This is a straight romantic movie, without any real drama, action, or character development that gets in the way. It is the simple story of a man who loses his love then finds another love, but with a slight complication. There is the usual mix of supporting characters to enliven the movie and add a sense of a family atmosphere. For whatever reason, it works for me.

Bob Rueland (David Duchovny) is the head of an eponomously named architecture company, living in a two or three story home with a large skinny dog (hey, I don't know animals) and his adoring wife, Elizabeth (Joely Richardson), who is some sort of research scientist at the city zoo. It's a big day for Elizabeth, as she will be speaking at a fundraiser of hers, to raise money so that the orangutan habitat can be tripled in size.

Meanwhile, at a local hospital, Megan Dayton (Bonnie Hunt) is reading to her best friend Grace Briggs (Minni Driver). They exchange a few jokes and we learn that Grace is waiting for a heart transplant which she is not too sure she'll live long enough to get. Switch to a scene where Grace's grandfather Marty O'Reilly (Carroll O'Connor) and his brother Angelo Pardipillo (Robert Loggia) are working at their restaurant, O'Reilly's, and worrying about Grace.

By now you can guess what's going to happen, and indeed a scene or two later we have Bob and Elizabeth in the hospital, Elizabeth on a gurney being wheeled into the operating room. It's a rather sad scene as Bob is taken home by his friend Charlie Johnson (David Alan Grier), who also works at the zoo. Elizabeth is dead, Bob is in shock, and their dog waits patiently at the door for Elizabeth to come home.

After a couple more scenes where we see Grace adapting to her new life, and being quite embarrassed about the scar on her chest, we skip ahead approximately one year. Bob and his company are busy finishing up on the gorilla habitat expansion while Grace is working as a waitress at O'Reilly's (an Irish-Italian restaurant, by the way) and contemplating a trip to Italy where she can be inspired to paint.

Charlie convinces Bob to go on a blind date at O'Reilly's. The date goes badly but Bob meets Grace and is immediately enchanted. The rest of the film is about their growing relationship, Grace's secret, then Grace discovering just whose heart's she has and the resulting crisis.

This is a nice movie, not necessarily remarkable in any way. The old boys network which consists of Mary and Angelo and their two friends who play cards and argue about the best singer, baseball player, dancer, whatever -- that is a nice touch. As is Grace's friend Megan and her family. It makes the movie more homey and familiar.

David Duchovny finally has a role where he gets to cry and have feelings. Frankly from what I've seen, Fox Mulder is a rather wooden character -- a bit too self-restrained for an actor to show his range. And I haven't seen Duchovny in any other movies, so this is the first time I've seen him emote, and he's not bad.

Minnie Driver is also quite good playing a relatively normal person. Carroll O'Connor does a great job as the doting grandfather. Joely Richardson has a short role but does ok. I had just seen her in The Patriot. Bonnie Hunt, David Allan Grier, James Belushi, and Robert Loggia have small roles with Belushi having a couple of lighter moments.

This is not a must-see movie, just a nice romance with a bit of comedy. Since there haven't been too many romantic movies this year it's well worth a see if you're in the mood. Personally I think that Boys and Girls was better, but that is a biased opinion.