PLAYING JAMES

Opposites meet and inevitably attract in this amusing first effort.

Beautiful Holly Colshannon is an ambitious, accident-prone junior reporter for the Bristol Gazette. Slightly more gorgeous James Sabine is a tough, tart-tongued detective sergeant with a chip on his shoulder. They meet cute in the first of many convenient coincidences, then butt heads again when the determined Holly sees a chance to further her career by tailing James for a six-week stint as a crime columnist that may be her first big break. She’s got an insistent boss named Joe who wants to turn their provincial British newspaper around, and the formerly cursed crime beat that Holly’s inherited just might boost sales. The main problem is James’s absolute disdain for Holly and her mission. Days of ridicule and uncooperative behavior flick by. Joe eventually says the magic words, “Get some sort of repartee going with him!” No problem! James may be grumpy, but Holly’s got spunk, and soon their icy glares give way to those glances that last just a little too long. Sound familiar? Thankfully, first-timer Mason offers enough genuinely funny writing to counter the clichés as the ill-matched couple trade verbal jabs while working toward solving a series of burglaries and Holly makes a round of adorable mistakes (hitting herself with her own knees, slipping on some candy, getting her toe stuck in a bottle) that endear her to James—and presumably to us. Between car staekouts and emergency-room visits, we meet James’s aesthetically pleasing fiancée and Holly’s perfunctory but handsome boyfriend. Meanwhile, stock figures—the loyal best friend, the lovable flamboyant gay man—wander in and out of the plot. Do they catch the burglar in time? Will Holly confess her love for James? Does the column get her what she wants? Stop me if you’ve heard this one before . . . .

Momentum and humor almost win out against the obvious.