Directing a film after 13 years, Peter Bogdanovich gets many big names to drop in for largely walk-on roles. This movie is funny that way. For, rustling this half-hearted effort together into some kind of a story on the strength of his reputation may be the only thing Bogdanovich has got right. Wilson is repetitive and tiresome, Poots grossly inadequate, Hahn again underused, Ifans perhaps himself surprised at being seen as a hearthrob of sorts, the dialogues flat and the punch-lines absent. A screwball comedy about a philandering Broadway director-husband, a talented wife and her star ex-lover, a Brooklyn call girl, and a shrink, that steps on so few toes! Bogdanovich pays the price for trying to project niceness upon all his characters despite their obvious, obvious wrongs. Since the film is not funny enough to dismiss them as amusing quirks such as in a Woody Allen, that stands out like a sore thumb. The only two actors who impress here are the two who won't be nice. The first is Aniston, superb as a shrink with anger issues who can't help contain her disapproval of her unstable clients. She is stretched, tense, abusive and impolite - and looks all of it. The second is Lucy Punch in an absolute gem of a cameo as a East European hooker with limited English who arrives to mess up an already messy threesome. The premise is that Wilson, as the Broadway director who sleeps around, lures in escorts/call girls by giving them $30,000 each to change their lives. Yes, that is a lot of money. "Squirrels to nuts" - Wilson likes to call it. No, it's not what you are thinking. It's not funny that way. Star Cast: Owen Wilson, Imogen Poots, Jennifer Aniston, Kathryn Hahn, Rhys Ifans Director: Peter Bogdanovich
