Or "Serendipity Jr." In this sweet romantic comedy aimed at "tweeners," 'N Sync's Lance Bass plays Kevin, a shy, unassuming, chronically lovelorn ad writer who meets the girl of his dreams (the very appealing Emmanuelle Chriqui) on Chicago's El.
Despite finding major commonalities – they both love Al Green, the Cubs and presidential successions, Kevin fails to get her name and number. High school buds (including fellow 'N Sync-er Joey Fatone) who've watched this routine before goad him into plastering the city with "looking for" fliers, which attracts tabloid attention and a famine-to-feast reversal of fortune, particularly when Kevin's buds start screening wannabe-hers.
'N Sync member Lance Bass stars in "On the Line."
(Miramax)
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Harmless romantic and musical high jinks abound, and sentimentality prevails even as several minor parallel plot lines arise (the film, directed by Eric Bross, is a feature-length adaptation of a short by writers Eric Aronson and Paul Stanton).
The boyishly handsome Bass has a low-key charm reminiscent of Andrew McCarthy 20 years ago, while Fatone proves a deft comic as Kevin's head-banging sidekick.
The soundtrack is, of course, teen-pop by 'N Sync and other Jive acts, but Bass sings only in a high school flashback, while Fatone mostly apes '80s hair bands. The PG rating is well-deserved, with the focus always on romance, never sex.
ON THE LINE (PG, 85 minutes) – Contains mild profanity.
Area theaters.
