Alchemy (2005)

Alchemy

This is a great little movie, that somehow scaped me when it first came out. Perhaps this was due to lack of Hollywood big name recognition advertising. However, if you want what I would call a "cool" romantic comedy family movie, this would be it. Tom Cavanaugh and Sarah Chalke(of "Scrubs")acted their parts extremely well. James Barbour(veteran Broadway actor)ran away with his part, his comedic talent coming across phenomenaly, as well as being just the perfect actor for the part of "Dr. Love";he seemed to instinctively know just what to do in each scene to send across just the right humor, and funny it was. He was definitely one of the best assets of this movie. The rest of the cast was just as well cast, and did their jobs exceptionally, including the scenes with veteran actress Celeste Holm;nice to see an older actress get a nice role in a "younger set" movie.
Alchemy is one of those "how did this movie excape the popular radar" type of film undertakings. Director Oppenheimer should be given high kudos for bringing us this little treasure of a movie to enjoy over and over again. September 6, 2007

No Chemistry

"Alchemy," a 2005 flick starring TV's Tom Cavanagh and Sarah Chalke, ("Ed" and "Scrubs" respectively) tries to be one of those recent romantic comedies with a twist, the new angle here being that Chalke is unwittingly being wooed by a computer. Unfortunately for all concerned, the end result is an experiment gone bad.

Cavanagh plays the computer's inventor who, in order to keep his financing at a thinly disguised Pace University, engages in a competition sponsored by an equally thinly disguised Cosmo Magazine. The idea is to have an "average" woman, Chalke, courted by a man and a computer program, and then see which wins her affections. Never mind the obvious moral implications of this set-up, the problem is that this film lacks the one absolutely essential ingredient every romantic comedy MUST have: sympathetic characters. Sadly, instead of finding even one "someone" to root for, the audience finds only obnoxious and annoying people who engender no empathy whatsoever

The human suitor, by way of example, is played by James Barbour, apparently doing his best Hugh Grant impression. Known as "Dr. Love," he is insufferable, self-absorbed, and actually tries to get the heroine in bed by assuring her of his superb sexual technique. For her part, Chalke's "Samantha" vacillates between the dueling personas of street smart Manhattan Ice Queen and slutty nymphomaniac. Cavanagh, the intended hero and the one who we all know is eventually going to get the girl, spends the first half of the movie playing a nerdy geek who wouldn't know what to do with a girl if he had one, and the second half hiding behind a Cyrano-like prosthetic nose and an awful French accent to help his computer's cause by giving Barbour a flesh-and-blood competitor for Chalke's affections. If none of this makes any sense, then you have a good sense of the movie.

The sad thing here is that this could have been a worthwhile movie if writer/director Evan Oppenheimer had given the plot a bit more thought, and was willing to give it more edge and substance. Already treading towards the edges of science fiction with his futuristically interactive computer program, "Jerry," Oppenheimer could have gone just a bit farther by taking a page from Star Trek: TNG and "Artificial Intelligence: AI," actually depositing "Jerry" inside the form of Cavanagh. The echoes of Pinocchio so successfully played by TNG's "Data" and AI's "David," could have been given a compelling twist here had Cavanagh actually BEEN "Jerry," instead of just his human proxy. That would have given Chalke something to REALLY think about when she realized that the "man" to whom she was actually attracted was, in fact, not a "man" at all, which would have been vastly better than the hackneyed the-truth-comes-out-at-the-altar-rail scene lifted out of "Four Weddings and a Funeral,' and deposited here in a schlocky, goofy sequence (complete with Russian Orthodox priest in a fake beard) too broad for even vaudeville.

But that would have required some thought and, if the "behind the scenes" feature on the DVD is any indication, Oppenheimer was having far too much fun playing director to give any real thought to quality or to telling a compelling story.
September 20, 2006

sweet

nice saturday night movie, either for the family or at home with a date and some popcorn May 10, 2006

Can't Make 'em any Worse than This

Very very very very bad.

I can only imagine the actors/actresses/crew involved in this uninspired bit of trash must have each thrown up between takes.

It's honestly that bad. April 5, 2006

Wonderfully charming!

We saw this movie on ABC Family, highly recommended for (almost) all ages. I'd say it's great for adults and teenagers, can't really say for younger than that. But it's very funny, very well-made. And the acting is terrific -- Tom Cavanagh, Sarah Chalke, James Barbour, Nadia Dajani, all great! Will be a very pleasant surprise to people who know Tom and Sarah from "Ed" and "Scrubs" -- they're both capable of a lot more complexity than you might have guessed! February 2, 2006

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