I like how a genre of movies that might maybe appeal to women is always treated and reviewed like a second-class citizen. Would anyone say "Lincoln is just a well done biopic / political drama. Nothing more, nothing less."? or "Zero Dark Thirty is a well-done war movie*. Nothing more, nothing less."
What did you think of Oscar Nominee Jennifer Lawrence's performance?
*this statement is also kind of contentious since ZDT isn't really a war movie, but that's a separate issue
Oh come on. I would say the same damn thing about any other genre film if I felt like it was more interested in hitting every beat needed to be classified as part of that certain genre rather than tell an interesting story.
SLP did one thing right: It wrote compelling enough characters and had strong enough actors that it didn't feel like another boring entry into a over-tired genre. But thats it.
If you have seen one rom-com you already know the story here. Which is fine. Thats the same thing with lots of other genre films (sci-fi, buddy cop, etc) and I would be just as hard as them.
Lawrence was good. Everyone was good in it. The most impressive part about it was the acting. The least impressive part was the bland story that we have seen a million times and it still isn't that interesting even with really good actors, because we never feel like there are any real stakes for anyone.
Oh, they miscommunicated! Will they still get together?
Oh the Dad lost money, will he still achieve his dream?
Oh, these two folks appear to have some very serious depression and mental illnesses, will they end up just being kind of cute and quirky instead of people really struggling?
The answer to all of those is exactly what you expect. Which is usually pretty boring. In this case it was better than it sounds because the actors elevated the bland script.