Ashley Judd stars as Jane Goodale, a guest wrangler for Diane Roberts (Ellen Barkin), an ambitious daytime talk show host. The thirtyish Jane, like many a savvy young career woman -- not to mention the rest of the human race -- is baffled by her inability to develop a permanent romantic relationship. Her nonwork time primarily is spent comparing notes with her similarly frustrated best friend, Liz (Marisa Tomei).
During a whirlwind courtship with new co-worker Ray (Greg Kinnear), Jane gives up her apartment so they can move in together. When Ray, like all his predecessors, suddenly gets cold feet, Jane is forced by circumstance to become roommates with Eddie (Hugh Jackman), the most notorious fuck-'em-and-shuck-'em womanizer in the office.
While watching a TV documentary, Jane suddenly realizes that the problem is biological: Human relationships are as determined by Darwinism and chemistry as animal relationships are. So compelling do her arguments become that Liz, who works at a major men's magazine, hires her to pour them into a monthly column. The embarrassed Jane insists on a pseudonym, so the friends contrive the persona of Dr. Marie Charles, the alleged 65-year-old founder of the Vienna Institute of Pathological Narcissism. It doesn't take much to predict where all this is headed. Dr. Charles becomes fabulously popular, putting all sorts of pressure on Jane, and the putatively feminist heroine finds herself growing increasingly close to her macho-pig roommate.
Someone Like You is adapted from Laura Zigman's 1998 novel Animal Husbandry, which achieved some kind of literary reputation. Whatever qualities the original might have are not particularly evident onscreen.
The premise is especially weak: The world drops to its knees in admiration over the revelation that human relations are comparable to the animal world? Huh? The word bitch migrated over from the canine kingdom a long, long time ago; animal metaphors for courting behavior are so commonplace we barely notice them. Yet in the universe of Someone Like You, Jane's rather pedestrian observations are taken as dazzlingly original. Where have these people been?
Actually given that in the real world equally banal psychobabble from the likes of John Gray and Barbara De Angelis have attracted large fan bases, maybe this hook isn't quite so unbelievable. But that doesn't make it any less lame. Clearly we're supposed to be equally impressed with the brilliance of her analysis, even though the film eventually disowns it in a final big speech scene that is a flat, lifeless clone of Tootsie's climax.
Judd has a tremendously likeable screen presence. She almost generates enough goodwill to finesse us past this problem. Jackman reinforces his status as the new hunk (as first exposed in X-Men). The script manages a dozen or so really funny lines, and Tony Goldwyn's direction is well paced.
But in the end the various talents on display aren't enough to overcome the sheer blandness of the material. Someone Like You goes down smoothly but leaves almost no impression.