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'A Lot Like Love': chemistry makes all the difference

OK, now I get it!

I have spent the last several years wondering what movie and TV audiences, magazine readers and swooning moony girls got about That '70s Show studboy Ashton Kutcher that had continued to elude me.

All right, so he's moderately cute and has gotten way more mileage out of his daft pretty boy shtick as That '70s Show's Kelso than he should have.

Touchstsone Pictures 'A Lot Like Love' Director: Nigel Cole Starring: Amanda Peet, Ashton Kutcher Run time: 107 minutes Release date: April 22, 2005 Rating: PG-13 for sexual content, nudity and language. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime [an error occurred while processing this directive]

But Kutcher's Kelso doesn't tread any comic ground that the similarly daft prettyboy Vinnie Barbarino didn't go over, like, 30 years ago. And I've always found that his smug, middle-school prank-o-rama Punked! seemed like a really good way to get banged in the eye by one of his less-than-amused celebrity marks ("So, Whitney Houston, your car wasn't really jacked by renegade Mary Kay ladies ... Oww, man!")

So my usual response to the phrase "brand-new Ashton Kutcher movie" has always been "Lord, do I have to?" The answer, at least in the case of the romantic comedy A Lot Like Love, costarring the always fabulous Amanda Peet, was "Yes."

But I'm glad I had to see it, because I wound up not only genuinely enjoying the movie, but finally understanding all the hubbub about our little Ashton. With the right script (by Colin Patrick Lynch), decent direction (by Nigel Cole) and a role that requires him to be an adult and not rely on his cutey-cute man-boy tendencies, he's charming, likable and says more in a silent, longing look than in a million stoner quick takes.

It also helps that Kutcher has such yummy chemistry with the aforementioned Peet, much more than he had with ex-girlfriend (!) Brittany Murphy in Just Married, which made me want to bang somebody in the eye.

In a sort of When Harry Met Sally — The WB Edition scenario, Emily (Peet) and Oliver (Kutcher) meet and spark several times over a seven-year period, and while it seems obvious that they're meant for each other, time, space, stupidity and inappropriate love interests get in the way.

One of the big differences between When Harry Met Sally and A Lot Like Love is that while the first movie's couple take years to even admit a romantic attraction and don't have sex until years into their relationship, Oliver and Emily get that little formality out of the way in the bathroom of the plane that's taking them both to New York, before they've even said a word to each other.

Harder-edged, Goth-ish Emily, who has just broken up with her awful musician boyfriend, means this to be a quick, anonymous encounter, but the more schmaltzy Oliver, who has spotted her before boarding the plane, wants to keep talking. Emily's not interested, but wouldn't you know it? They wind up running into each other randomly, and spend a magical, mystical day together, being cute and schmoopy.

Emily and Oliver's accidental reunion isn't a surprise, but the easy, wordless way Peet and Kutcher play this obviously fated connection — smiling warily but warmly at each other, walking in silence when neither can think up a snappy phrase that won't sound desperate — is.

It's also no shockeroo that the two will part ways, only to reunite two years later, when each is in a different emotional and financial place, but with their chemistry intact. Still, Peet and Kutcher do a bang-up job of playing that weird, nameless emotion that's somewhere between giddiness, nervousness, trepidation and I-wanna-kiss-you-so-bad.

Meanwhile, the movie around them is full of elements that seem stolen lock, stock and Harry Connick Jr. soundtrack from When Harry Met Sally — a chorus of wise friends/second bananas, exes that just won't disappear off the face of the earth like they're supposed to and even a momentous New Year's Eve party. There's a particularly reprehensible ex (the cute, aloof-looking Gabriel Mann) whose presence just screams "Wrong for you, girl! Runnnnn!"

But in the midst of all this predictable ya-ya, there's one element in A Lot Like Love that elevates it head and chiseled shoulders over most romantic comedies — and that's romance and comedy. The jokey bits, even the ones given away by the stupid trailer, are actually funny. And Peet and Kutcher spark, with coy looks and sweet silences. Also, they look like a couple that would be drawn to each other, rather than assembled by focus groups and casting agents, like, say Kate Hudson and John Corbett in Raising Helen.

Peet's always the best thing in so-so comedies (The Whole Nine Yards) and a welcome light in better ones (Something's Gotta Give). But it's Kutcher that's the key here. His Oliver has to grow from a cocky-goofy romantic 23-year-old, to a brash entrepreneurial 24-year-old, to a humbled but still hopeful 30-year-old. And — shocker! — he pulls it off. His model face has become so much more interesting as he ages, and his delivery goes above and beyond his usual "Dude!" Kutcher finally connects as something more than a mildly amusing pretty boy — he comes off as a handsome man.

And I liked it. And I hope he keeps it up.

The Flick Chick's Bottom Line: OK, so I get Ashton Kutcher. So would somebody explain Paris Hilton, now?