The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)

The fact that the ensemble of characters in this romantic comedy (based on a Karen Joy Fowler bestseller) spend each month reading a Jane Austen novel and meeting to discuss it simply means that they are forever comparing Austen's troubled marriages, burgeoning romances, and complicated love triangles to their own: these parallels come thick and fast but are superficial, meaning you can smile - very gently - at this romcom even if you've never read a word of Austen yourself.

★★★☆☆

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Butterfly on a Wheel (US: Shattered / EU: Desperate Hours) (2007)

When their daughter is abducted, a devastated couple is coerced into performing tasks that further undo their perfect lives by a man who remains their constant companion for 24 hours, in this unlikely crime thriller with a twist at the end that is not as interesting as it would be if it were to be discussed by lawyers in a Butterfly on a Wheel 2.

★★☆☆☆

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Coyote Ugly (2000)

The "Coyote Ugly" bar's Occupational Health and Safety standards are sorely tested by a wannabe songstress so desperate to make a go of her miming skills, she risks strutting up and down the venue's slippery bar juggling glass bottles and then, just when you think her life couldn't get any more out there, she makes the difficult but life-changing decision to karaoke Blondie's One Way Or Another during a bar fight, and pretty soon she's got it all.

★☆☆☆☆

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