Someone Like You (PG-13, 2001)

Ashley Judd plays Jane Goodale, a booker for a television talk show hosted by Diane (Ellen Barkin). Ambitious Diane tells Jane that what she wants on her show is "the un-get-able get" -- the elusive guest that everyone wants but no one has. Meanwhile, Jane is looking for a "get" of her own, a man who will love her as much as she loves him. But that seems really un-get-able. If she isn't looking for love in all the wrong places, she is certainly looking in most of them. Through her experiences, Jane decides that men are genetically determined to act like bulls that refuse to service a cow a second time. Men are always looking for the "new cow." When Jane writes a magazine column about her theory, under a pseudonym, suddenly, everyone is talking about it and everyone, especially Diane, wants to interview the author.

Animal Husbandry, a wry and witty book about a single woman's efforts to understand men, has become SOMEONE LIKE YOU, a generic looking-for-love-in-all-the-wrong-places romance with plot twists that were tired back in the days of Sandra Dee and Bobby Darrin. If you have ever seen or even heard about any movie ever made, you know where the story leads.

So the only question is how much fun it is on the way to the happy ending, and the answer is: mildly. Judd, who once adds more heart and star power to a movie than it deserves, delivers everything she can, and she makes Jane's yearning to love as well as to be loved very poignant. Hugh Jackman, out of his Wolverine X-Men outfit, turns out to clean up very nicely indeed, and makes a likable leading man. The dialogue is above average, and director Tony Goldwyn has some good ideas, but the plot twists are below average. This is especially clear in the last 15 minutes, which seem like a desperate attempt to think of any way to end it, and just don't work at all.