Echo Bridge Entertainment / 2011 / 93 mins / TV-14

THE FILM:
What in the world could be worse than another one of Hollywood’s contrived, gimmicky and stupidly plotted romantic comedies? Try a contrived, gimmicky and stupidly plotted Made-For-Television romantic comedy! Yep. There is a level of movie Hell even more painful than the ground floor.

In COMING AND GOING, Sasha Alexander (of “Rizzoli & Isles”) and Rhys Darby (of “Flight of the Conchords”) take the roles usually played by Katherine Heigl/Jennifer Aniston and whatever male hunk was free for a couple of weeks of filming. He is playing Lee, an OBGYN who is wheelchair bound after pulling his groin in yoga class. She is playing immigration lawyer Alex. They have parked next to each other for years and he has secretly developed a crush on her. When she almost hits him, she takes him on a date and they have a great time. However, Lee thinks Alex is only interested in him out of pity, so long after his groin has healed he continues to stay in the wheelchair to date her. That’s about all there is here. To flesh out the running time, the THREE writers came up with a subplot involving Alex’s abstinence preaching sister (Pam Cook) who also happens to be her roommate, getting pregnant. Hilarity ensues.

I’m sure there is a healthy faction of the television watching population who are into films like this. There must be since they keep getting made. To those people, I say enjoy COMING AND GOING. For the rest of us, this is movie watching torture. The cast do what are required of them well enough. The atrocious rom-com musical score from William Goodrum tells us when something is funny and when the situation is okay or a little tense. The direction from Edoardo Ponti (the son of Sophia Loren and Carlo Ponti!) is flat and uninteresting. Overall, this is a typical made-for-television romantic comedy.

THE DISC:
The anamorphic 1.85 picture is about on par for a bargain bin release: soft picture, moderate color saturation, blown out whites and crushed blacks, interlacing and aliasing popping up here and there.

The Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo mix is also bargain bin. You can hear everything and it is clear enough. That’s about it.

THE EXTRAS:
Zip. Nada. Nothing.

MY SAY:
COMING AND GOING has that made-for-television rom-com sensibility and is an instantly forgettable flick. The box prominently features a cute Chihuahua that has nothing to do with the plot. You can pick it up from on-line vendors for under $4.00, so even if you don’t like it it’s cheaper than going to a movie theater. All that adds up to either a snooze inducing yawner for most movie lovers or a fluffy time waster for rom-com lovers.

Reviewed by Jeff Allen