MADtv alumnus Josh Meyers gets a shot at a movie leading role via 2010’s How to Make Love to a Woman. Record label A&R man Andy Conners (Meyers) seems to have a great relationship with his girlfriend Lauren (Krysten Ritter). However, one night after sex, Lauren sighs – and Andy doesn’t hear it as a sign of satisfaction.

This sends him into a tizzy of self-doubt – and exploration of how to fix the situation. He consults with his pal Layne (Eugene Byrd) and others as he tries to figure out how to make Lauren happy. In the meantime, Lauren deals with her own questions, a path that might lead her back to an old childhood crush (Ian Somerhalder) and away from Andy.

Early in the film, one woman describes her boyfriend’s lovemaking skills as "pretty decent"; she defines this as a little better than "okay". That sounds like a pretty good designaton for Love, as it offers a perfectly competent little comedy but not anything more memorable than that.

The film definitely wears its influences on its sleeve. At first, I thought Love offered an update on Woody Allen, which is true – except it’s Woody Allen as interpreted through the filter of Rob Reiner and When Harry Met Sally. Some scenes – like one in a diner – show a direct Sally influence, and the use of splitscreen "testimonials" also hearkens back to the Reiner hit. You’ll also find a Kevin Smith feel here, along with the requisite Star Wars reference.

This doesn’t make Love a clone, but it also doesn’t mean that it provides an especially scintillating affair. On the positive side, the film proves to be less smutty than expected. I anticipated a raunchy sex romp, but the end result becomes more of a relationship film. The characters aren’t quite three-dimensional, but they’re closer than one would think, and the movie’s tone goes closer to drama than the American Pie wannabe I thought I’d get.

Love also features a fairly good cast. This won’t become a breakout vehicle for Meyers – has a direct-to-video flick ever really bolstered anyone’s career? – but he manages the role pretty well. Meyers shows good comedic timing as well as the ability to handle the dramatic aspects of the role. The supporting actors also manage to deliver quality performances.

So why does Love remain, y’know, just "pretty decent"? I think it’s the script and the execution. There’s simply not much on display that counts as especially strong, as the movie gives us a competent romantic comedy without anything to make it stand out from the crowd.

And that’s where Love remains. Good cast, nice performances, and more three-dimensional characters/story than expected should make it a bigger winner than it is. However, while competent, Love just doesn’t turn into anything especially winning.

Footnote: stick around through the end credits for a tag from some supporting characters.

How to Make Love to a Woman appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.78:1 on this single-sided, double-layered DVD; the image has been enhanced for 16X9 televisions. The film came with a competent transfer.

Sharpness was acceptable. Wider shots suffered from a moderate amount of softness, but the overall package remained reasonably accurate and concise. Occasional instances of jaggies and shimmering occurred, and I noticed a little edge enhancement as well as some general artifacting. Source flaws stayed minor, though; I noticed a few specks but nothing more.

With its natural palette, the film’s colors looked fairly good. They could be a little messy at times, but they usually seemed acceptably full and vivid. Blacks appeared reasonably dense and tight, while shadows showed fair to good clarity. Nothing here impressed, but the overall impression became perfectly decent.

I felt a little disappointed with the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack of Love, mostly due to execution. The soundscape boasted the expected minor ambition, as it didn’t do much to expand the spectrum. The flick concentrated on music and general ambience, without much else to enliven the setting. Environmental activity was about what I expected; vehicles moved from side to side in a decent manner, but that was about it, and the surrounds just kicked in reinforcement.

The soundfield lost points due to problems with localization, especially in terms of music. The songs offered mushy stereo presence; vocals and instruments poured out of all the speakers without any real logical delineation. Effects also suffered from some bleeding and less than stellar placement. They worked better than the music, but their localization could be erratic.

At least audio quality was fine. Speech appeared natural and concise, without edginess or other issues. Music seemed fairly full, though some sibilance affected singing. Effects were acceptably accurate and didn’t cause problems. There wasn’t much to this track, but even then, it seemed flawed.

A few extras fill out the set. We find Interviews that fill a total of 15 minutes, 14 seconds and give us notes from Forest Kline, Jenna Jameson, Josh Meyers, Mayday Parade, Ronnie Winter, "Chris and Cove", "Justin, Beau and Alex", Andrew Volpe and Ryan Key. These alternate between jokiness and nothingness. Most of the folks who appear come from bands who show up in the flick; they mostly talk about how it’s cool to be in a movie. If anything informative comes along here, I can’t remember it; this compilation offers 15 virtually content-free minutes of chat.

A collection of Outtakes runs 25 minutes, 21 seconds. "Outtakes" usually implies bloopers or alternate shots, but these are actually all deleted/extended scenes. The longer versions of different sequences tend to ramble, so they work better in their shorter incarnations. As for the actual deleted scenes, those usually make Andy look like a total doofus; they don’t help the character, so I’m glad they got the boot.

A few more substantial bits do pop up here. We get to learn a little more about some supporting roles; in particular, a thread with Nomi develops better here. While I’m not sure any of the segments should’ve been in the final cut, I think this is a good collection; it’s hard to complain, given the amount of unused footage on display.

Next we find a Music Video. This offers "Changes in Me" by Lindsay Richards, the actress who plays Nomi in the flick. Essentially, we just see a movie segment performance mixed with other film clips. The video adds nothing to the package’s worth.

During a 14-minute, 58-second "Making of" Featurette, we hear from executive producer Greg Aronowitz, producers Adam Lawson and Sheri Bryant, director Scott Culver, and director of photography Dallas Sterling. We learn about the film’s origins and development, cast and performances, various technical issues and other aspects of the production. "Making of" manages to pack a surprising amount of info into its short running time. It throws out a lot of interesting details and acts as a good little summary of various movie-making topics.

Some ads open the DVD. We get clips for Addicted to Her Love, American Cowslip: A Redneck Comedy and Four Boxes. The trailer for Love also pops up here.

While How to Make Love to a Woman was a sweeter, more likable experience than I expected, that doesn’t make it an especially memorable movie. The flick does many things right but it lacks a certain spark and quality to allow it to become consistently enjoyable and memorable. The DVD comes with acceptable visuals, erratic audio and a small collection of supplements. Love could make for a decent "date night" rental but it’s nothing more worthwhile than that.