2/5
(PG) US. Hugh Grant, Sarah Jessica Parker, Mary Steenburgen
City slickers find themselves marooned in Hicksville USA in this ultra-mild ‘fish-out-of-water’ comedy. The Morgans are ‘boutique’ estate agent Meryl (Parker) and swanky expat English lawyer Paul (Grant) and their marriage is in trouble – fertility issues, infidelity (his) and so on. However, as plot contrivance would have it, on their night out to patch things up they see one of her wealthy clients being bumped off and soon, to protect them from the killer at large, they find themselves spirited away to darkest Wyoming.
We’re supposed to care whether they do actually remain together, but there are distractions, like why Grant, who hustles awfully hard with material you’d hardly call fluff, keeps working with writer-director Marc Lawrence – he who brought us Two Weeks’ Notice and Music & Lyrics, the celluloid equivalent of microwaveable ready meals.
Rootin’, tootin’ cowboy folk Sam Elliott and Mary Steenburgen add some down home charm, but from the moment we see posters warning of grizzly attacks in the area, a rampaging bear can’t arrive soon enough.
