Plot
As part of a drunken bet with her sister, a happily married woman sends an anonymous Valentine's card to her husband to see if he hides it...

Release Year: 2005

Rating: 5.3/10 (2,181 voted)

Director: John Hay

Stars: Dougray Scott, Jennifer Love Hewitt, David Christian

Storyline
As part of a drunken bet with her sister, a happily married woman sends an anonymous Valentine's card to her husband to see if he hides it. When he does, what was a prank leads to a series of events and revelations that puts her marriage at risk, and leaves her looking for revenge.

Writers: William Johnston, Peter Bloore

Cast:
Dougray Scott - Archie Gray
Jennifer Love Hewitt - Alice Holbrook
David Christian - Suppository Man
Freddie Waters - Fidgety Teenager
Jimi Mistry - Sam Holbrook
Kate Miles - Felicity
Tracy O'Flaherty - Promotions Woman
Tom Boyd - Henry (as Thomas S.W. Boyd)
Elise Rayner - TV News Reporter
Frances Valeydon-Pillay - Beauty Therapist
Karl Howman - Cliff Sharpe
Simon Webbe - Dan Harlow
Marc Danbury - Supporter #1
Kirris Riviere - Supporter #2 (as Kirris J. Riviere)
Jason Speake - Supporter #3

Taglines: How far would you go to test your man? How far would you go to keep him?

Release Date: 21 April 2005

Filming Locations: Bristol Central Library, College Green, Bristol, England, UK

Technical Specs

Runtime: 100 min

Goofs:
Crew or equipment visible: Outside the courtroom, a crewmember on the right-hand side of the screen next to a lamppost wearing a large greenish-brown jacket is visible, ushering the extras to their marks.

Quotes:
Alice Holbrook: Anonymous never thinks. She does.

A young married girl realizes just how unhappy her marriage is when confronted with her husbands infidelity, the true meaning of love, and her own growing sexual identity.

Rating: 7/10

This is not a bad film. Let me start by stating that. It is also not a great film. Like all films involving Jennifer Love Hewitt most viewers are going to rate this picture entirely upon his or her opinion of the young actress. For reason I have never entirely understood, this brunette seems polarizing to people.

The film clearly is a vehicle for the actress. But it is not her performance that drives the picture. This is a genuinely intelligent film about sex, fidelity, and the strange way that love itself often gets lost in people's best efforts to supposedly find love.

Jennifer Love Hewitt plays Alice Holbrook, a young nurse who discovers that her husband is either cheating on her or is attempting to play games with her in order to spice up their sex life. Desperate for a change, and eager to believe the best about her husband, Hewitt engages in several attempts to learn the truth, and to entice her husband further.

Like a bad episode of Three's Company, this film uses every trick in the book to keep all of its characters colliding in silly scenarios. Hewitt disguises herself, her voice, people mistake each others cell phones, etc. All of this wears thin. Yet, the innocence of Hewitt's character keeps the viewer in a forgiving mood.

The cheap, predictable, and goofy plot twists are not executed in the film very well at all. There is a strange side plot involving the trial of a soccer player that makes no sense.

The comedy part of this rom-com is lacking. This is why the film does not approach greatness.

But apart from the antics, this film has its moments. The dilemma that Alice faces is all too real for young girls. And her attempt to keep her cheating husband at the cost of her own pride is also true to form. Most women, when faced with keeping a broken love or their own pride, choose broken love. At least for awhile.

Of course, Jennifer Love Hewitt plays dress up for both Alice's husband as well as for her male fans. No actress does both "goody goody" and "sexy sexy" like Jennifer Love Hewitt. The film teases, seems to promise more, then simply teases.

What redeems the film is its uplifting message about love and hope, while contrarily pulling no punches with its assessment about human nature. It is a refreshing thing to find a film that is daring enough to be honest, and also not too arrogant to shy away from optimism. Men are sex crazed pigs. Women do dumb things to save relationships best left behind. People make mistakes. And yet, things still work out.

Now back to our polarizing actress. This is one of several movies, and now a television show as well with Ghost Whisperer, that Hewitt has made which intentionally works to show a moral and hopeful perspective about the world. I don't want to give too much credit to the young girl- but why not?- I am deeply impressed with her consciousness choices of work.

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