As moviegoers, we suffer through dozens of cliché-riddled romantic-comedies each year. I can think of six such movies, all formulaic and all indistinguishable from one another, which were released since the beginning of 2003. Gigli is an unconventional romantic-comedy, the type of movie that is rarely financed by large studios. It is also living proof that films require more than a deviation from the standard formula to be enjoyable.

Gigli stars Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, the highly-publicized couple who have appeared in more tabloid magazines than both Lobster Boy and Bigfoot combined. The press has expressed much skepticism towards Ben and J. Lo’s on-screen chemistry, and unjustly so. While the lovebirds have both gelled better with other on-screen partners in their previous work (Affleck with Gwyneth Paltrow in Bounce/Lopez with George Clooney in Out of Sight), in this case, I’d blame the material they have to work with more than the lovers themselves.

Ben Affleck plays the title character, Larry Gigli (pronounced Gee-ly), a second-rate loanshark who is constantly belittled by his hardass boss (Lenny Venito). His latest assignment is to kidnap the younger brother of a Los Angeles prosecutor, who happens to be mentally handicap, and hold him hostage so that a renowned mobster (Al Pacino) can resolve his legal problems. Since Larry is considered to be a fuck up, aid is sent to him in the form of Ricki (Jennifer Lopez), a smooth talking criminal who (sweet irony!) happens to be gay.

So Affleck and Lopez baby-sit Brian (Justin Bartha), the handicap teenager who also suffers from tourettes, while building loads and loads of sexual tension.

As one of Hollywood's most charismatic actors, Ben Affleck can barely be imagined in a bland role, but in Gigli, his character could not be engaging even if he had Will Hunting as a best friend. Larry spends the entire film cursing and overreacting to every situation, keeping the audience at a distance. I had checked out emotionally from the film long before the end credits. Affleck does provide numerous laughs, but I can’t think of many actors who’d be capable of doing so were they cast in the same role.

I do wish writer-director Martin Breast would understand the difference between unconventional humor and inappropriate humor. A suicide attempt certainly isn’t typical in romantic-comedies, but if the scene does not benefit the story (in the case of Gigli, it’s not even relevant to the story), then I usually feel like the director is killing time. Between Meet Joe Black and Gigli, Breast has killed a lot of time.

How does a filmmaker who is responsible for some of the most entertaining movies in history (Midnight Run, Beverly Hills Cop) churn-out something like Gigli? Who knows, but in a film where the only character you remotely care about is an obscenity-spewing adolescent lifted right out of Rain Man, you know some elements are not working.

Chief among those elements ‘not working’ is the romance. Or, more appropriately, the complete absence of romance. I can’t remember the last time two characters were forced this forcefully to fall in love. Sigh. I just hope Gigli doesn’t do any damage towards the second teaming of Ben and Jen, Jersey Girl, set for release next year.