Mike's movie guide: "Must Love Dogs"

If you think that you are continually striking out on love and you feel like giving up, you should check out "Must Love Dogs" this weekend; bring a date...if you can.

The movie, based on the best selling book by Claire Cook, was written and directed by two-time Emmy Award winner Gary David Goldberg. "Must Love Dogs" follows the comic, bumpy and ultimately rewarding journey of a divorced woman (Diane Lane) who is thrust into the dating scene by her best friend. Her friend puts her profile on PerfectMatch.com and describes to Lane that online dating is "like going online for a pair of pants, except there is going to be a guy in them." Lane cautiously rediscovers romance as she learns to trusts her own instincts again, not just online descriptions.

As the movie follows Lane's many romances (and failures) it also highlights the importance of family through her relationship with her father. "Why one human being is attracted to another is of the great mysteries in the world," says her father to her as he encourages her not to give up on love. It may be easy to try and forget love as the divorced Lane ends up in a tangled love triangle involving an intense man she met online (played by a seemingly always downcast John Cusack), and her "perfect" man she meets in a classroom, played by Dermont Mulroney.

Lane comes of age while learning a lot about herself and her views on love and audiences can likely connect to with her as she struggles through dating. Though most students are not divorced, or at least I hope not, we have all experienced failed love and, this being a Mennonite school, experienced how finding that life-long mate can be harder then memorizing texts or taking the MCATs. I can only hope that somehow you find some answers in "Must Love Dogs."

As always, the cheap prices and warm seats are worth it for a fun film that is guaranteed to make you smile. Showing times for the hour and half movie are 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.