Some
guys get tongue-tied around the object of their affections. Unfortunately,
Charlie Darby is not one of them. If he were, things would be much more
pleasant for him, as well as us, the unsuspecting audience. Instead, he will be
caught up in one painful-to-watch flight of jealousy lunacy after another in
Luke Matheny’s Lovesick (trailer here), which opens this
Friday in New York.
According
his friend Jason’s voiceovers, Darby is a great guy and a swell boss. He just
thought the often-dumped elementary school principal was profoundly unlucky in
love, until he witnesses our story first-hand. Despite swearing off romance,
Darby meets Molly Kingston at a wedding and quickly falls for her. It is hard
to blame him. She is a cute dance instructor who sings in an eighties cover
band and regularly takes her grandmother on lovely vacations. If she has any
faults, Dean Young’s screenplay never shows them.
On
the other hand, whenever Darby is interested in a woman, his neurotic
imagination concocts bizarre scenarios that fuel his manic jealousy, but have
no basis in reality. Time and again, Darby sabotages his own relationships, by
acting like an insane jerkweed. For some reason, Kingston is more tolerant of
his acting out, but it is only a matter of time before he pushes her away for
good.
Presumably,
Lovesick was envisioned as a
throwback to the sort of screwball rom-com farces Blake Edwards had such a
touch with, but it falls far short. Frankly, watching Darby humiliate himself
over and over just gets to be a sour viewing experience. Of course, Matt LeBlanc
is a dubious stand-in for Dudley Moore.
Arguably,
the predominance of TV actors might subconsciously make Lovesick feel even smaller in stature. LeBlanc (Friends, Joey, Episodes) mugs shamelessly
and takes plenty of unnecessary pratfalls, but you can’t say he isn’t trying.
Ali Larter (Heroes, Legends) somehow
maintains her dignity as Kingston, but it is impossible to believe her and
LeBlanc’s Darby are together. Chevy Chase (Community,
SNL, The Chevy Chase Show for twenty-five awkward nights) also turns up from
time to time as Darby’s anti-social porn-obsessed neighbor, so he’s likely just
playing himself. Adam Rodriguez (C.S.I.
Miami) is perfectly respectable as Jason, but the character is probably
even described as a thankless role in the script. Somewhat frustratingly, Kristen
Johnston (3rd Rock from the Sun)
gets some of the biggest laughs but has the briefest screen time as the child
psychiatrist assigned to Darby’s school.
Matheny
seems like a nice guy and his Oscar winning short film God of Love is absolutely terrific. Since he neither wrote Lovesick nor appears in a featured role,
we can hopefully conclude this was a work-for-hire gig he can quickly move on
from. For what it is worth, he keeps the film moving along at a good pace,
despite the sticky cloyingness of the material.
