I really liked Charlize Theron in The Cider House Rules, and I felt that she’s an actress with a lot to offer. There is a certain grace around her, a kind of unblemished beauty that is hard to find in the movie business. But look at her recent choice in movies: Reindeer Games, Legend of Bagger Vance, The Yards, and now this. Only one question is appropriate to be asked, "What was she thinking?"

In Sweet November, she plays Sara Deaver, a free spirit with a mission. She meets Nelson Moss (Keanu Reeves), a workaholic without a life. She makes him an offer he can’t refuse – they will live together for a month. Her project is to make him realize what has he been missing, and he is unable to let go of his cell phone that easily. But Sara is almost a psychic, she knows how to unlock Nelson, and she does that with such ease, you would think she’d be a great daytime talk show host. Poor Nelson gives in to his newly found freedom, but just as he falls in love with his guru, he discovers her dark secret. Will he forget about her and leave her alone, or will his love for her grow stronger? Take a wild guess.

Sweet November is a festival of cliché’s piled up so high you can’t see the movie from them. Nelson is supposed to be as ruthless as we first meet him, but somehow, Sara melts all the negativity from him, and he doesn’t waste the opportunity to spend $100 on helping a young boy, Sara’s neighbor, win a race of model sailboats, against all odds. Speaking of neighbors, everybody seems to know Sara’s "boyfriend for a month" pattern, which begins to sound pretty suspicious. But not to Nelson, he’s firmly under her spell. There’s also a third character, Chaz, Sara’s gay neighbor, played by Jason Isaacs, who’s trying to make audiences forget his role of a sadistic Red Coat officer in The Patriot. He is the missing link between a hippy woman and a yuppie man, and his Scottish charm works better here than his British discipline in The Patriot.