Kal Penn in ‘A Lot Like Love’

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I’m almost embarrassed to admit I saw an advance screening of A Lot Like Love, a new Ashton Kutcher – Amanda Peet romantic comedy opening tomorrow. It was far better than most Kutcher flicks. (In the spirit of full disclosure, I missed a good chunk of the beginning because, ahem, previews don’t start two hours late like red-carpet premieres where the desi lead fails to turn up.)

Presumably I got the pass, which came via a desi arts list, because a desi plays a main character. Kal Penn plays Jeeter, Ashton Kutcher’s dot-com coworker in avant-garde lenses, and does a great job: he’s charismatic and fluent, drives a hot car, picks up cute women and offers Kutcher tips. It’s as if the Van Wilder roles had been reversed, and indeed this would’ve been a much better movie with Penn in the lead.

The story resembles Boys and Girls, a wooden Freddie Prinze Jr. – Claire Forlani collaboration which, like Golden Gate, I liked mainly for its Berkeley backdrop. Kutcher plays Ollie, a dot-com type who’s inarticulate, obsessed with work and toys with his female fling like a yo-yo. You can never truly suspend disbelief with these movies because, hello, Peet and Forlani are gorgeous.

The script was written with diversity in mind: a major deaf character is played unremarkably, there’s a black priest, the movie uses the ‘burbs rather than New York. And it’s even kind to those in persistent vegetative states. Dumping on Ashton Kutcher’s thespian handicaps is all too easy, so I’ll just say this: Kutcher is the true heir to the Terry Schiavo school of acting. Kutcher makes Keanu Reeves look like Ben Kingsley. Kutcher alternates between two expressions, blank and blank. Kutcher speaks in two tones, dumb and stammering. Kutcher is the latest in a long line of brainless, cardboard male leads such as Dermot Mulroney in, oh, just about everything. Kutcher’s acting never rose above That ’70s Show, and that goes for Topher Grace too. Ok, I’ll stop now.

Kutcher tells a sophomoric joke in the middle of the movie while sitting in a graveyard. The joke involves burying a goldfish. It’s such a stupid joke, it felt like the screenwriter was purposely making fun of his lead, because that’s about the level of complexity which this guy can handle. Ok, I’m really stopping now.

In contrast, Peet, who usually plays the beautiful shrew, actually does a decent job as the long-suffering love interest. The cinematography is surprisingly beautiful, the music is wailing alt-rock sadness, the concept is decent as a light comedy. The whole movie is just a miscarriage of casting.

Watch the trailer if you want, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

25 thoughts on “Kal Penn in ‘A Lot Like Love’”

  2. Kutcher makes Keanu Reeves look like Ben Kingsley.

    Manish, did you see the NY Times review of The House of D? Because, you could easily be mistaken for the author!

    I had free tickets to see this through our local Netip, but I refused on the basis that they did not have the sense to put Kal Penn in any of the trailers or adverts for the film. And I am not suffering through Ashton Kutcher for a film that features Penn for five minutes.

  5. Even more fitting, because the title is:

    Dude, Where’s the party, yaar?

    Oh the twisted puns in this one.

  6. I totally rented Boys and Girls just so I could watch the Berkeley bits when I was homesick. I was hoping it wouldn’t be awful because She’s All That was kind of nice and sweet. Ah well.

  7. Abhi, I think this movie may be easier to stomach, with your scathing assessment of Kutcher echoing in my mind, as I watch.

  8. oops, sorry Manish– credit to you for the scathe. (just read too many posts without enough coffee)

    FRIDAY!

  10. Also, Rediff digs Kal.

    One particularly telling incident he relates:

    As the audience laughed and Leno looked shocked, Penn narrated a tale of a casting agent who had asked him why he was not wearing a turban. “Are you serious?” Leno asked, as Penn continued to narrate what appeared to be his ultimate stereotype audition experience. Today, Penn stands by his story. “That was true,” says Penn, 28. “It was the first audition I went on in Los Angeles for a commercial. I walked into the audition and the casting director said ‘Where’s your turban?’ I said, ‘I don’t wear a turban; I am not a Sikh.’ I started to explain the difference but she got very upset and said, ‘Well, can you go home and put on a bed sheet or something?’ “It is a true story. It was ridiculous, which is why I like telling it.”

