Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jessica Biel, James Marsden, Catherine Keener
Accidental Love
Director: David O. Russell
Rating: 1/5
David O.Russell is one of the most exciting director's around and sort of returns to the director's chair this week. Accidental Love was shot back in 2008, but O.Russell has since taken his name off the film - however, it has still hit the big screen.
Accidental Love follows Alice Eckle (Biel), a somewhat naïve roller-skating waitress in a small Indiana town, who is about to get engaged to her trooper boyfriend, Scott (Marsden). At the fancy Gondola restaurant when Alice has an engagement ring on her finger, a clumsy workman accidentally shoots her in the head with a nail gun. Seconds before the nail is removed the surgeons are forced to abandon the operation due to Alice's lack of health insurance, leaving the nail lodged in her head and causing strange erratic behaviour.
Her fiancé, Trooper Scott, then has a change of heart on their marriage, feeling the nail embedded in his wife-to-be's head will cause more trouble than it's worth. Alice then heads to Washington D.C. to meet the charming but rather clueless Congressman Howard Birdwell (Gyllenhaal) who has vowed 'to help all the people'. So Alice ventures to Washington D.C. to petition for his introducing a health care bill. When the two meet sparks fly, and they realise that their love could interfere with what they stand for.
There is no nice way to put this... Accidental Love really is a bit of a mess and you get the impression that O.Russell didn't really know what he was trying to achieve when making this film.
What could have been an interesting and humours social commentary about the U.S. health system, has been turned into a slapstick comedy that doesn't really go anywhere.
Sadly, the film has been patched together over the years, and perhaps is one that should have been left on the shelf rather than hitting the big screen.
It is always sad when you see great acting talent going to waste. We already know that Gyllenhaal does have a witty and comedic flare, but he is never really given anything to get his teeth into.
Similarly, Jessica Biel's role is flimsy and two-dimensional and doesn't allow the actress to show off just how good she it.
What could have been a really witty movie is flat, unfunny, and packed with totally unnecessary sexual innuendo that serves no purpose whatsoever. It is totally charmless and really is an awful watch.
A great cast do the best with what they have, but even the acting chops of Jake Gyllenhaal, Jessica Biel, James Marsden, and Catherine Keener are not enough to save this.
Accidental Love is released through Arrow Films in cinemas now.