paul schneider can salvage anything.






anything.

and by salvage i mean i watched it the whole way through and sincerely laughed-and not at how ridiculous it was.

look, here is my beef with most movies i end up not liking. they are filled with characters that i don't care about AT ALL. if there is nothing to a character, i'm not going to be involved in the story, no matter how good it may be. in my opinion, that's why so many horror films fail...too much effort is put into special effects, and plot "twists" (which seem to be getting lamer all the time), but no character development. so i don't care if they get kidnapped or tortured or killed; quite honestly, most characters in horror films are so poorly developed and obnoxious that i'm relieved when they are killed and kind of pissed when they survive. i have never written a screenplay or done any real acting, so i guess i can't say that it is easy to create good characters, but i feel that there could at least be a bit more effort put into that aspect of the writing and development of films.

and i really do feel like the writing is to blame, not the actors. reason being nicolas cage, adam sandler, and jim carrey- actors who i didn't take seriously until i saw adaptation, punch-drunk love, and eternal sunshine of the spotless mind (ok, i also thought jim carrey was good in man on the moon.) they all did fantastic jobs in those films, but most of their other work involves them playing a character which is the same in every film. it can be entertaining, but not what i would classify as good acting. which is why i'm not really into see films for the actors in them anymore. there's certainly actors i like, but it seems completely obvious that most actors are only as good as the scripts they are given. if you need proof, check out owen wilson in the minus man. wow. i really enjoy owen wilson, but that was painful to watch. i will cut him a break since it was one of his first films.

having said all that, if how to lose your lover was anything, it was proof that paul schneider is in a very elite group of actors, in my mind anyway, who have the charm and comedic ability to make the moments they are on screen pure enjoyment, even in the midst of bad writing.

and believe me, htlyl was bad...