6 Month Rule: Film Review

There should be a psychological study commissioned of filmmakers who star in their own movies as men seemingly irresistible to women, with the spectrum running everywhere from the totally believable (Ed Burns) to the not-so-much (Eric Schaeffer). The latest poster boy for this syndrome is Blayne Weaver, whose 6 Month Rule features him playing--you guessed it--a womanizing cad who’s catnip to the ladies.

The writer/director stars as Tyler, a photographer whose busy love life is conducted by a rigorous set of rules, including the one providing the film’s title specifying that there’s no woman that can’t be forgotten in six months.

Helping him stick to his non-committal ways is his friend with benefits, a model (literally, since she’s played by cover girl Vanessa Branch) who apparently does little more than wait around her apartment clad in sexy lingerie waiting for him to make an appearance.

Tyler meets his match, naturally, in the form of the beautiful Sophie (Natalie Morales), who sees through his womanizing ways and constantly shoots him down with a series of withering quips. The suddenly lovelorn cad is reduced to desperately trying to win her away from her rock star boyfriend (Patrick J. Adams), in between counseling his sad-sack best friend (Martin Starr) who’s been unceremoniously dumped by his longtime fiancée (Jaime Pressly).

While the film might have worked if Weaver displayed the sort of devastating sex appeal that would make his character’s comeuppance satisfying, viewers are more likely to be left wondering why it didn’t simply happen sooner.

The generic goings-on are somewhat alleviated by the dryly funny if unfortunately brief appearances by comic veterans Dave Foley and John Michael Higgins as minor characters who bemusedly observe the romantic machinations.

Meanwhile, Morales is so sexily appealing as the object of Tyler’s affections that she puts viewers in the atypical position of hoping that the hero doesn’t get the girl.

Bottom Line: An ineffective indie variation on the sort of generic romantic comedy that should be starring Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson.

Opened June 1 (Abramorama).
Production: Secret Identity Productions, Steakhaus Productions.
Cast: Blayne Weaver, Martin Starr, Natalie Morales, Patrick J. Adams, Vanessa Branch, Dave Foley, John Michael Higgins, Jaime Pressly.
Director/screenwriter: Blayne Weaver.
Producers: Brandon Barrera, Steak House.
Executive producer: James Ballengee.
Director of photography: Daniel Stoloff.
Editor: Abe Levy.
Production designer: Michael Fitzgerald.
Costume designers: Sarah Trost, Glenda Maddox.
Music: Andrew Hollander.
Rated R, 95 min.