The other day me and some friends went out to see The Romantics. I had been waiting awhile to see this one because the trailer looked promising, for some reason music montages and attractive depressed people with love triangles skewer me in, but we won't dwell on that. This movie had such a limited release but it finally came to this french island. I found it interesting, primarily because how the film was received from my friends was so different. Most of the people I was with hated this movie, however, I really liked it. I've come to a conclusion that the friend that enjoyed as much as me had the factor that we grew up in small towns, and my other friends are city kids. I found this movie has all the right things going for it to set a mood, the group of friends I found were so relatable to people I knew and the way the whole pre-wedding events went down was exactly how I can see some of my friends and I ending up down the road. I thought the movie was really well done, I liked the shaky camera kind of thing that was going on and the music was fitting (minus the wedding scene, which is my only real complaint). The acting was solid, I know there's a lot of people who have mixed feelings about Katie Holmes, I personally like her and thought she did a good job here. The film is really simple, it doesn't take on a lot of conflicts and minus the love triangle, doesn't dig into the supporting characters issues. I like that the film didn't try to have too much going on, it's a movie that didn't have to say so much but the emotions come off strong. It's also interesting that this film doesn't really have any characters that are overly likeable. I thought the characters came off real, they all had their own problems and did some pretty shady things to one another. My only real complaint is the final confrontation between Katie Holmes character and Anna Paquin's character. There was a lot of tension built up and when the two let each other have it, it does give some more back story but felt too childish, I feel it would have been better with Katie Holmes character just ignoring the confrontation. But despite that scene, the dialog throughout the film is pretty impressive, it felt real and flowed naturally. The ending of this movie is really open and pretty abrupt, I'm a fan of how they ended it, however, my friends weren't and I can see why it might be a bit of a punch in the face to some but I thought it worked well in how the story seems to be a never-ending cycle. Overall, this movie isn't for everyone, I personally really enjoyed it, I think if you dig the trailer, you'll be into it but the film itself doesn't offer that much more.

Recently saw this as well. I enjoyed it - leaves a lot to be desired but doesn't deserve the slack it gets. Interesting characters, good acting, amusing dialogue. Underrated in my opinion.

The best way I can describe "The Romantics" is, slight.
The performances and dialogue are fine, but the story sags quite a bit.
Candice Bergen had some standout moments and Katie Holmes anchors it all well.
I think I would have liked some flashbacks to their "heyday" as a group.
I like the upstate NY photography, but the characters are too generic.
Similar styled films such as "Muriel at the Wedding" play so much better. Why?
Super strong writing and character dynamics.
Still, the cast elevate this to pretty watchable for the most part.
It's a shame the script didn't stand out better.
This film would have gotten a wider theatrical release if they had.

E.D.

P.S. I was annoyed to no end they didn't use any Romantics songs in the film!
    I hear the secrets that you keep, when you're talking in your sleep!

I actually liked this film. It's really not bad. Good casting and believable characters, though the screenplay could have done with more work.