Ryan and Broderick Might As Well Face It
For Sam (Matthew Broderick) life is almost perfect, he's good at his job as an astronomer and he is head over heals in love with Linda (Kelly Preston), that is until Linda goes to work in the city for two months and Sam receives a Dear John letter from her. In desperation Sam heads to the city where he discovers that he has been dumped for a French chef called Anton (Tchéky Karyo) and he is not the only one feeling aggrieved as Anton's ex Maggie (Meg Ryan) is prepared to do anything to get her revenge on her cheating ex. Together Sam and Maggie work to destroy Anton and bring an end to his relationship with Linda but the more time they spend together the more they start to fall for each other.
When it comes to romantic comedies it has to be said that so many sort of merge together as they retread the same old obvious storylines delivering the same old cliches and scenes but "Addicted to Love" is different. Well different in the fact that whilst it is obvious that from the moment Sam and Maggie meet they will fall for each other it is that they fall for each other while trying to sabotage their ex's new relationship which makes it entertaining. This fact alone, that we watch them work together to stalk their ex's and make their lives a misery makes "Addicted to Love" so much more fun than you are probably expecting.
The thing is that "Addicted to Love" is still a romantic comedy so whilst it is fun it is also a mix of the entertaining and then the forgettable. Fortunately the memorable stuff such as a wonderful scene where Sam sets uo a camera obscura to project images on the wall is so captivating that it never leaves you. It is the same with the opening which sees Sam using a large telescope to focus on his girlfriend in the park. But then you have the utterly daft such as gags about a performing monkey putting lipstick on a guys collar or kids squirting him with water pistols with perfume in. It does mean that whilst you have some sweet awe moments you have some serious groan moments as well.
The thing is that "Addicted to Love" comes together thanks to Meg Ryan as Maggie. Ryan may not be playing the vulnerable, soft romantic here but beneath the icy exterior and the need for revenge Maggie is loveable, she is fun and caring as well as feisty and you can't but help fall for her. As such Meg Ryan dominates all the scenes she is in which isn't to say the rest of the cast are bad as Matthew Broderick as Sam puts in a solid performance but Meg Ryan is so good that you end up watching her rather than anyone else.
What this all boils down to is that whilst the final outcome of "Addicted to Love" is obvious the actual journey from start to finish is an enjoyable one. It's more fun than romantic as it revolves around the destruction of a relationship but it has a lot of charming romantic scenes especially when using the camera obscura.
