At this point, Hollywood has to be getting tired of dressing up this story in different duds. Another emotional and sexual awakening tale for a stuffy, bookish woman (Kate Beckinsale) and her too-serious beau (Christian Bale, fittingly), every last plot development for this film is easily guessed as soon as the major characters are introduced. Beckinsale plays an uptight woman named Alex who’s essentially a fuddy-duddy (you can tell because she wears glasses and talks about her dissertation on genomics). She’s engaged to Sam (Bale) but becomes seduced by the power of music and inviting nature of fun when they move into Sam’s mother’s place in, of course, Laurel Canyon. Sam’s mother, Jane (Frances McDormand) is a sort of rebellious screenplay creation, a sassy, pot-smoking record producer who’s romancing her lead singer as they put the finishing touches on their latest CD and is just likable enough to be able to goad Alex out of her hang-ups. Hookups are hinted at and then happen, new relationships build and fall apart, but the only thing of any interest actually occurring is the strained mother-son connection between Sam and Jane (thanks largely to its two actors instilling something deeper there than is actually written). Seeing Sam’s refusal to give in to his mother’s lifestyle as a rebellion against her and all she represents, Bale and McDormand find an interesting storyline worth examining… too bad it’s buried under the typical Hollywood hokum.
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