Kate & Leopold

Rating:
Summary: It's a Hugh Jackman vehicle - SO cute!
Review: If you're a Hugh Jackman fan you'll love this movie (I did!). He's so appealing and truly does a fine job of acting. As the Duke of Albany, he's unwittingly brought into modern times by a time travel concept -- so you must also be open to the time travel idea to best enjoy the film. Meg Ryan is stuck in "Meg Ryan" mode - if you saw her in "You've Got Mail" and several films, you know what she's like here. Kind of cute but not really that different than ever before. All together, though, it's a cute romantic film if you just let yourself go with it.

Rating:
Summary: Leopold's La Boheme
Review: How did Leopold come to know so much about Puccini's La Boheme which was finished in 1896 and premiered in 1900 when he time-traveled straight from 1876 to the present? This nagging question ruined my enjoyment of the chick flick.

Rating:
Summary: Rent dont buy
Review: Meg Ryan is one of the problems with this movie. The other actors are much better. Meg is rude, her hair is an absolute mess, and as others have stated why would anyone want to fall in love with someone so prickly. I found the other characters such to be more interesting. Kate is not a likeable character. Leo is sweet, funny, has great manners and is so likeable that it makes the film itself seem out of balance.

Rating:
Summary: Good Flick
Review: I enjoyed watching this movie very much. I think the director does a great job making a 50's kind of Romantic Comedy that works well, keeping in mind that it is a fantasy, so it shouldn't be scrutinized too closely. The actors all work well together, and fit into the movie well. They all enhance each others rolls. Meg Ryan does a good job as usual in this kind of plot. Hugh Jackman pulls off Leopold very well.

Rating:
Summary: "I will not sell Pond Scum"
Review:
Now imagine, if you will, falling in love with a man your crazed ex-boyfriend claims is from the 19th century? Your brother is convinced said guy is a 'true' actor. Did I mention the punk that stole your purse was pursued on horseback by said guy?

Poor Kate! She's falling in love, after alot of mishaps, and this is one situation you can't exactly talk your way out of.

Now, that you're curious go ahead an buy this movie. This is the cutest Romantic/Comedy I've ever seen. The script is tweaked to perfection, the actors definately don't sway from their parts, and Sting's "Until" song is absolutely perfect with this movie. *psst* The video's on the DVD.



Rating:
Summary: The Hilarious Clash of the Modern Era and the 19th Century
Review: Okay. We've heard it before. There are no gentlemen left in the world and chivalry is dead. Leave it to director James Mangold to create a film that solves the modern female conundrum: rather than proving that chivalry does exist in a modified form, simply yank a proper gentleman from the 19th century and plop him down in the streets of New York. I have to admit, I went into this film with the lowest expectations. I wanted to hate it. I wanted to laugh at its stupidity and cast it aside as a poorly written, female rant about the carelessness of men that failed to take into consideration the negative sides of traditional chivalry and societal roles.

And I did laugh. But I also found myself entertained. _Kate and Leopold_ does not descend into a rant, but rather chooses to focus on the humorous clash between the modern world and that of Duke Leopold of Albany (played by Hugh Jackman). So while it still falls into all of the well-worn ruts of the romantic comedy, finding once again that fated true love is a reality, it escapes these constraints by offering up the hilarious dynamic of Leopold's adjustment to the modern world. In fact, while many write about Meg Ryan's performance in the film, I feel that she is completely secondary to Leopold's own quest and that she merely provides the background for Jackman's performance. Jackman steals the movie and one has to wonder how long Meg Ryan can continue to fill these roles.

While the movie does throw some dirt in the face of the feminist movement, I don't think that one should analyze the film that carefully-it is a romantic comedy, let us remember. Try the film if you'd like to see Hugh Jackman or if you'd like to see the culture clash between the last two centuries.


Rating:
Summary: Talk about "backlash"
Review: To quote the great Rowan Atkinson as Blackadder: Utter crap!

First of all, Meg Ryan is TOO OLD for these ingenue roles she insists on playing. She looks awful - emaciated, collagen-filled lips......NOT attractive.

And let's face it. She plays herself in every film. Meryl Streep she ain't!

Yes, yes....Hugh Jackman is incredibly great-looking and does a decent job, but that doesn't save the film from the sappy plot and bad acting.

Secondly, the entire premise turns my stomach. I know the right wing in this country would have women as they were back in the 1950s....or appeared in 1950s sit coms, anyway....but going back to the 1800s?

Back when women were chattel, kept constantly pregnant (and died worn-out by the time they were 40). Back to the days when women, like children, were seen but not heard, and were beaten if they transgressed those boundaries.

Yeah - those were the good old days. Let's bring them back! These uppity broads of today don't know how good they had it.

Barf bag, please!

Rating:
Summary: Cute
Review: Being a Meg Ryan fan, this had to be a must-see, but I was pleasantly surprised with Hugh Jackman's input as well. They make a terrific duo, as well as Meg with Tom Hanks! I enjoyed the mild fantasy along with the time changing past-present idea. Along with Meg's charm, all this mixed together, gives the romantic-comedy lovers a sweet treat.

Rating:
Summary: A very pleasant surprise.
Review: Kate and Leopold was a charming film. A bit of a fantasy and accidental romance. It was interesting and humorous as Meg Ryan falls for a time traveling inventor. A goofy sort of plot device, but the terriffic cast makes it work. The characters were seasoned and worked well together. It's a love story even a guy could sit through. It's what a film should be. It's good and light from beginning to end. Most anyone would like this film.

Rating:
Summary: Terrible, terrible film
Review: Let me say first that I don't hate all romantic comedies. This review is not a genre hit piece, but an indictment of the themes of this particular film.

The titulary Kate is one of the most regressive film heroines I have seen in recent years. Her exhaustion with her career and with modern life is a perfect example of what the current crop of feminist backlash thinkers would have you believe about the condition of American women today. Too bad for them, it's complete bunk. The idea that a successful, smart woman like Kate would jump back in time to an era where a woman's worth was completely dependent on her husband, and where enfranchisement was decades off, just to have someone make her toast with mascarpone for breakfast is offensive. And the idea of the modern American man as either a predator or a buffoon (or both, which J.J. is shown to be) is equally offensive.

I could provide you a scene by scene academic analysis of how the film constructs these ideas, but an essay of that length is not possible in this forum. Instead I will say this: if you decide to see this film, just keep these implications in mind. No film is "simply" a light, romantic comedy as some would have you believe Kate & Leopold is.