The male equivalent of the dumb blonde, the beautiful hayseed always has a core innocence that can come awfully close to stupidity but also serves to make the character far less dangerous than those good looks might suggest.
One of the best things about A Lot Like Love is that this is one of the few mainstream romantic comedies in memory in which innocence isn't a sucker's game. Part of what keeps Oliver and Emily in each other's orbit, despite the myriad complications, is that they never become captive to cynicism or morph into alien beings in some urban "lifestyle" fantasy.
Seven years into this romance, Emily was still driving a wreck, Oliver was still struggling, and -- against all expectation -- I was still happy to be along for the ride.
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