Must Love Zhivago

While on vacation this week, I got to watch Must Love Dogs. I saw the previews way back when and thought it looked like a cute and forgettable romantic comedy. There was no reason given that I should take time out of my life to expect much of anything out of it. Except of course, that it stars John Cusack. When I grow up, I want to be him. And so, when my wife got the DVD for Christmas, I was happy to pop it in as soon as possible and give it a view.

It had its moments where it rose above the standard fare, but mostly it just felt like a cheap made-for-TV movie. That said, Diane Lane has a new fan in me, Stockard Channing had some pretty good lines for a typically minor role, and Christopher Plummer, as Diane Lane's widowed and dating father, was a wonderful presence on screen.

And Cusack was his ever reliable engaging self. Divorced, pensive, and always yearning for the perfect love, his Jake was just an older version of that same kid from Say Anything, holding a boombox over his head and blasting Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" as a modern day serenade to the beautiful girl in the window.

Jake is that special sort of guy who seems to think that taking a girl to see Dr. Zhivago on a first date is a good idea. He's a man of philosophy and intense conversations. I'd like to hang out with him. But I'd give him some dating advice. It's a bit much to ask someone to consider Dr. Zhivago the perfect first date. He should take his dates to see John Cusack movies instead.

At least that's what I'd do.