Sure, every man's life is suddenly ameliorated when a supermodel lands in his lap. And even though he's admittedly spent more time on his abs than on his marriage, after she runs off on a fling with another man, she'll spend the rest of the script trying to get back into his arms. Hollywood still loves a good fairytale.The movie revolves around Jack's "journal." He's nearly killed over it, but the cops are not called in. He knows who attacked him, but the cops are not called in. He finds out who initiated the attack, but the cops are not called in. The most telling of all: the journal will make Barbi Ling's career skyrocket; it holds Jack's secrets, holds information that contradicts his testimony in court, holds information that can destroy Jack, her ultimate goal. So, does she copy the pages? Store it away in a vault? Keep it in a safe place? No, she travels all over the city with it and loses it twice back to Jack. Finally, in the end, Jack gets his journal back, threatens to call the cops (duh), takes back the wife who's cuckolded him, and quits his business so he can now live life again (something that would have been forced upon him had Ling published her story).As a comedy, it hardly works. As a drama it doesn't work. As a juvenile exercise in how not to write a script, it excels.

Maybe I wasn't expecting much, and when it comes to Ben Affleck in a starring role, does one ever? I was mildly surprised when I found myself actually enjoying 'Man about town'! Its good, lighthearted fun. Its not meant to be an Oscar winner, and never takes itself too seriously. It contains some hilarious one-liners delivered by a uniformly good cast. Rebecca Romijn is luminous in her role and pulls it off easily. Howard Hesseman enjoys himself thoroughly and Gina Gershon also shines in a small but pivotal role. The only disappointment is Bai Ling. Whoever thought she could act should be drawn and quartered!

This movie was advertised as a romantic comedy, but there was no romance and no comedy. All I saw was a boring story about a horrible person, a talent agent, whom I found myself rooting against. Talent agents are, in general, not likable characters. So why did the director think we'd enjoy spending a few hours with one, even if he's played by Ben Affleck? The nepotism and shallow nature of Hollywood seem to be accurately portrayed in this movie. Behind the red carpet glamour of the movie industry lies a dirty business totally lacking any morals or ethical standard. But this was well documented in "The Player" and doesn't need to be repeated. I couldn't bring myself to care about Affleck's character, and thus didn't get emotionally involved with this movie.

Okay, first of all, Ben Affleck is one of the partners of a high-powered Hollywood agency. About halfway through, he moans about never being able to close a deal or get things done. How the hell did someone like that become head of a high-powered Hollywood agency? Second, why do we care about him? He's shallow, uninteresting and his life is meaningless. That's supposed to be the point, I gather, but this is no Jerry MacGuire and no hidden interesting depths are to be found here. Third, his supermodel wife (!) has absolutely no character. She mopes around about how much she loves him (even though she's been having an affair with one of his clients), but we learn nothing about her except that she has no personality. The whole movie's emotional center is supposed to be whether he gets back together with her, but we have no reason to think they should be together in the first place (and no, the idiotic virtual CGI sequence of them scuba-diving doesn't provide that context). Fourth, the Asian woman who steals Ben's journal - every time the agency folk meet this woman, she (A) HAPPENS to have the journal in her purse (which would be the stupidest thing in the world to carry to a meeting with them) and (B) they STEAL it from her and run in a merry Keystone Cops-like chase that's completely absurd and unnecessary since...IT'S NOT HERS TO BEGIN WITH. IT'S STOLEN PROPERTY. CALL THE POLICE, YOU SIX PEOPLE WITH CELL PHONES!!! But, no, no, that would make sense. And finally (although I could go on and on), the ending where Ben and Rebecca ride away from Hollywood to who knows where. I thought to myself, where are they going? They can only function in Hollywood. They have no other existence beyond Hollywood. The viewer can't conceive of them anywhere else the way they've been presented. This movie made absolutely no emotional or logical sense, I didn't understand the writer-director's take on Ben Affleck's character at all. I don't want to bag on Ben - he's actually good when used correctly = I blame the script and direction that left him standing around with egg on his face (and on his Armani suit).Oh, I did like Howard Hesseman.