If two people are involved in a relationship, and one of them leaves the other for a third person, who's the fool: The person who pines for the lost partner and wants the relationship back as it was? The person who left? Or the third person who ends up with the person who left?
Addicted to Love answers all these questions. I am not a big fan of sappy romantic comedies, mainly because there's not much substance to them. However, there's quite a bit of philosophical musings in this movie, notwithstanding stereotypes about French males and their penis sizes.
Sam (Matthew Broderick) is involved with Linda (Kelly Preston). Linda leaves Sam for Anton (Tcheky Karyo). Sam can't deal with this and sets up house opposite Anton's apartment with the hope that Linda will soon realise the error of her ways. Maggie (Meg Ryan), Anton's ex-girlfriend, shows up and helps set up schemes with Sam where the relationship between Linda and Anton becomes strained.
The least interesting character is Linda (who doesn't get to do much in the movie), and the most interesting character is Maggie. Maggie's motivation for separating Anton and Linda is revenge for being jilted by Anton. While we generally see a compassionate side of Sam when Anton is crippled (literally and figuratively), the saying "the female of the species is more deadlier than the male" is quite befitting. Of course, it's Meg Ryan's acting abilities that bring out the best, and the worst, in Maggie.
The script is funny and had me laughing quite a bit and that is a saving grace when it comes to sappy movies. The acting is solid and the cinemetagraphy has its moments. Don't miss this one.