It's nice that romantic comedies are finally getting the message that sometimes women have other goals than just meeting "the one" and getting married so that they can settle down. But after watching the trailer for the Kate Hudson/Gael García Bernal cancer love story A Little Bit of Heaven, I have one more modest request for the genre. Could we please get a movie that's actually good? Or even a little bit good?
In a nutshell: Kate Hudson cares only about her career and does not believe in love. Cue cliche' upbeat pop music. Then she finds out that she has cancer. Stop pop music. Cue cliche' downbeat music. Finally, she starts to fall for her doctor, Bernal (who became more proficient with English for this?), and begins a new phase of life where love matters more than everything else. Cue cliche' empowering pop music, which hopefully implies that love can triumph over cancer.
Look, I honestly don't have a problem with broad romantic comedies in principle, but is asking even a small amount of wit or sincerity too much? This trailer doesn't suggest either of the two. And isn't this plot a lot like the one for Love and Other Drugs? That movie might not have totally worked, but I'm betting it at least had more sex than this one will.
Verdict: Pass.