Summit Entertainment isn’t talking at this point, saying only, “No decision has been made and as we have said all along, we are continuing to work with Stephenie Meyer to bring ‘Breaking Dawn’ to the big screen.”

Yeah, that’s not really saying anything, is it? The cynical part of me thinks that two films would make way more money than one, so that would be a reason for the powers that be to do it that way.

Those of you familiar with the books, does it seem like a smart move to split ‘Breaking Dawn’ into two movies? And if so, where would you split the film?

Image: TM and © 2009 Summit Entertainment, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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Film Gecko’s blogging platform won’t let me embed the video (wah!), so I’m going to send you over to Moviefone to watch it, because it’s quite romantic and fun.

In case you need more incentive, it’s got Hepburn and Tracy, Pattinson and Stewart, Ford and Fisher, Roberts and Grant, Streep and Eastwood, Keaton and Allen, Bogart and Bergman, and oh, plenty more.

Regular Film Gecko readers know I’m all about the romantic movies, so it’s definitely worth three and a half minutes of your time.

Really, it’ll give you hope that love truly exists in our crazy world — both in the movies and real life.

Image: Warner Bros.

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The story follows several intertwining couples and singles in Los Angeles as they make up and break up around the mystery that is Valentine’s Day. It’s rated PG-13 for some sexual material and brief partial nudity, and opens in theaters this Friday, Feb. 12, 2010. Here’s a little clip of a few of them on the red carpet.

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‘How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days’

Really, there’s not much you can do with the romantic comedy formula, so it all comes down to the chemistry of the two leads. Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey have plenty of it.

Ben (McConaughey) makes a bet with his boss that he can get a woman to fall in love with him in ten days to land a valuable advertising campaign. Andie Anderson (Hudson) is the "How To…" columnist for a women’s magazine, Composure. The topic of her next column is How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, hence the title of the movie.

But Andie yearns to write more indepth, serious stories, so if she does a good job with this piece, her boss will give her complete freedom to write whatever she wants.

As luck would have it, Ben and Andie see each other at a bar and coincidentally choose each other as their “victims.” The rest is history.

Hudson, as usual, is completely adorable. And McConaughey plays the guy he usually plays in all his movies, but I’m fine with that because I love that sort of roguish character who gets the girl in the end.

Directed by Donald Petrie, ‘How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days’ is rated PG-13 for some sex related material. The Deluxe Edition (buy it here) was released Aug. 25, 2009 and includes the following bonus features.

• How to Make a Movie in 2 Years
• Why the Sexes Battle
• Girls Night Out
• Commentary by director Donald Petrie
• Music Video: ‘Somebody Like You’ by Keith Urban
• Deleted Scenes with Director’s Commentary

Image: Amazon.com

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Movie: When in Rome * Official Site	In Theaters: Jan. 29, 2010
Runtime: 91 minutes	Directed by: Mark Steven Johnson
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some suggestive content	Gecko Rating:

“When in Rome” is one of those movies that’s cute while you’re watching it, but that you’ll probably forget within a couple of days. But in a sea of apocalyptic and doomsday movies out right now, its light-hearted nature is a nice change of pace.

It stars Kristen Bell as Beth, a young, ambitious New Yorker who’s focused on her career and has never had much luck in the romance department. She’s all but given up on finding love.

When her sister tells her she’s getting married in Rome, Beth books a flight and figures she’ll be in and out in a couple of days, plenty of time to keep track of her latest work project — lining up artwork for a big show at the Guggenheim.

More after the jump…

At the wedding, she meets Nick (Josh Duhamel), best friend of the groom. They hit it off, but when Beth sees him kissing another woman, she retreats to the “fountain of love” outside where the wedding is taking place, and proceeds to pick several coins out of the water.

What Beth doesn’t realize is that whenever you pick coins out of this particular fountain, whoever put them there will develop an immediate and insatiable attraction to you.

In this case, Beth chooses the coins of several wacky guys – Antonio (Will Arnett), an artist; Lance (Jon Heder), a street magician; and Gale (Dax Shepard), a male model. Or so he thinks. Danny DeVito is in there, as well. You’d think that all these funny guys pursuing Beth across the globe and into New York City would be hilarious, but they’re really only good for a few chuckles here and there.

Beth also chooses a poker chip out of the fountain, which she eventually comes to believe belongs to Nick. So the rest of the story moves along, as all of Beth’s suitors pursue her in crazy fashion, with her trying to figure out where she stands with Nick.

It’s all very cute. Bell and Duhamel are nice to look at, though they don’t share a ton of chemistry. All of the “wacky guys” are sorely misused. I would think the filmmakers could have capitalized on their funny-ness better than they did. As it is, they just sort of pursued Beth on the streets of NYC, and there was one mildly creepy scene where one of them gets into her apartment and lies in wait for her to come home.

