ROMANTIC COMEDY; 1hr 40min
STARRING: Kevin James, Nicole Grimaudo, Alyson Hannigan, Kim Coates, Jonathan Roumie, Julee Cerda
Do I? James
Could any man be more blindsided than he who has been left at the altar? Primary-school art teacher Matt Taylor (King of Queens’ James) is that boundlessly endearing case in point, all alone in a heavenly church in Rome after his fiancée, Heather (Julie Ann Emery), comes down at the last minute with a case of stone-cold feet.
According to her post-altar text, Heather is in urgent need of the space it’s a crying shame she hadn’t thought to mention before the booking of church, hotel and honeymoon tour group (shudder). A last-minute cancellation obviously being off the table, Matt forges glumly ahead, peddling alone to the Trevi Fountain on a bicycle built for two while surrounded by coupled-up contenders (Coates, Hannigan, Roumie and Cerda) for his spanking new support group — whether he’s up for one or not.
“I’m too old to do this,” the would-be groom laments, while tying one on in a bar. Which in fact couldn’t be further from the truth: this recalibration of selfhood barely dips a toe into the blues before panning out as a scenic comfort zone, courtesy of director brothers Chuck and Dan Kinnane (with a screenplay co-written by James and fellow Kinnane brothers John and Patrick). With her effortless savvy and mile-wide smile, cafe owner Gia (Grimaudo) is about to step right up as the antidote to heartache Matt didn’t know he needed. Toss in a trip to the Tuscan countryside, a bouncy soundtrack to round it out and a bonus appearance by a certain iconic tenor, and it’s a safe bet that any obligatory bumps in the road will be smooth as silk by the rosy closing credits.
