Succeeds where "Hannibal" failed, and falls short in areas where "Hannibal" went completely overboard. It's deserving of the extra star for three very superficial reasons: the foreign landscape was presented in a thoroughly appealing manner (sans the Nazis, and the cannibalistic ritual in the woods, of course), there was an 80/20 psychological thrill/gore fest ratio respectively (which, if I'm honest, languishes in the land of weak arguments for any film), and Hannibal was quite a dish back in the day. Gaspard Ulliel, if you ever read this, drop me a line.
I'm no prude, but 'Zack and Miri' went overboard so many times in so many disgusting, unamusing ways that I made sure to tell my co-workers to save their hard-earned cash and precious time on something more deserving of both. I guess I was trying a little too hard to force myself to have a good time when I singled out this one in the movie listings. I should've known better -- Kevin Smith and I have never gotten along.
See my review for "P.S. I Love You". The circumstances and opinion are basically the same. As much as I love Morgan Freeman (Shut up.), his body of work is no stranger to this kind of sentimentality, but I'd never thought I'd see the day where I'd type out Jack Nicholson and cheesy in the same sentence.
To begin with, this one falls outside the realm of what I'm typically drawn to; however, that's not to say that I automatically disliked it for that reason. I had no choice but to give a shot. (I was sitting in a small hotel room with family who wanted to watch it, and being that I was largely out voted, I figured "Ah, what the hell?") In the end, I didn't hate it -- it wasn't "bad", but neither was it "good". The previews promised a thoroughly predictable dramedy, and as a whole, "P.S. I Love You" delivers.