Les ex de mon mec

source: Little Black Book

If i wasn't in the middle of a blizzard and had nothing else to do, Id demand the last 2 hrs of my life back. Since you people generally like reasons for why stuff was crap: No plot line, pseudo-self discovery in what was supposed to be a romantic comedy, the self-discovery fell on its face hard, and in one scene stacy and barb start dancing around a room for NO reason. This was BAD. I wouldn't have finished it but i always see a movie through to its (in the case) incredibly craptacular end. What I'm guessing was the point of the movie: Buy a palm and get Carly Simon cds.

This movie was libeled and advertised as a "romantic comedy." In reality, it was anything but that! If you take your boyfriend or husband to see this dark tale, you are sure to be free and single again! The movie is centered on a Jerry Springer-type live television show, not exactly the place for nurturing love and peace. The whole movie seemed to be based on crying, paranoid, scheming, emotionally-erratic women. My wife and I considered that a big put down to women in general. The film spent a lot of time on how flawed the female lead character (Brittany Murphy) was and seemed to have an endless number of scenes of her terrible deeds. Incredibly, the character, despite walking off her job and doing terrible things to almost very character, gets rewarded by a new job with major network news and a chance meeting with her favorite singer. This is so far-fetched, only Hollywood-types could dream it up. What major network news organization would hire a associate producer, of a local market Springer-type show, who walked off the job after demonstrating her treacherous nature on the air? If you want a better film to watch check out Working Girl with Harrison Ford.

This was a terrible waste of money and time. There was only one likable character (Derek's girlfriend Joyce). Everyone else was either evil or juvenile. I was wanting all of these people, except one, to fall over dead and end this horrible film. Brittany Murphy overacts beyond description and is completely irritating. Holly Hunter's tough, world-wise character was repulsive...she looked awful and tired throughout. Kathy Bates cashed the paycheck she received and ran...she looked like she hated this film as much as I did. Hollywood shows by this movie how much contempt they have for the moviegoer...they put out this garbage and know at least some will fall for it (shame on me). To sum up...read a book, call a friend, do anything but see this movie!

I saw this movie when I attended a free screening of it a couple weeks before it was released, and while I am no big fan of chick flicks, I had hopes for this film. The premise, a woman mining her boyfriend's black book and getting know his exes in order to get to know the real him, sounded interesting enough. And the following quote from Shakespeare (The Tempest) appeared on the screen before the titles came up: Hell is empty; All the devils are here. Ah, I thought to myself, this HAS to be a well-thought out movie, since the last movie I saw with a Shakespearean quote in it (Runaway Train) had been very very good. But I was wrong. This movie was to be a runaway train of a different sort. In Little Black Book Brittney Murphy plays Stacy, an aspiring associate producer on a female version of the Jerry Springer Show, hosted by Kathy Bates as an aging and worn out trash TV hostess. Stacy's boyfriend (Ron Livingston of Office Space) goes on a two week business trip and, if you can believe this, forgets his handheld device and calls her to tell her he needs a couple of numbers from it. She sees a name in the address list and starts to get curious about his former girlfriends. At this point, her bizarre chain-smoking overworked former bus driver and former something else (I can't recall at the moment) coworker played by Holly Hunter--who smokes everywhere indoors, which I haven't seen happen in real life since the late 70s--suggests she call one of the names from the handheld, a woman who just happens to be a supermodel (of course) who was on the show a while back, and stage a fake interview. But this fake interview is so that Murphy's character can actually gain info about her boyfriend's exes so that she can find more out about him while also doing the background for a potential show about little black books, but then it turns out later she isn't going to do the story about the black books, but then we aren't really sure. Are you with me so far? From this point, any semblance of a coherent story falls apart as she meets the other girlfriends but never really spends any time actually talking to them. Isn't she supposed to be talking to them about her ex? But no, she is only really interviewing them to come on the show for a different reason, so she really can't talk to them about her boyfriend, at least not directly. Instead, she has to lie and pretend to be doing something different and much time and steam is spent on side trips and watching the shocked look on her face. There is an undeveloped subplot involving the show's personnel as well as a nebbishy male coworker played by Kevin Sussman. The poor coworker's story seems to serve no other purpose than to use screen time, since the subplot involving him comes from nowhere and then goes nowhere. As a result of Stacy not being able to talk openly to the exes that she meets become even more flat and one-dimensional than they already are. On top of that, Holly Hunter's character is given more weight than it should be for such a poorly drawn character, but that is perhaps due to Holly Hunter's starpower. There are moments throughout the movie that drag on, and on, and on, and too many moments that were supposed to be funny just aren't. In the middle of a nice moment between the two main characters before he goes on his trip his dog passes gas. Not once, but twice. Har har. Sadly, the third act has a riveting climax that ties up a couple of loose ends but leaves us feeling cheated. By the time the movie finally finds a rhythm it is too late. If you want to see a relationship movie that is thoughtful, witty, and charming, see High Fidelity with John Cusak. The difference between the two is so great it calls up the comparison Mark Twain made between the right word and the almost right word: If High Fidelity is lightning, then Little Black Book is the lightning bug. 1 Star

