AllMovie

Shakespeare may have perfected the mistaken-identity plot, but even the Bard never contemplated the hysterical ripple that infests this honestly funny and seemingly fresh mistaken-sex adventure. First-time director Mark Illsley turns in a bright, lighthearted romantic comedy that doesn't rely on cheap laughs -- at least not too many, given that rubber-faced Steve Zahn is at his brain-dead finest . There's also enough of a dark turn in the plot when the "real" bad guy arrives to provide dramatic impetus for the final third, assuring the film never runs out of steam. Jeremy Northam, an Englishman doing a credible American accent, makes a fine, understated lead and shares some genuinely touching scenes with the always wonderful William H. Macy as the closeted sheriff who is so smitten with tall, dark stranger Northam that he asks him to go dancing. Ileana Douglas and Zahn make another compatible couple, but watch out for charming Ally Walker, who holds her own as Northam's "straight" love interest; why in the world she doesn't get more work in Hollywood is anybody's guess.