plummer get to have all the fun as interfering friends and family forcing Sarah and Jake to get back into the dating scene.

We're all keen to find, "the one", but in Must Love Dogs, it's a national obsession.

In desperation, Sarah's sister Carol (Perkins) puts her profile on perfectmatch.com along with the phrase "must love dogs" (not that Sarah even owns one), and the awkward process of internet dating begins.

Director, TV writer and producer Gary David Goldberg (Spin City) struggles to keep momentum up. We all expect a cheesy outcome at the end of a romantic comedy, but Must Love Dogs just fizzles its way through good dates and bad to its predictable end.

CAST: John Cusack, Diane Lane, Elizabeth Perkins, Christopher Plummer, Dermot Mulroney
DIRECTOR: Gary David Goldberg
RUNNING TIME: 98 minutes
RATING: M, contains sexual references
SCREENING: Hoyts, Berkeley and Village cinemas