AUTHORS ANONYMOUS (2014)

As a writer, I loved the premise of this film: a fledgling writers group in Los Angeles is torn asunder when their newest member Hannah (Kaley Cuoco) sells her first novel, inciting jealousy among the other members.  Billed as a comedy, it's sometimes hard to tell what's funny when you have a group of characters so distinctly unappealing and unlikable, you care very little what happens.  Only Chris Klein, playing nerdy pizza delivery guy/would-be novelist Henry, elicits an ounce of sympathy, whereas the petty jealousies, over-inflated egos and childish behavior of the others (Hannah included) wears almost as thin as the CONSTANT product placements from Coca-Cola, throughout the film, of their various products (I started counting how many times I caught the logo alone; stopped at ten).  A semi-sweet tag scene, during the credits, offers little redemption for what (other than a few nice moments) is otherwise an unpleasant, unfunny film. (rated PG-13)  **1/2

AUTHORS ANONYMOUS trailer