Kutcher (‘Oliver’) and Peet (‘Emily’) play a couple of strangers who connect on a plane trip. Emily isn’t looking for a romantic entanglement, just a good time. Oliver’s instantly attracted to Emily but knows where she stands. Yet despite Emily’s stance, there’s no denying there’s a kind of mutual attraction. “A Lot Like Love” follows Emily and Oliver over a period of seven years, through a string of break-ups with other lovers, career highs and lows, and periodic reunions between the two friends/lovers.
Amanda Peet on Love at First Sight: “I guess I certainly don't believe in love at first sight. I definitely believe in a lot of chemistry and lust at first sight. But I think that love is something that takes work. As you can see in the movie, I think that timing is everything. [Both] people have to be ready and open and I think that's sort of what the movie is about.”
Identifying With Her Character: “I grew up in New York and I went through a big kind of, I don't know if I'd call it a ‘Goth’ phase. I [thought I] was a hipster kind of artsy person, but I wasn't really. I was really kind of a prude in high school and I did my home work and I went to college. I was pretty normal. But I identified with her kind of 'I'm a special, artsy, tough girl' kind of thing.”
Rules to Live By When It Comes to Men: When Amanda Peet was asked whether she has hard and fast rules when it comes to the opposite sex, her “A Lot Like Love” co-star Ashton Kutcher immediately volunteered the fact that he knows Peet’s rules. Peet laughed and told him he thinks he knows the rules, but in truth, she tries not to be that regimented. “I think that you have to try and not plan too much. [You] just let it happen,” said Peet.
Amanda Peet Explains the Evolution of Her Character’s Personality: “I think that it's just an age thing. I think that probably the younger you are, the more interested you are in having some sort of persona of coolness. There are people out there who've had some kind of loss or have been abandoned by a parent, who are afraid to be vulnerable and don't know what to say to people like Ashton's character. They prefer something that's harder to get because it makes them feel safer. I think that she's probably like that. I think she likes him despite herself, and I think that's a great recipe for a romantic comedy - or at least when you have the right co-star. I had that in spades.
It's nice because it's a kind of old fashioned romantic comedy where one of them attracts the other one. I think that's what we were trying to achieve. I guess that when we auditioned with each other, we fell in love with each other or I fell in love with Ashton.”
The Difference Between ‘A Lot Like Love’ and ‘Love:’ “The only difference is the ability to talk around and around it or dance around and around it, tell each other that the timing isn't right or that you're moving to San Francisco or that you need to do A, B and C before I commit to you. But really if the thing is there it's there, and that's what the movie is about.”
The Craziest Thing She’s Done for Love: “I think that it's more that I've probably tried to insinuate myself or make a move at the wrong time. I've thrown pebbles at someone's window. I've gone after them or made a move when I know that I'm going to announce that I love them, like when they've moved on or when there's another woman in the picture.”