Angelica Huston is also underused as Beth’s boss. She always seems to just play the stern characters these days, and you know there’s a lot more in there that could be used film-wise.

I’m not sure I’d recommend laying out the cash to see “When in Rome” in theaters, but once it comes to DVD and Blu-ray, you should check it out if you like romantic comedies and have nothing else to do that day.

Image: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

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Here Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel talk about filming the movie, about a young, ambitious New Yorker whose completely unlucky in love. But all that changes on a trip to Rome, where she impulsively steals some coins from a reputed fountain of love, causing her to be aggressively pursued by a band of suitors.

Now I’ve got “Three Coins in a Fountain…” stuck in my head. Not a bad thing, though.

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Movie: Leap Year * Trailer * Official Site	In Theaters: Jan. 8, 2010
Runtime: 97 minutes	Directed by: Anand Tucker
MPAA Rating: PG for sensuality and language	Gecko Rating:

“Leap Year” isn’t the best romantic comedy ever made. The plot is about as predictable as they come, and the two leads have zero chemistry. You have to wonder if this is one of those movies where about half-way through, the cast and crew realized it just wasn’t working, but had to forge ahead because there was no turning back.

Ok, that’s the bad stuff. The good stuff is that despite all that, the story still made me happy and even a little weepy in a good way (believe me, it doesn’t take much). Sometimes, that’s enough.

Amy Adams plays a career-minded woman named Anna who’s been waiting four years for her boyfriend Jeremy (Adam Scott) to propose to her. They’re getting ready to move into a fabulous new apartment together, and now seems like the perfect time to make it legal.

More after the jump…

On the night of a romantic dinner together, Anna waits expectantly as Jeremy presents her with a small box. Inside, though, is not the engagement ring she’s been hoping for. It’s a pair of earrings. A really nice pair of earrings, but still … not a ring.

Jeremy, a cardiologist, immediately jets off to Ireland to a medical conference, leaving Anna to ponder her life. She discovers that Ireland has a tradition whereby a woman may propose to her beloved on Leap Day, February 29. Why she needs to travel across the globe to do this is beyond me. Why not just propose to him on American soil? Nonetheless, Anna embraces the plan and boards a plane to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.

But her big plan is derailed when bad weather forces the plane down in Wales, leaving her in a remote part of the countryside where small pubs and mom-and-pop inns are the only sign of civilization.

She meets a pub owner named Declan (Matthew Goode) who’s in desperate need of cash to save his pub, so he agrees to escort her to Dublin, beginning with a ride in a tiny car. The two travelers are like oil and water, with his scruffy, distant demeanor in sharp contrast to her buttoned-up personality. Not only that, they encounter every sort of problem along the way, including car woes, weather issues, missed trains and the like.

But they start to like each other and, yeah, you can see where this is headed. Maybe the future Anna planned for herself isn’t the one she’s meant to live. Maybe she needs to be open to other possibilities.

I wouldn’t say to rush right out and see “Leap Year,” but it’s still a sweet movie with a happy ending. If you can get past the inevitable questions, that is, such as, “Did she pack no shoes besides 4-inch stilettos?” 

And since it’s rated PG, there’s really nothing too objectionable for younger moviegoers. I saw it with my 12-year-old daughter and several of her friends, and they all agreed it was a cute movie, even if you might forget it a few days after you see it.

One good thing “Leap Year” has going for it is the gorgeous countryside. Much of it was filmed in Galway and Dublin, where quaint roads, Irish greenery, and stone fences dot the countryside, not to mention stunning cliffs that crowd the crashing waves of the sea.     

Images: © Universal Studios

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Anyway, probably not the greatest romantic comedy ever made, but it looked pretty cute. Hugh Grant was in Madrid recently promoting the movie, and you have to wonder what the exchange was between him and the girl in the bikini. “Uh, righto, lass, but that got me in a lot of trouble before…”

After the jump, another weird picture.

“Sure, I’d love to have dinner with you and the other Teletubbies.” 

Images: INF

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Seriously, I really love Michael Cera, even though he basically plays the same character in every film. 

And by the way, don’t you think he should do a biopic on Garry Shandling’s life? Same here (see below).

Image: INF

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Pattinson plays Tyler, a rebellious young man in New York City who has a strained relationship with his father (Pierce Brosnan) ever since tragedy separated their family. Tyler has felt lost and alone until he met and connected with Ally (Emilie de Ravin). But as he begins to fall for her, secrets come out that threaten their relationship. Hmmm, sounds mysterious.

Directed by Allen Coulter, the cast also includes two of my favorite actors – Chris Cooper and Lena Olin. It’s set for a March 12, 2010 release date (originally Feb. 12).

What do you think of the poster? It looks more romantic than tragic, as the story implies. Check out some on-set pics, and watch the trailer below.

Image: TM and © 2009 Summit Entertainment, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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