Committed

Committed is the new film by Lisa Krueger, maker of Manny and Lo. It is also the first chance for Heather Graham (Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Bowfinger) to headline and carry a film. Does she carry the film? Kind of. Committed tries to be a quirky comedy, but the end result is somewhat boring and dull, just one promising joke taken too far. The only reason a person would probably want to see this film is because of Graham, who plays Jolene. Jolene is a woman of her word. When she gives a promise, she keeps it, no matter how small.

Jolene's husband Carl (Luke Wilson, My Dog Skip, Dog Park) is having problems, and decides to leave Jolene. Of course, Jolene wishes to work things out. Her marriage vows are the most important promise she ever kept, and she will do everything she can to make her marriage last. She goes as far as to track Carl down to Texas, and instead of confronting him, she begins to watch out for him like a guardian angel. The character of Jolene is so naive and altruistic that she is only a caricature. Graham pulls it off for a while, though. Her huge eyes radiate an innocence she has used in characters before, regardless of whether the character actually is that way. Jolene goes as far as protecting Carl from harm and befriending Carmen, the woman he is seeing (Patricia Velazquez, The Mummy). Carmen breaks up with Carl and becomes good friends with Jolene.

The premise quickly runs out of steam and becomes tiresome. Jolene has this unwavering idea of what she needs to do to get Carl back and she cannot bring the audience with her. She is continually smiling and always willing to help people in distress. All of the characters are hollow, including Jolene's brother Jay (Casey Affleck, Desert Blue, Drowning Mona) and Neil (Goran Visnjic, Rounders, NBC's ER), an amorous artist Jolene meets. Visnjic's character is not necessary for the plot, while Affleck looks and speaks amazingly like his brother, Ben. Wilson also has an "aw shucks" quality that does not serve him well here, as his Carl is written off as a near jerk. Only small touches of humor light up the screen, like Carl wanting to be a photojournalist, but he keeps assignments dealing with food. Everything else ends up as odd, especially Jolene's method of tracking down Carl, which seems far-fetched even within the bounds of the movie.

Mongoose Rates It: Not That Good.
1 hour, 38 minutes, Rated R for language.

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