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While occasionally opting for cheap laughs, this romantic comedy is entertaining, warm and feels surprisingly rooted in real life.

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Driven by excellent performances, this entertaining film provides a fresh view of modern family life.

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My One And Only (Film)

by Alicia Malone | March 08, 2010 15:12 | Edited March 08, 2010 15:14

A warm-hearted road trip movie which boasts strong performances

Renee Zellweger has just about covered every decade. She tackled the sixties in Down With Love, the twenties in Leatherheads, the thirties with Cinderella Man, and now the early fifties in My One And Only.

 

Inspired by famously tanned actor George Hamilton's teenage years, but definitely not a biopic, My One And Only centres on Ann (Zellweger), a Blanche Dubois type Southern Belle whose beauty is slowly fading. When she catches her philandering bandleader husband (Kevin Bacon) cheating one too many times, Ann packs her bags, grabs her two sons, George (Logan Lerman) and Robbie (Mark Rendell), and hits the highway in search of a new husband. Their subsequent adventures are told through George's eyes, as the family travels from town to town, visiting Ann's ex-boyfriends in the hopes of locking one down - preferably a rich one. She may be a gold digger and not the most attentive mother, but Ann has good intentions, wanting financial security for her sons.

 

Renee Zellweger brings heart to her character, but the two young boys playing her sons are the real standouts. Logan Lerman (3:10 To Yuma, Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief) is charismatic as the narrator George, while Mark Rendell keeps the film moving along with hilarious one-liners as the innocent yet effeminate Robbie. There are great cameos from actors playing Ann's prospective beaus, especially David Koechner, who is very entertaining as a house paint tycoon who offers young George advice about women - namely that they are "never the right temperature" so you should always "carry a sweater."

 

The real George Hamilton serves as the film's executive producer, but it's unclear how much of the story is true. There aren't too many laugh out loud moments, but My One And Only offers plenty of smiles, and a few insights into a Hollywood icon.