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Two out of Five stars
Running time: 104 mins

Rachel Bilson and a fine supporting cast keep this watchable but for the most part it's smug, irritating and emotionally unconvincing thanks to Braff and Barrett's abysmal performances.

What's it all about?
Boo hoo. Poor thirty-something Michael (Zach Braff) can't commit to his supposedly perfect long-term girlfriend Jenna (Jacinda Barrett), even when she announces she's pregnant, so when attractive college student Kim (The OC's Rachel Bilson) catches his eye, he's sorely tempted to stray.

Meanwhile, Michael's three best friends (Casey Affleck, Michael Weston and Eric Christian Olsen) all have relationship issues of their own to worry about and Jenna's parents (Blythe Danner and Tom Wilkinson) are on the verge of splitting up.

The Good
Fortunately there's a strong supporting cast: Wilkinson and Danner give performances that are far better than the movie deserves and there's typically great work from Casey Affleck (if there's a distributor reading this, please release Affleck's Lonesome Jim – it's far better than this rubbish). However, the acting honours are stolen by Rachel Bilson, who has genuine star quality and is easily the best thing in the film.

The Bad
Directed by actor-director Tony Goldwyn and written by Crash man Paul Haggis, this is an extremely disappointing remake that lacks the humour and warmth of the original Italian movie. In addition, the supposedly emotional scenes are completely unconvincing so it's left to Coldplay tunes on the soundtrack to try and compensate.

Braff's gormless, blank-faced acting worked in Garden State because his character was depressed and withdrawn, but here it only serves to render him smug, punchable and utterly unsympathetic. Barrett is shockingly bad and there's zero chemistry between them so it's impossible to see what they saw in each other in the first place, let alone root for them to stay together.

Worth seeing?
This is only worth seeing for Rachel Bilson and the supporting cast. Rent the original Italian movie instead.