Love at First Glance

Mary (Amy Smart) has been with her boyfriend Carl for six years and works on a newspaper called the Bugle. As she tells it to a pal, Carl wants to talk to her about "something special" at dinner and speculates its a proposal. Unhappily, he DUMPS HER. In his words, life with her is boring, down to the cheese ravioli she always orders at this particular restaurant. He wants excitement and he is starting with a red convertible and the chance to chase women. Mary is stunned but, on the subway home, she makes eye contact with a handsome stranger (Adrian Grenier). They smile and sigh. By happenstance, this man, James, leaves his tablet on the train car and Mary ends up taking it home, as the best chance to return it. Not only this, Mary is assigned to work up a Valentine story for her boss and is ALSO writing a story on photographer James to land a cushier job at a higher profile paper. To do this, she will interview a list of James' friends, as found on his tablet, and see HIM AS OTHERS SEE HIM. From his waitress pal who turned her life around with James help to the sky diving instructor who gives Mary a piece of the action James' enjoys, a clear picture of James as the ultimate good guy emerges. Mary is falling in love with him from afar. But, whoa! With all her new adventures and habits, Carl, who lives in her building, may want her back! This lovely, darling movie has two great stars in Smart and Grenier, who appears in many flashbacks and interesting siturations. They alone are enough to keep the movie interesting. In addition, other cast members, scenery, costumes, script and direction merit applause. As romcoms go, LAFG is near the top of the heap.