Of all of the zany ideas for Hollywood romantic comedies, this one has to be one of the strangest.

A couple, Calvin and Lauren, falls in love, but the relationship is built around an infidelity competition. The couple will test their best friends who will be seduced by a stranger. If the majority of the guinea pigs reject the seduction and remain faithful, then Calvin and Lauren will remain permanently in their relationship. But if the test subjects succumb to their lust, then the Calvin-Lauren relationship will end in six months. What a bummer of a compact for an interpersonal relationship?

After setting out this inane premise, the filmmakers do not even execute it very well. The comedy should have been based on the five competitions where the five couples are tested. But as we approached the "last" test for Calvin's friend Jacob, I had only counted three previous tests that had taken place. Either the filmmakers goofed and forgot one of the five tests...or I lost interest somewhere along the way...or both!

The film had a spark of potential because the two leads had some chemistry at those rare moments when they were not obsessing on their competition. Still, Chris Klein overacted his role of Calvin, while Thora Birch underacted her interpretation of Lauren. It was as if Klein was back in one of his "American Pie" farces, while Birch was recycling her moody daughter character in "American Beauty."

There is earlier film called "The Competition" from 1980, which is about the rivalry of two concert pianists. That film involves a real competition, it includes some light-hearted moments, and it is still an eminently watchable film today. Unfortunately, the more recent competition film included some lovely footage of Portland, Oregon, but never rose to the level of either a memorable romance or a comedy.

In Portland, Calvin Chesney (Chris Klein) is tasked by his boss Gena (Claire Coffee) to save her sister Lauren (Thora Birch) from herself. Lauren is a scientist-blogger who came up with The Pig Theory. It's so successful that she's on the verge of a book deal. Calvin dares Lauren to test her theory. If he disproves her theory, she has to end her blog and everything related.

The movie should explain the theory right at the beginning. It would help it to start on a steadier flow. This is a second tier rom-com premise anyways. They have a functional meet-cute and that's the last good part of the movie. These two lead actors were at the top of the teenage acting mountain. Sadly, it's been a long steady decline for both of them. There are reasons for their declines and they are right on the screen. They don't have good chemistry. The writing is clunky and they can't help. Their best days are probably in the past.

The competition had some interesting premisses, but it failed to become even entertaining. The main couple were a couple because, well, the plot said so. They had zero chemistry and zero meaning together. When did they even date? The leading lady's hair was simply awful as well, kind of distracting too. The big deal about the blog was simply idiotic too. I mean, she was being offered a huge amount of money to write a book, what was wrong with writing what she was already writing for free anyway? The ending was terrible too.