    Man, Hollywood sucks. But good for him he’s finally getting the roles he deserves.

  12. I started to explain the difference but she got very upset and said, ‘Well, can you go home and put on a bed sheet or something?’

    “It is a true story. It was ridiculous, which is why I like telling it.”

    Man, I love america, but that kind of thing is hilarious, and I dont want to sound smug, but that kind of shit and level of ignorance could never happen in England.

    I think Kal Penn is a grade A cool dude though. He is the coolest Indian dude to come out of America. You have a lot of catching up to do until you have as many cool Indian dudes as England does. But you’re getting there, Kal Penn is a geezer.

  15. ads

    Never heard of that guy, but he certainly looks cool.

    I will have to run it past the Cool Commitee of Indian Cool Dudes UK, of which I am an associate member. I will let you know what the certifying body for Cool Dudes of Indian Origin says.

  17. Also, is anyone in mainstream America going to even know/realize KP is Indian in this new movie (unless it is explicity stated)? To them he’s just some random brown dude; they’ll probably think he’s Mexican.

  18. I don’t think any good thing KP does now can make up for Van Wilder (barf).

    The Taj Mahal Badalandabad thing is pretty bad, but he totally steals the scene where he interviews for Van Wilder’s assistant. It’s hilarious.

    … is anyone in mainstream America going to even know/realize KP is Indian in this new movie (unless it is explicitly stated)?

    Lessee… a smart brown guy wearing glasses, working at a dot com in San Francisco. Nope, probably not.

    I’m guessing ‘Jeeter’ is supposed to be a nickname for ‘Jeet.’

  19. Kutcher’s acting never rose above That ’70s Show, and that goes for Topher Grace too.

    Pah. I suppose you never saw Traffic? and Topher whatsisname’s actually mesmerising turn as spolit brat who introduces Erika Christensen to heroin?

  20. You have a lot of catching up to do until you have as many cool Indian dudes as England does. But you’re getting there, Kal Penn is a geezer.

    Yaar Punjabi, I regret to inform you that the british empire has ceased to exist. Being a celebrity in england does not count for anything, being a cool indian dude in england matters and counts even less. So, unless england becomes the 51st state, Indians in the US rock ;-)!!

  23. Punjabi Boy wrote: “I dont want to sound smug, but that kind of shit and level of ignorance could never happen in England.”

    Weren’t you getting your knickers in a twist recently over the use of the word “Paki” in the UK, and how it’s still used as a term of abuse by whites? If Brits are so evolved as to never confuse a Sikh with a Hindu, why would some still be using “Paki” to label all brown-skinned people? And why are the Metropolitan Police openly saying they’re stopping random dudes in turbans as part of their anti-terrorism work?

    I’m just saying don’t be too smug, all my South Asian-American friends say that they experience much higher levels of racism in the UK than in the U.S. When I brought my British Asian boyfriend to NYC recently, he said he felt comfortable for the first time in his life, like people weren’t judging him walking down the street. He spoke to our brown American friends about it, and their opinion was that Americans aren’t as prejudiced against South Asians because most who immigrated there in the ’60s and ’70s were insanely highly educated, whereas the UK got a lot of the lower classes, if you will. More British Asians live in poverty than American Asians, so it’s probably easier to get the UK working class riled up about Pakis stealing jobs and Bengali rude bwoys terrorizing council estates and all that. So, as an American, I could feel just as smug, you know? Both cultures have their problems and benefits, that’s all I’m saying.

  24. From what I know in the UK brit asians are a legit minority group, in that they’re like a visible minority of the people. so there’s bound to be more scrutiny no? Over here….we’re usually interesting….or whatever. over there….they’re a part of the actual life of the country, from what i gather…I always hoped the UK was a pretty cool place to be “asian”…maybe its not?

  25. There seems to be more scrutiny of desis in the UK, both good and bad. So for instance, bhangra music is known and enjoyed on a mainstream level, and apparently samosas are the biggest thing since sliced bread. These things certainly aren’t the case in the US.