All romantic comedies follow a standard formula: Boy meets girl. Boy gets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy gets girl back. As the audience, we're supposed to enjoy the How of the formula. And often times that formula is very entertaining. Along comes this refreshing, unpredictable "Little Black Book" that does not follow the familiar formula, yet is a romantic comedy -- and a very well made one, I think -- the cumulative vote so far is less than 5. Makes no sense to me. Here's what you get with "Little Black Book." An intelligent script well directed. Brittany Murphy is impressive in a very seamless performance. Julianne Nicholson practically steals the show. Plus Josie Maran steams the whole thing up. What else do you want? 7 out of 10

After all of the hype for this movie, I really thought that it would be good, but the first time I tried watching it I made it through about 15 minutes before realizing I wasn't paying attention to a word they said. I tried to watch it again to give it the benefit of the doubt and I was truly disappointed. Usually I like Brittany Murphey's movies, but I just didn't care for the story in this one. The previews definitely made it look better than I thought it would, and while some parts were OK, for the most part the movie was not good. I would not recommend spending money to rent it, if it comes on a movie channel, then maybe give it the time, who knows, some might like it.

It's unfortunate that this movie will be overshadowed by bigger box office draws this summer because it is far better than anyone anticipates. Kathy Bates turns in a good performance as an aging talk show host; Holly Hunter as the talk show host producer who is getting to a certain age where she must either move up the ladder or or at least leave an impression. The villainous side of her chooses the latter and our story begins as she takes new associate producer Brittany Murphy under her wing and persuades her to delve into her boyfriend's PDA to find out about his ex-loves. As the old adage goes...be careful what you look for you just might find it. Okay, Brittany Murphy is no Meryl Streep, but she ain't bad to look at and the ending is a real treat. We liked it.

"Question: How does a girl who jumps, eyes open, down a rabbit hole, plummeting into chaos, come out the other end unchanged? The answer? She doesn't." The movie starts off not with a joke, not with two people falling in love, but with a profound statement. This film, although sometimes dramatic, sometimes fun and sometimes heartfelt, holds more than just what lies on the surface. With an amazing twist and pretty well thought out characters (some superficial and others that are quite the opposite), I found more in this movie than I thought I would. I sat down to watch a romantic comedy. And what I came away with was something to think about and a story that made me feel something more than just a bit of satisfaction-- I felt learned. I felt that someone was telling me something; wisdom was being shared. Sit down with this one and don't just watch it. Think about it. Delve into what it's saying. And I think you'll be pleasantly surprised to see what it really has to offer...

"Little Black Book" examines the foibles of one young woman (Murphy) who decides to "research" her significant other's prior romantic life as an adjunct to a TV reality talk show (think Jerry Springer) and learns some unexpected lessons in life in the process. A lively, fun, and occasionally poignant little bit of chick flick fluff, this movie suffered at the hands of critics, public, and chicks perhaps because people like a little romance with their romantic comedies and "LBB" has none to offer. An unexpectedly busy little story to nowhere which takes the chick flick milieu off course and into a sort of genre-bending neverland, this film seems to be trying to conjure some vague moral which never quite crystallizes. Nevertheless, Murphy and Hunter make capable bookends shoring up a pleasant assortment of side characters while the story slowly erodes their best efforts. Recommended for fans of the players but don't expect the usual satisfying romcom fare. Expect a Palm Pilot commercial instead. (C+)