Down To You

Even by the cheesy standards of the teen romantic comedy, Down To You is pretty terrible. It follows the story of two college students (Freddie Prinze Jr. and Julia Stiles) who meet, fall in love, fall out of love, and (of course) right back in love again. It tries really hard to be cute and clever, and ends up with some of the worst, most pretentious dialogue I've ever heard. The film attempts to shake up the standard formula a bit by having the leads narrate their story in direct camera address, which was charming when Matthew Broderick did it in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but given the stilted dialogue and wooden acting, the device is just irritating. The total lack of anything resembling charisma in either of the lead actors is actually astounding and the supporting cast of characters, meant to be "wacky and hilarious" are annoying and awkward. The one notable exception is Henry "The Fonz" Winkler, who is great as Prinze's father, an eccentric TV chef. But one good performance cannot come anywhere close to rescuing this film from being clichéd, offensive, and forgettable.