Little Black Book

In a recent career slide that is rivalled only by Jennifer Lopez, Brittany Murphy makes yet another misstep in the alleged romantic comedy, Little Black Book. The plot, which delivers few laughs and a risible morality, sees Murphy playing Stacy, a young go getter whose career ambition (as we are reminded every few minutes) is to work with her idol, TV newswoman Diane Sawyer. With Carly Simon providing a soundtrack and a philosophy to her life, Stacy snags a job on a low rent Jerry Springer-like chat show, hosted by Kippie Kann (Bates). After her boyfriend, the amiable Derek (Livingston) goes away on business and leaves his palm top at home, Stacy, egged on by gregarious new colleague Barb (Hunter, too classy for this pap) investigates Derek's closely guarded life. Discovering that he's still in contact with a couple of ex-girlfriends, our gal decides to see how she compares.

There's an interesting film screaming to get made about the petty, unvoiced jealousies inherent in most relationships, but it's not called 'Little Black Book'. For a picture billed as a romantic comedy, there's an alarming lack of humour present while the film's tone is uneven, oscillating (wildly, some might say) between the jarringly innocent and the downright nasty. Murphy shows all the charisma and none of the versatility of a plank of wood, and even Hunter looks vaguely embarrassed by the time the unpleasant finale wheels around. Avoid.