Detailed Instructions: In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Q: If the idea of yet another wedding-gathering movie feels less than inspired, "The Romantics" won't do much to dispel that notion. This sour spin on "My Best Friend's Wedding" (crossed with a pale dose of "The Big Chill") proves unsatisfying not only because of its unlikable characters and often contrived conflicts but for the thoroughly implausible bride and groom at its core. Though the film takes great pains to pinpoint the supposed attraction between the tragically handsome Tom ( Josh Duhamel ) and the rich, single-minded Lila ( Anna Paquin ), it doesn't take a psychic to predict the fate of this mismatched pair. If ever there were a couple not to root for, it's this one, though that may be the point.Showing up the day before these ill-fated nuptials are a band of egocentric, party-hearty college friends self-dubbed the Romantics, for, we're told, their "incestuous dating history," but the movie's literary pretensions (it goes heavy on the Keats) might indicate otherwise. In addition to Romantics "family" members Tom and Lila, the conflicted clique consists of restless marrieds Tripler ( Malin Akerman ) and Pete (Jeremy Strong); soon-to-be-wed Jake ( Adam Brody , always welcome) and Weesie (Rebecca Lawrence); and Laura ( Katie Holmes ), frenemy Lila's maid of honor and, more significantly, Tom's old girlfriend.Laura's still-smoldering torch for the dazed Tom — and vice-versa — threatens to burn down the whole wedding, setting off a series of raw emotional exchanges, bad behaviors and boozy antics, not to mention a rehearsal dinner so excruciating it borders on parody.Unfortunately, director Galt Niederhoffer, who also wrote the slack script (based on her novel), keeps us at such arm's length from her characters, which also include Lila's formidable mother ( Candice Bergen ) and jauntily messed-up brother (a miscast Elijah Wood ), we're left knowing — or caring — little about any of them and, consequently, the seaside wedding at the center of it all.The one exception is Laura, a sort of Princess of Darkness still wallowing in the pseudo-profundity of her college heyday. Her reverie-laden love for Tom offers enough stirring, evocative sentiment to make her a compelling counterpoint to the one-noters around her. Holmes brings a convincing well of longing and fury to the dicey part, so much so that when former lifeguard Tom compares the roiling Laura to his fear of the ocean, we buy it. But it's one of the few configurations that ring true in this otherwise lackluster affair. ||||| Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| Enlarge Paramount Famous Tom (Josh Duhamel) gets close with his former flame, Laura (Katie Holmes), who also happens to be the maid of honor in his wedding to another woman. ABOUT THE MOVIE ABOUT THE MOVIE The Romantics 
  
 * 1/2 (out of four) 
  
 Stars: Katie Holmes, Josh Duhamel, Anna Paquin, Malin Akerman, Adam Brody, Elijah Wood 
  
 Director: Galt Niederhoffer 
  
 Distributor: Paramount Pictures 
  
 Rating: PG-13 for sexual content, partial nudity, language and some drug material 
  
 Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes 
  
 Opens Friday in select cities The Romantics is a misnomer. "The Spoiled Melodramatics" would be more accurate. Or better yet, "The Pretentious Ones." is a misnomer. "The Spoiled Melodramatics" would be more accurate. Or better yet, "The Pretentious Ones." Neither the film nor its 30ish characters, former members of a tight college clique, come off as romantic. Entitled and bland, yes. Passionate, hardly. Can Yale grads possibly be this vapid? Galt Niederhoffer directs from her 2008 novel of the same name, and the result is a boring and turgid affair. The shaky handheld camera even manages to make its scenic seaside setting look muddy and unpleasant. Think a contrived, lesser version of Rachel Getting Married with none of the convincing familial drama or mesmerizing performances. Wealthy golden girl Lila (Anna Paquin) is marrying the handsome Tom (Josh Duhamel), overseen by her controlling mother (Candice Bergen). Why does an actress of the caliber of Bergen get stuck with roles like this? How did Murphy Brown become the go-to actress to play generic overbearing mother or mother-in-law from hell? Complicating the nuptials is Laura (Katie Holmes), who has had an on-again/off-again passionate romance with Tom. For some inexplicable (or masochistic) reason, Lila asks Laura to be her maid of honor. The invited friends include Lila and Tom's closest college pals: an unhappily married couple, Tripler and Peter (Malin Akerman and Jeremy Strong), and a recently engaged duo, Jake and Weesie (Adam Brody and Rebecca Lawrence). Note the cutesy, preppy names. Where was Muffy? Also along for the festivities is the vaguely off-putting Chip, played by Elijah Wood, who doesn't seem like he belongs in the movie or wants to be there. Holmes is ostensibly the star of the movie, but as a scholarly playwright, she's never been less convincing. She's either blandly cheerful, dully snide or emoting as if it were her first performance in Acting 101. The Ivy League buddies have a night of drunken revelry that goes slightly awry. The alcohol-infused pre-wedding party is a hackneyed device, and nothing very amusing, clever or moving occurs. The predictable coupling of Laura and Tom lacks suspense or chemistry. Lila's bridezilla moments are clichéd and her younger sister's antics uninspired. The illicit sex of two of the pals aims for slapstick and is merely uninteresting. There's much pontificating and awkward spouting of literary references that would never occur in real life. The forced scenarios attempt to be raucous and achingly authentic but end up superficial and obnoxious, with a formulaic cloying ending capping things off. Tom's character says it best when he laments to his buddies, "We are all so uninspired." Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more |||||
A:
A group of 30ish Yale alumni reunite and suffer assorted life crises the night before a wedding in the Romantics, a melodrama that hasn't won the hearts of many critics. The ensemble cast includes Katie Holmes, Josh Duhamel, and Anna Paguin. This movie doesn't add much to the wedding-gathering genre, decides Gary Goldstein at the Los Angeles Times. This "sour spin on My Best Friend's Wedding—crossed with a pale dose of The Big Chill—proves unsatisfying not only because of its unlikable characters and often contrived conflicts but for the thoroughly implausible bride and groom at its core," he writes. Director/writer Galt Niederhoffer, filming his own novel, doesn't do enough with his talented cast, writes Simon Abrams at the New York Press, complaining that the movie is "filled with distracting, blousy pop songs and rote burnt-out character types." The Romantics of the title, with their "pontificating and awkward spouting of literary references that would never occur in real life," never seem all that romantic, writes Claudia Puig at USA Today, suggesting alternate titles The Spoiled Melodramatics or The Pretentious Ones. "Much of Niederhoffer's dialogue wrings false, or simply feels overwritten," writes Geoff Berkshire at Metromix, "but she also creates quite a few interesting moments, especially in the central love triangle." Katie Holmes, also executive producer, "proves she's completely capable of carrying a movie," he writes.