Pipe Dream

It's so weird to see Martin Donovan in a totally ordinary, generic romantic comedy, but here it is. The premise is almost ludicrous enough that you can maybe picture a classic Hollywood auteur like Sturges or Wilder doing something fun with it, but sadly nothing about this is nearly that inspired.

Donovan & Parker (whose dark-eyed stare is esp. attractive here) have great chemistry playing prickly & somewhat bitter (& therefore more plausible) leads than those seen in most modern rom-coms. There's a particularly great scene involving the 2 of them talking over headsets yards from each other that works better than anything u've seen in a rom-com in years. That's not the only difference. The humor here never feels forced, but a natural outgrowth of situation, dialogue and character.