The only thing About Fate has going for it is the sheer magnetism of Emma Roberts. Is it possible for a romantic comedy to have one-sided chemistry? Emma Roberts proves it’s possible since only half the romantic couple in this flick has it.

The flick stars Emma Roberts and some wooden plank in one of the most contrived and unlikely meet-cutes in rom-com history. They try to justify it by hand waving and saying the word fate, but I don’t buy it. Anyway, these two unlikely people just broke up with their significant others and she needs a date to her sister’s wedding and, for reasons, he has to pretend to be her fiancé.

But, hey, contrived meet-cutes don’t make a movie bad. They don’t help, but they don’t kill. What grievously wounds this romantic comedy is its sheer mediocrity in the comedy department… and it ain’t so solid on the romance either. I could see the jokes and occasional pratfalls, but I was never amused by any of them. And sometimes they went on for a long time (hello wedding fight).

I think what turned me off so much about this flick was the artificiality of the whole thing. Nobody acted or behaved believably so I just couldn’t buy into the wacky situations or romantic drama.

I guess there’s no genetic rom-com misunderstanding that breaks them up when All Is Revealed. But that doesn’t stop them from having arbitrary will they/won’t they moments that are largely just resolved by proximity.

I didn’t loathe this movie, but it tried my patience real hard. Emma Roberts saves it and the occasional cute moment that bypassed my cynicism and disdain helped. It’s not rotten, but it’s trying.

Score: 72