Brilliant astronomer Sam (Matthew Broderick) is totally in love with small town girl Linda (Kelly Preston) who's never been away from home. She goes away to NYC for a job. He's devastated when she sends him a Dear John letter. He goes to NYC to track her down. He finds her living with Anton (Tchéky Karyo),and he sets up various equipment to watch the couple from across the street. One night, he's interrupted by mysterious Maggie (Meg Ryan) who is angry with her ex Anton. Together they bring havoc to Anton life.

This starts as a dark comedy by director Griffin Dunne. Meg Ryan is playing against type by being a bitter angry chick. She is the MPDG before the phrase was coined. I can certainly understand the loop people were thrown into way back when the movie first came out. Seeing it now with more time past, I can appreciate the comedy. She works as this obsessed vindictive chick, but is able to keep her cutie charm.

Matthew Broderick is also not the usual rom-com material. He's way too weak and not the alpha male common in a rom-com. He's funniest when he's most pathetic.

This usual pairing is a challenge when this movie goes into traditional rom-com mode. But Meg Ryan is able to bring out the charm at the right time. That's probably the saving grace of this movie. However I could see a darker scarier actress who could have made this even more interesting.

Astromer Matthew Broderick sets out to spy on his ex-girlfriend and her new lover; when the man's jilted fiancée comes into the picture, the two conspire to bust up the budding romance. Amiable, rascally, but ultimately predictable comedy is more about transitory love than love addictions. Sunny Meg Ryan gets to work with a little more shading and edge than usual, and she works well with Broderick; but the second-half of the movie scatters around trying to come up with an ending. The finale is cute, like the rest, but some of the wind has already gone out of the picture's sails. Director Griffin Dunne stages a few beautiful comedic scenes (as with the restaurant critic),but Broderick's 'friendship' with the new man in his girl's life is just silly, and the whole conceit of Broderick and Ryan setting up shop in an abandoned building right across the street from the loving couple is amusingly ridiculous. Still, there are finely wrought, surprisingly telling moments in the movie, such as the two leads sneaking over and going through the things in the love-nest, or Kelly Preston telling her Frenchman that she would sell pencils on the street with him if she had to. It's better than it had to be. *** from ****

Meg Ryan has the ability to drive for several miles without even looking at the road.