Film Review: ''Someone like you''

MEN ARE unfaithful, polygamous and completely unreliable! That's what the protagonist of 20th Century Fox's ``Someone Like You'' thinks when she is unceremoniously dumped by the guy she loves. She discovers the tough way that romance, the soul mate stuff and perfect relationship are temporary and not part of the real world.

She discovers more. She finds that this polygamous nature is not unique to man. Even animals, especially bulls, do not like to mate the same cow. They need new ones constantly and so the film takes a very light look at the constant comparisons of bull behavior with the human male behavior. Very funny at times but beneath all that good-natured ribbing and cynical opinion lies a truly broken hearted woman trying to come to terms with a finished relationship. It's sad, touching and on occasions amusing.

Jane Goodale (Ashley Judd) is a young woman in New York determined to succeed professionally as a talent broker for a popular talk show. If she assumes that she has met the man of her dreams in the handsome new producer, Ray Brown (Greg Kinnear), she's got to learn. Hasn't she?

He woos her with words, passion and promises and she is on cloud nine - but then he suddenly cools off without a reasonable excuse and her world comes crashing down leaving her rudderless. So she tries to get back on her feet trying to explain the heartbreak using the model of animal behavior particularly male behaviour. She conditions her mind to protect her heart so that she does not have to feel like that ever again.

She comes upon an article in the New York Times about bovine male behaviour that says that once a bull has mated with a cow he will not go back to her a second time. And Jane feels ``Wait, that's just like the guys.'' And one person who exemplifies her new found theory is her co-worker, Eddie Alden (Hugh Jackman), who appears to be a womaniser, is not sentimental about romance. She finds a home and inspiration in the most unlikely of places - Eddie who offers her a place in his apartment and unknowingly becomes the male animal to research. But how that turns out is for the viewer to find out.

Directed by Tony Goldwyn, the film also has Marisa Tomei as Jane's best friend who eggs her on to write a column on her recent theory which unwittingly makes her one of the most talked about women in television circles. Screenplay by Elizabeth Chandler is based upon the novel, ``Animal Husbandry,'' by Laura Zigman. Its very wry humor and some of the lines are indeed gently rib tickling.

CHITRA MAHESH

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