Baggage Claim MPAA Rating: PG-13 Entertainment: +2 Content: -2

Paula Patton, Taye Diggs, Jill Scott, Adam Brody, Christian Milian, Derek Luke. Comedy. Written & directed by David E. Talbert.

FILM SYNOPSIS: Pledging to keep herself from being the oldest and the only woman in her entire family never to wed, flight attendant Montana (Paula Patton) embarks on a thirty-day, thirty-thousand-mile expedition to charm a potential suitor into becoming her fiancé. All the while she never considers the handsome best friend living next door. Well, not until the third act, anyway.

PREVIEW REVIEW: It’s a problem for reviewers when we see a film that has borrowed so much from so many. We who critique movies must remember that there are those out there who have yet to overdose on copycat comedies. The saying goes, there’s nothing new under the sun (or something like that), but when critics attend a romantic comedy that fits a formula right down to the lead’s stereotypical sidekicks, he hopes at least for some originality. In the case of Baggage Claim, there’s nothing new and very little to recommend. But because it has a likable cast I will pretend I haven’t seen everything in this film a hundred times and that you haven’t either.

Paula Patton and Derek Luke are troopers. Though there is little reality connected to the plot or anything else to recommend this motion picture, the two leads are charismatic and likeable. She’s lovely and he’s cool…Okay, I’m beginning to struggle with the rest. Let’s see…what else can I say that comes close to being positive? Umm, oh, yeah, at the end she decides to marry for love, not money. That’s good. The male lead’s parents were married 40 years before the father died. They had a strong marriage and realized the magic wasn’t in finding love, but maintaining it. Pretty good message. Okay

(sound of crickets)

That’s it. That’s all I could come up with. It’s the African-American version of a Doris Day movie. Which, in itself, wouldn’t be bad. It’s just that Ms. Day was more adept with physical comedy than Ms. Patton, but most of her 1960s rom/com movies were silly in the extreme (With Six You Get Egg Rolls, Lover Come Back). What made them endurable was Doris Day’s on-screen chemistry with Rock Hudson, or Cary Grant, or James Garner. And occasionally you would find a funny line or bit of comic business that, although not new even then, was well done. Just can’t say that about Baggage Claim. I’m not sure cast or crew will claim this baggage after its theatrical run.

Preview Reviewer: Phil Boatwright
Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures