I know I almost did. It popped up somewhere on my Netflix recommendations though, and I remembered the kind of weird trailer that went with it. Penelope. Produced by Reese Witherspoon and some old acquaintances I knew at Stone Village Productions, and what seems to be a first-time director, Mark Palansky, whose control over a camera reminds me a little bit of Jean Pierre-Jeunet or Alfonso Cuaron (two of my favorites). The trailer, I think, did not do the movie justice (much like the trailer for Stardust did the movie an outright disservice).
I was pleasantly surprised. I had in my blog-post queue a rant about the lack of good romantic comedies, but what I got here was even more than that--it was a perfectly delectable modern fairy tale. Characters that were strangely real, relatable, and warm. Some well-timed humor and an unexpectedly (and gently) feminist little thread. Of course, James McEvoy never hurts--he has an inexplicable, irresistable allure for someone so scrawny.
Check out the trailer: