Great Life Great Love

If you’ve ever wanted to escape reality for a great adventure, go see Eat Pray Love with Julia Roberts (Liz), Billy Crudup (Stephen), James Franco (David), and Javier Bardem (Felipe). This entertaining film is based on the book by Elizabeth Gilbert, who takes a relationship timeout after a painful divorce and bad breakup to get in touch with herself. Liz’s one-year travel adventures in Italy, India and Bali offer fun reality checks and great love lessons about attracting the right kind of love.

If you’re ready for a fashion feast and Middle Eastern escape with the girls, go see Sex and the City 2 with Sarah Jessica Parker (Carrie), Kristin Davis (Charlotte), Cynthia Nixon (Miranda) and Kim Cattrall(Samantha) as they “Carrie On” two years after the first movie. Even though this sequel is long (2 ½ hours), the writer cleverly keeps your attention with a road trip to Abu Dhabi. We won’t spoil the movie here, but rather comment on the fashion parade and their great United Arab Emirates adventure.

If you’re looking for some hope that Great Love can be found, check out The Back-Up Plan with Jennifer Lopez (Zoe) and Alex O’Loughlin (Stan). In this fun romantic comedy, Zoe meets the right guy who is a Bachelor Available (best kind of guy in my first book, Smart Man Hunting). As soon as Zoe decides to give up and have a baby on her own, her man magically appears. What we learn about love in this movie is that it’s important to be open to a relationship when the real deal shows up.

If you’re ready for a fun flashback to 1970s rock-n-roll love, you’ll want to check out the hot Sundance hit, The Runaways, with Kristen Stewart (Joan Jett) and Dakota Fanning (Cherrie Currie). Not only will this movie take you on the road with Joan Jett’s first band, it shares the relationship challenges when dealing with fame. You don’t want to miss this film when it’s released in theaters March 19, 2010.

If you’re ready for an all-star cast, laughs, and every emotion in the book, check out Valentine’s Day with Ashton Kutcher, Jennifer Garner and 18 other Hollywood box office leads. While the story plays like Love Actually where you’re following way too many relationships, there is one big love lesson in this romantic comedy that Gary Marshall cleverly brings out.

If you have any doubts about whether great love exists, The Romantics will change your mind with Katie Holmes (Laurie) and Josh Duhamel (Tom). This 5-star romantic comedy has an awesome cast that will make you cry, laugh, and walk away a believer! It was fate for me to get into the world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival to give you a sneak preview (no spoilers, just fun tips and interviews). It was also magical to be on the red carpet of a Creative Coalition event at Sundance where we captured Elijah Wood speaking about the cast.

If you’re ready for a great love escape to Ireland, check out the romantic comedy, Leap Year with Amy Adams (Anna), Matthew Goode (Declan) and Adam Scott (Jeremy). While Anna is on a mission to propose to her boyfriend, Jeremy, who is on a business trip in Dublin, she runs into twists and turns that will surprise and entertain you. Anna’s quest is based on an Irish tradition that women can propose on Leap Day, February 29th.

If you love mysteries, London, and Big Ben, then Sherlock Holmes can take you there. However, if you’re looking for romance in this film, it’s even more of a mystery to find for Sherlock (Robert Downey Jr), Watson (Jude Law), Irene (Rachel McAdams) and Mary (Kelly Reilly). The biggest love lesson in this movie is avoid falling for a mystery man who is totally obsessed with work. Below are 3 romance clues that signal trouble based on this movie.

If you’re ready for a new visual experience and Great Love Magic, go see the hot movie, Avatar. The love story between Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) is even more spectacular than the scenery. Jake is sent by the military into the forests of Pandora with an “an Avatar” identity so he looks like the Na’vi natives. While his primary mission is to build trust and get counter intelligence, Jake has no idea that he will find Great Love Magic when he meets Neytiri, daughter of the King.

Have you heard about the Sundance hit, An Education that is getting rave reviews from both the critics and viewers? In this romantic movie, we learn a ton about naïve love from Carey Mulligan (Jenny) and Peter Sarsgaard (David) who tempts her with a Great Life, but falls short on being a Great Love. The movie takes places in the suburbs of London in 1960s, and is filled with creative twists that make this movie a must see!

Along with a ton of laughs, there are Great Love lessons in the hot summer hit, The Hangover. While most of the movie is about a wild bachelor party, the tigers come out in Las Vegas and Los Angeles to test the trust in their relationships. As soon as someone starts challenging you with crazy Tiger Talk, you want to run. Here’s the Entourage, Wild Tigers and Cool Cougars in this fun comedy.

If you’re ready for a refreshing take on relationships on the big screen, go see 500 Days of Summer with Zooey Deschanel (Summer) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Tom). While there is heartache in this movie, the story gets 5 stars for being so cleverly presented. We can all relate to longing for a lover who’s just not into us. After trying to see this movie at Sundance and the LA Film Festival, it was a relief to finally watch it on a big digital screen with an awesome guy friend!

If you want to laugh out loud at a guy’s dating rules, go see The Ugly Truth with Katherine Heigl (Abby) and Gerard Butler (Mike). Based on pure entertainment value, this movie gets 5 stars in my book for bringing out absurd relationship advice and fun. Just when Katherine thinks she knows what true love looks like, Gerard gives her some twisted advice in this romantic comedy.

If you’re ready for some great laughs and fun summer love, check out Sandra Bullock (Margaret) and Ryan Reynolds (Andrew) in the hot new movie, The Proposal. We’ve all met strong, single women at work who appear to have no life or feelings. This movie gets 5 stars for bringing out what every woman wants (despite title) in very funny and awkward moments.

If you’re ready for a great love escape to Greece for mojo, coffee and magic, go see My Life in Ruins with Nia Vardalos (Georgia) and Alexis Georgoulis (Poupi). It’s summer love at it’s best from Hollywood and the writer of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. You’re guaranteed to see cool scenery along the Mediterranean coast, laugh out loud and dream about Greek Lovers.