(1997)
2
Derek Armstrong
Addicted to Love is a dark and mirthless look at the obsessiveness of spurned exes, hardly the kind of date movie audiences expected from the pairing of Meg Ryan and Matthew Broderick. Ever eager to avoid typecasting, Ryan is a crass motorcycle chick who instantly clashes with Broderick's more timid astronomer, though that doesn't keep them from shacking up together in a loft to spy on their former flames getting busy across the way. "Addicted" is the right word, but "love" is not -- "Addicted to Stalking" might have been a better title. It's not that there isn't a good movie to be made about hopeless romantics unwilling to exit the lives of those who left them, and the sketchy manifestations of their heartache, but this isn't it. It's a schizophrenic film, reveling in twisted revenge fantasies, but also trying to emerge as a lighthearted romantic comedy by the tedious ending. It's also hard to believe that Broderick's character would initiate this kind of surveillance, since he's introduced as a balanced individual with a good head on his shoulders. Director Griffin Dunne would have been better served by a lesser-known cast, one not so aggressively eager to play against type. By shooting much of the movie in the shadowy loft, he adds an extra gloom to the proceedings, further antagonizing the target audience for a movie with these cast members and this title.
Addicted to Love on AllMovie
Addicted to Love (1997)
