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I watched one this because somebody requested I write a review of it. To be honest, I wasn't expecting it to be 'all that.' I like the unexpected. Turns out I thouroughly enjoyed this movie.

Alex & Emma Is the story of an author, Alex. He's had one best seller, but now he's got a bit of the old writer's block goin' on.. and he owes some rather nasty guys 100 grand. In 30 days. They've destroyed his laptop. What's a fella to do?

Well, Alex calls for a Stenographer to come over so he can dictate his book to her. He doesn't bargain on Emma. You see, Emma is a rather opinionated little gal. Cute as all get out, but rather set in her ways. She's a marvelous typist, but she keeps interrupting Alex to tell him how the book should go... which of course irritates the bejeezuz out of him.

I adored both of these characters. I'm sure you can tell where this will all end up, but it doesn't matter. Sometimes 'predictable' is synonymous with 'comfortable.' Luckily, this time it's also a heck of a lot of fun.

Luke Wilson (Both Legally Blonde movies, Royal Tenenbaums, Old School) is a wonderful Alex. He's got an easy smile and his sense of humor borders on the warped. It's like he knows he's under the gun, and yes he's worried about it.. but he doesn't let it overwhelm him. He's able to see the humor in the situation, and Wilson gets that across with ease.

Kate Hudson is Emma and plays her to perfection. But she's not just Emma. She's also several of the main characters in the novel that we see played out in Alex's mind as he dictates the novel. Now, these two additional roles just prove the point that Hudson is not just another pretty face. She's very versatile and has a bit of range to her. She's the uptight yet cute Emma, the overly-made-up Ylva, the German Ilsa, and then the American Anna.. all the incarnations of the Aupair in the novel. All with separate personality traits. All played deftly by Hudson. I'm a fan now. I liked her in "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days", but she convinced me in this.

Rob Reiner directed this one, along with being one of the producers. that in itself says a lot. Oh, it's no "Princess Bride".. but then again, what ever could be? But you can see Reiner had a large hand in it. His little comedic touches are there, along with his role as Alex's publisher. Great casting from Reiner, and wonderful direction.

Rated PG-13 for sexual content and some language. Yanno what? It's all very mild, really. Personally, I'd let any age watch this with me, but you have to be the judge of that. You know you're own kids. I'm just saying nothing in this will turn you're kids into mob hit men.

The picture was done in anamorphic widescreen 1.85:1 ratio color. I personally found no problems in this DVD transfer as far as picture quality goes. The colors were crisp, with skin tones looking true to life. The story takes place mainly in Alex's flat which is a big dingy, but that's as it was planned. The shots of the visualized novel were done in slightly lighter tones to subtly denote the different feel of the era, since the novel was set in the early 1900s. Sound: The audio choices are either 5.1 Dolby Digital English or French. Closed Captions for the hearing impaired are available, as well as French or Spanish subtitles. The voices were right on the money and easy to understand without straining, with the exception of a few parts near the beginning where they had several quick cut-scenes with Luke Wilson, and didn't get the voice to match the mouth quite right..

Background music was nothing special, but did fit well in that it blended in and did not detract from what was happening in any way. Sometimes music will tend to take over a movie and outshine the actors, not a problem here at all. They used what music they needed to set mood, then let the actors do the work --