This is the Will Ferrell-is-a-character-in-Emma-Thompson’s-book movie, the concept of which looked interesting, and which I had no idea how they’d pull it off.

Answer: They didn’t. The combination of a standard romantic comedy (with abbreviated rom-com relationship built on like two incidents of small talk, one incident of standard human kindness and one piece of shared musical taste) with an unexplored fantasy Macguffin pretty much doesn’t work at all.

But while you’re watching the movie, there are enough genuinely funny moments (mostly with Dustin Hoffman) and enough overall craft that you mostly don’t really think too hard aboot it, which is probably for the best. Passable fluff.