Love Potion No. 9 (1992)

Mildly entertaining romantic comedy featuring Sandra Bullock in an early role before she became a megastar by driving a bus. Two scientists act as human guinea pigs to test the effects of a potion that makes members of the opposite sex fall in love with them. But only when they’re within hearing distance, and only for four hours. Because magical things need rules. It’s like Gremlins all over again. Paul (Tate Donovan) uses it to pick up women in bars, while Diane (Sandra Bullock) somehow ends up attracting the Prince of England. As you do.

It’s obvious where the real romance is meant to be - between Paul and Diane - but the film forces it on the audience rather than letting it blossom naturally. It isn’t even clear that they are in love. Paul seems infatuated with her, while Diane mostly treats him as a friend and occasionally leads him on.

The plot is fairly disjointed. The royal romance goes nowhere, Diane appears to start the film with a boyfriend who, despite being a bit of a jerk, she seems to love, and there’s a strange side-plot involving a prostitute which takes up more screen time than it needs.

And worse than that, despite being called Love Potion No. 9, the potion Paul and Diane play around with for most of the film is No. 8. Number 9 turns up much later, and the film probably didn’t need a second potion at all. Just make 8 number 9, leave 9 out of it, and stop making everything more complicated than it needs to be. Not terrible, but not exactly magical either.