On the surface, The Opera Lover could be seen as a male version of the sleeper smash My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Both are set in Chicago, both feature leads who look refreshingly like normal humans, and both revolve around late bloomers who fall in love with impossibly attractive people who cause major changes in the protagonists' otherwise unremarkable existences. Wedding's historic box-office performance won't hurt Lover's commercial prospects, but don't expect lightning to strike twice in this case. Rough around the edges and downright blurry and amateurish in spots, The Opera Lover stars Tom Bastounes (who also co-wrote the screenplay) as a pudgy small-time lothario stumbling into middle age with little to show for it besides an ex-wife, a kid, and a go-nowhere job at the family produce business. For companionship, Bastounes hangs out at a local bar, where he sings sometimes, but his humdrum life takes a turn for the better when he reunites with ex-girlfriend Monica Zaffarano, an opera singer whose celebrity apparently rivals that of Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. Bastounes and Zaffarano's appearance at an old-folks home and their subsequent hotel-room tryst get them splashed all over the headlines on what must have been a monumentally slow news day. Naturally, the novelty-crazed opera world tries to cash in on the pair's notoriety by pushing Bastounes to perform professionally after Zaffarano as a publicity stunt. Lurking in the wings, meanwhile, is her boyfriend, a New Hampshire senator who fears he'll lose his girlfriend to a two-bit amateur crooner. Like Wedding, Lover is essentially a romantic fantasy about an average nobody falling in love with one of the beautiful people. Lover is less engaging, however, in part because the film world isn't exactly devoid of chubby, average-looking, underachieving guys who nevertheless get the girl. The Opera Lover isn't as bad as it sounds, though: There's a nice low-key neo-realism to nearly everything that doesn't involve Zaffarano, and Bastounes is convincing as an aging womanizer rapidly discovering his limitations. Aside from a series of scenes taken directly from the romantic-comedy handbook, most notably a far-fetched and familiar climax, The Opera Lover convincingly captures a slice of everyday Chicago life. It's just not a particularly intriguing slice, and Lover greatly overestimates its lead's charm.