Gerard Butler broke in as a household name with roles in Phantom of the Opera, 300, and P.S. I Love You (one of the most depressing romances of the young century) nearly a decade after Jennifer Aniston caused most of America to swoon at her role on Friends. But considering that Aniston has co-starred withless-than-perfect types like Clive Owen, Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, and Jim Carrey and found success, why wouldn't a romantic comedy pairingher with Butler work? Unfortunately, the movie magic that the two attempt to capture remains fleeting and out of reach.

From a comic perspective,this is a movie that shows off most of its comic moments in the trailer (Butler's full-on tackle of a fleeing Aniston is still my favorite) and that's unfortunate given the considerable talents of the pair's co-stars here, Jason Sudeikus, Jeff Garlin, and Dorian Mussik to name a few. And while the action is considerable at times, and the score does its best to keep us buzzing, the action/thriller side of the movie dies during the lulls. But seriously,do Butler and Aniston work to make the romance a reality?

You can definitely see Milo (Butler) and Nicole (Aniston) as ex-spouses. Their rekindling (or not) of love on the run, chased by loan sharks and a twisted cop (Peter Greene in another menacing role) certainly will capture some attention, whether it's reuniting at the site of their honeymoon or doing the Twist with one hand chained to the bedpost. They work as a couple, and you can see the reasons why they would like (and not like) each other. The movie is about opposites, especially in love, and these two can handle that part.

But as the guy watching this movie, I was disappointed. I never bought the premise of the criminal case fully,unlike something like Killers, and I'm a bigger fan of the Butler-Aniston combo than the Ashton Kutcher-Katherine Heigl one.But Greene's villain has multiple opportunities to be more violent, more vicious, and he doesn't take them. There was actually a point where I turned to my wife and said, "Wow, they tried really hard to keep this PG-13, didn't they?" There's nothing wrong with that principle, and in fact, I appreciate it; but here, there were plot points made (I'd guess) for ratings, and the plot itself suffered and became less believable.

But this really does come back to being about the romance, and Andy Tennant, director of both Sweet Home Alabama and Hitch, is certainly driving home the point that marriage takes work, commitment, and togetherness in the midst of life's turbulence. Things that real marriages hold dear, that cause us to sit back and shake our heads for good or bad, Tennant's film nails. Even while the action and the comedy sometimes fall flat, the real curves and turns of romance and marriage come through, and keep the movie from completely falling off.

Does marriage take work? Are there days you don't agree with, like, or appreciate your spouse? Have you ever wondered what you got yourself into to begin with? Butler and Aniston's screen relationship tackles all of that, and reasonably realistically. In the end, they're in it together for good or bad, and that's a justifiable moral to a play that rarely seems to play out in Hollywood...