Zellweger plays Barbara Novak, an author of a book called "Down With Love," which preaches that women should forget about love and just have sex. When they feel love coming on, they should eat chocolate instead, advice that comes with a scientific explanation. The author is supposed to be a young innocent from Maine. Her love interest turns out to be McGregor as Catcher Block, an unscrupulous journalist and womanizer, who is supposed to interview Novak but keeps postponing dates so that he can bed the ultra willing women in his life. She tells him to get lost. Ego driven and with an expose in mind, he finally arranges to meet her claiming he is someone else, just a nice, laid-back astronaut from the South. You can probably figure out the romantic sparring and the ultimate result, except that screenwriters Eve Ahlert and Dennis Drake provide a slight twist.

The pictures being paralleled had a Tony Randall role, and here Catcher's male pal and boss, Peter McMannus, is played in fussy style by David Hyde Pierce of "Frasier" fame as Dr. Niles Crane. Tony Randall needn't feel left out just because he's older. Now he plays the owner of the publishing house. Zellweger gets a female pal and editor, Sarah Paulson as Vikki Hiller, whom McMannus lusts after but doesn't know how to make his move.

There's much talk about women versus men and independence versus settling down with a home and family, plus the misunderstandings that come with scheming and deception. The film, directed by Peyton Reed, looks snazzy and captures the period, with the help of the zippy score that includes Judy Garland singing the title song in a clip on a TV screen, and versions of "Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)" sung by both Frank Sinatra and Astrud Gilberto.