He Said She Said

Directed by Ken Kwapis and Marisa Silver, He Said She Said charts the romantic and professional exploits of dueling reporters (Kevin Bacon’s Dan Hanson and Elizabeth Perkins’ Lorie Bryer) – with the twist being that the first half is directed by Kwapis and the second half by Silver. It’s an intriguing gimmick that’s predominantly employed to entirely lackluster and underwhelming effect by Kwapis and Silver, as the filmmakers, working from a script by Brian Hohlfeld, deliver a meandering (and egregiously deliberate) endeavor that’s never quite able to make its emphasis on the protagonists’ varying perspectives entirely work – with the movie rife with repetitive sequences that inexplicably unfold differently depending on which filmmaker is behind the camera. There is, as such, never a point at which one is able to work up any real interest in or enthusiasm for the central characters’ on-again-off-again coupling, and it’s worth noting, as well, that the myriad of familiar faces within the supporting cast, including Nathan Lane, Anthony LaPaglia, and Sharon Stone, remain entirely unable to make much of a positive impact along the movie’s margins. The end result is an oddly ineffective romcom that squanders the personable efforts of its two stars, with the silliness of the central conceit ultimately rendering He Said She Said‘s very few positive attributes hopelessly moot.

** out of ****