Loveless Letters

On deadline to churn out an article about relationships, women's magazine writer Kate Wells (Famke Janssen) reviews the history of her many doomed affairs, particularly her recently ended romance with artist Adam Levy (Jon Favreau). Filmmaker Valerie Breiman is a former actress who moved behind the camera with fare such as Going Overboard (1989) and Bikini Squad (1993). Love & Sex, her first writing credit, apparently is her shot at turning “serious,” a sensitive comedy in the Annie Hall vein. Unfortunately the sensitivity can be oppressive (the acoustic-guitar soundtrack and voice-over narration get things off to a bad start) and the jokes aren't all that funny. The characters are supposed to be vaguely charming, but Favreau, playing a slightly different pathetic schmuck than he essayed in Swingers, is mostly annoying; it's hard to believe that gorgeous Janssen couldn't dig up anyone more appealing than him or the other bozos she tells us about in the course of the film. Beyond that there's nothing grossly wrong here, but neither is there any great claim on your time and attention.