Alex & Emma

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Alex & Emma

PG-13

Released Jun 20, 2003

1h 36m

Romance

Comedy

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Popcornmeter

11%

Tomatometer

139 Reviews

41%

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50,000+ Ratings

Writer Alex Sheldon (Luke Wilson) must finish his novel within a month. If he doesn't, he won't get paid. And, if that happens, angry Mafia types to whom he owes money will come looking for him. In order to expedite things, Alex hires typist Emma Dinsmore (Kate Hudson) and begins dictating his novel. The book is about a doomed love affair between a character similar to Alex and a character named Polina Delacroix (Sophie Marceau). But, as Alex falls for Emma, his work takes a different turn.

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Critics Consensus

A dull and unfunny comedy where the leads fail to generate any sparks.

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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

The actors make this fun if you can overlook the ludicrous view of Jeremy Leven's screenplay concerning how novels are written and what publishers generally pay for them.

Feb 8, 2012

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Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

Uninspired -- neither romantic nor comic.

Rated: 2/5

Sep 9, 2010

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Empire Magazine

A miserable failure on every count.

Rated: 0.5/5

Dec 30, 2006

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Debbie Lynn Elias

Behind The Lens

Hopefully, Rob Reiner just suffered a case of writer's block/director's block like his character Alex Sheldon with Alex & Emma.

Nov 6, 2019

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Film4

About as funny as root canal work and as romantic as a rainy fortnight in Wrexham. Rob Reiner should make a phone call to Christopher Guest a priority.

Rated: 1.5/5

Feb 8, 2012

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Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

"Alex & Emma" has a light tone of modernized '20s inflected comedy that Woody Allen would love to still be able to capture in his movies.

Rated: B-

Jun 2, 2009

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Audience Member

It was cute but kinda boring. The movie was saved by Luke and Kate.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

06/21/24

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Kyle M

Appreciatively advocates a writer’s struggles and creative process amidst a story-within-story structure, but some are best left unsaid in addition to its unconvincing situation with the screenplay matching the flawed setting as that should’ve been the first sign of how dull it started to be for easy criticism aside from being predictable at equal rate. (C+)

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

04/22/24

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Gaylord R

I am baffled by the negative reviews of one of the best films I have watched in a long time. Crisp, sharp writing, an undeniably sweet chemistry between the lead actors, good humor paired with some, albeit over-the-top, existential angst. All in all a superb movie that leaves one satisfied and happy.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/24/23

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steve d

Cute update with extremely likable leads.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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Audience Member

Wait. So let me get this straight. Alex convinces Emma to love him by saying to her, "Sure, the other girl in my life is drop dead gorgeous and perfect in almost every possible way… but your REAL!"??? How is this the same director who gave us Harry and Sally???

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/24/23

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Audience Member

To be honest a lot of the hate for this movie really baffles me. I watched it with the lady and thought it was charming, mostly harmless romantic comedy that was fun for date night. Look it up online and see it getting just slaughtered by critics. Myself, I kind of liked it. Is it anything special? Hell no, it's cheesy and honestly pretty stupid, but it's cute and funny enough. It's not great, but it's likable, and cute, and it's story-in-a-story premise is fun (even if it's writer commentary is a bit vain at times), so as a date night movie yeah I'd definitely recommend it over whatever Nicholas Sparks is shoveling out these days.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

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Rob Reiner

Director

Kate Hudson

Emma Dinsmore

Luke Wilson

Alex Sheldon

Sophie Marceau

Polina

David Paymer

John Shaw

Rob Reiner

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Synopsis

Writer Alex Sheldon (Luke Wilson) must finish his novel within a month. If he doesn't, he won't get paid. And, if that happens, angry Mafia types to whom he owes money will come looking for him. In order to expedite things, Alex hires typist Emma Dinsmore (Kate Hudson) and begins dictating his novel. The book is about a doomed love affair between a character similar to Alex and a character named Polina Delacroix (Sophie Marceau). But, as Alex falls for Emma, his work takes a different turn.

Director: Rob Reiner
Producer: Jeremy Leven, Alan Greisman, Todd Black, Elie Samaha
Screenwriter: Jeremy Leven
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co: Franchise Pictures, Epsilon Motion Pictures
Rating: PG-13 (Some Language|Sexual Content)
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 20, 2003, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 1, 2011
Box Office (Gross USA): $14.2M
Runtime: 1h 36m
Sound Mix: Surround

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