ahh yes . the teenage romance . an attractive young cast is pitted into an unlikely scenario that could only happen in the movies , and in the end , the guy always gets the girl . and with the arrival of the breakout hit `she's all that' last year ( followed by a long catalogue of imitators including `10 things i hate about you' and `drive me crazy' ) , the genre previously on life support is once again a hot commodity . along now comes `down to you' . the folks at miramax are obviously trying to capitalize on the rabid `she's all that' craze with their latest project , which has the studdly freddie prinze jr . attached and all . only `down to you' doesn't have the ? unlikely scenario' mentioned above . it is <NEG> an extraordinarily ordinary </NEG> romance - <NEG> a dull , unattractive </NEG> teen comedy that <NEG> sticks to the boring game plan that we're accustomed to </NEG> . this is the kind of romance that <NEG> only giggly 12-year old girls will find convincing </NEG> . in strictly textbook fashion , college sophomore and aspiring chef al ( prinze jr . ) meets freshman artist imogen ( julia stiles ) . they hit it off like a couple can only in the movies . from here , it's the standard boy-meets-girl , boy-loses-girl , boy-drinks-entire-bottle-of-shampoo-and-may-or-may-not-get-girl-back story . the plot is conveniently assembled to suit the requirements of the main characters , who are frequently taking part in activities that . . . . well , only happen in the movies . fortunately , the cast of `down to you' has a certain appeal . freddie prinze jr . and julia stiles are an adorable couple , and when on screen together , they radiate the sort of warmth and charisma that the movie should have centered around . zak orth , as the newly realized porn star monk , shows an unmistakable flair with handling all of the film's intelligent dialogue . rounding out the impressive ensemble of young talent are shawn hatosy ( `the faculty' ) , selma blair ( `cruel intentions' ) and ashton kutcher ( tv's `that 70's shows' ) . even the fonz himself - henry winkler , the epitome of teenage angst and nostalgia - has a welcome role as al's dad , the host of the popular cooking program `chef ray' . maybe the concept of `down to you' looked good on paper to draw such a crowd . as a feature film , however , <NEG> the finished product is bland and tasteless fluff </NEG> with only an occasional whiff of cuteness to keep the gears from stopping entirely . perhaps <NEG> worst of all </NEG> , `down to you' <NEG> is not funny </NEG> . the jokes are drawn from obvious sources and <NEG> the resulting humor is banal and uninspired </NEG> . the characters on screen , often laughing at each other's goofy/embarrassing antics , seemed far more amused than the audience . even the giggly 12-year old girls had grown restless toward the end as they waited impatiently for the formula to run it's course . the one mildly clever segment featured winkler and prinze jr . in a fantasy sequence called `cooks' , a `cops' take-off in which the father and son would storm houses and cook a decent meal for ? needy' families ( with the assistance of a fully-armed swat team , of course ) . when this is the highlight reel , you know the remaining film <NEG> could leave something to be desired </NEG> . in order to make a teen comedy work , you've got to have characters that show something by way of depth and identity . `10 things i hate about you' actually featured characters who were more than walking flashcards , and the result was refreshing . <NEG> no such luck </NEG> with `down to you' . it's just a textbook romance where , despite absurd circumstances , everything is bound to work out in the end . and at the end of <NEG> the whole clich ? d ordeal </NEG> , the nicest thing you could possibly say would be ` . . . . only in the movies' .
