Rating: Summary: See Pillow Talk before you go... Review: The classic sex comedy, once upon a time, was a sure payoff for movie studios. Now over 40 years later, it has been briefly resuscitated, in the movie Down with Love, a throw back to the glory days of Rock Hudson and Doris Day. Before you see this movie, make sure you've seen 1959's Pillow Talk, because much of Down with Love is referencing that classic movie. It's a two edged sword because you won't appreciate some of Down with Love without seeing Pillow Talk, but you'll also realize how inferior Down with Love is when you compare it with one of the original sex comedies.The plot is structured well, keeping the girls ahead of the boys for most of the picture. The movie is timed amazingly, the director, Peyton Reed keeps an amazing clock as characters are just missing each other from set to set. Peyton's last flick, Bring it On, is reason enough to keeping this director working. Ewen McGregor and David Hyde Pierce are excellent. The set design, costuming, and musical numbers are beautiful, enveloping even. In the end, unfortunately, this film can't pull it off like its 40 year old predecessors. The jokes are considerably flatter. Renee Zellweger never acheives the charisma that Doris Day had. Even the split screen shots, a staple in Pillow Talk, aren't as good. Pillow Talk just flirted with its own sexuality, Down with Love seems to use its sexuality to ensure a PG-13 rating so kids won't think its just for their parents. Lastly, the three minute monologue Renee delivers in the end will have you scratching your head and asking "is this for real?" Unfortunately it is.
Rating: Summary: Great date movie Review: "Down With Love" is a delightful and highly entertaining movie with a dashing Ewan and a charming Renee. This movie encaptures the mood, mode, and moments of the early sixties. Why do most people go to the movies? They go to be entertained. This movie will entertain you (and your date) with its colorful outlook, fantastic melodies, and exquisite costumes/outfits.
Rating: Summary: A romantic comedy of the 60s-at its best! Review: I am a die-hard Ewan McGregor and Renèe Zellweger fan and was overjoyed when I heard about six months ago that Down With Love was coming out with my favorites as the main attractions! So, I marked Down with Love as a favorite and six months later searched for the showtimes, only to find that my theater wasn't going to show it on opening day. Miffed, but not worried because of the popular Matrix sequel sharing the opening day, I bought the Down With Love book and looked for the movie the next week, only to find that Down With Love wasn't on the bill. My theater is filled with incompetant people- they only showed 13 time Oscar Nominee Chicago for a week, so I went to the neighboring large city. By now, I had heard the mediocre reviews the critics were giving the movie-"Too Cute", "Utterly cheesy, why bring back Rock and Doris now?", and the insulting, "Tries to be funny, but inexpilicably fails". I was amazed at how much I loved the movie though. Set to a twisting plot, Renèe Zellweger stars as Barbara Novak, the new writer for Banner House. Ewan stars as Catcher Block, Laidies Man, Man around town, Man's Man, a charmer to all who meet this heartbreaker. When their worlds collide, it creates an instant comedy that never quits! You see, Catcher Block is out of luck-and love with the Down With Love girls and every man hates Renèe, so Catch invents a Texan Persona to prove Ms. Novak wrong. The soundtrack is great, and the book matches well. Do yourself a favor- Go see Down With Love!
Rating: Summary: Good clean fun movie!! Review: I loved this movie even better than the Doris Day/Rock Hudson movie. More updated-loved the split screen moves terrific!!! Tony Randall had a great cameo part! We need more movies like this in today's society! Go see it-Great date movie. No sex/lovemaking scenes. Would go and see it again!
Rating: Summary: PERFECT TIP OF THE HAT TO THE 60s Review: What a surprisingly fascinating revue -- went in with little or no expectation, came out deligted and wanting to see it again! Apart from a handful of boorish double-entendre innuendos (some of which are actually quite funny, but others smack viewers on the head with no thrill of suggestion) and the occasionally annoying antics of Zellweger's character, there is nothing really negative to say about this simple charmer of a romantic comedy. First, a word about cinematography, which is breathtaking. The screen literally pops with color, the picturizations are true to the times and everyone seems to have a pretty accurate accent with the possible exception of McGregor whose Scottish sneaks in every once in a while. The conversations are snappy without making this yet another windbag comedy, although there is some "I knew you knew what I thought I knew you knew" type stuff. To jazz things up there are even a few twists in the plot here and there. But it's the topnotch acting from everyone that carries this movie. McGregor oozes his trademark self-acknowledging sex appeal as a Playboy journalist, and is in good company with Renee who manages a jawdropping 6 minute monologue (what an actress!) and a surprise song and dance routine at the end together with McGregor. Even Tony Randall is a scream in his fussy/neurotic role. No edge-of-the-seat cliffhangers or gravid sublots and yet a simple unadulterated throwback to 60s style fun. Brilliant!
Rating: Summary: I Liked It Review: This is a really cool movie with its own style that pays homage to those great comedies of the sexes made in the early 1960s. They really captured the look and feel of those times that my dad always talks about. There was something very innocent about those times yet they never lost sight of who they were or where they were going. It just looked like they had a lot more fun then than we have now. It looked like it was a pretty cool world. I really enjoyed it.
Rating: Summary: very entertaining Review: I loved this movie! My husband and I were laughing out loud. This will be one that we buy when it comes to DVD. Very much like Pillow Talk. VERY recommended.
Rating: Summary: DOWN with Love--An UP Review! Review: The year is 1962. Manhattan wreaks of chauvinism, sexism, conservatism, and pastel colors. Working-towards-liberation women smoke discreetly in public, flip their hair out in all the fashion of Doris Day, and wear horn-rimmed glasses. In a time when sexual harassment was a fact of life for women in the workplace, when pink collar jobs were all the rage, men, feeling threatened by the power of their formerly submissive human counterparts, are recycling women basing as a means of feeling secure in an insecure world. They publicly sneer at but privately lust after women in control. In the midst of this nostalgic setting, we find our heroine Barbara Novak (Renee Zellweger-Chicago, Bridget Jones' Diary), a newly published woman author whose book Down with Love has become an international best-seller. She moves to New York to keep up with her novel's publicity and work closer with her editor, Vikki Hiller (Sarah Paulson-What Women Want). Ms. Novak's first real publicity stint comes at the hands of her editor Vikki Hiller who has charmed a Mr. Peter MacMannus (David Hyde Pierce--Frasier), publisher of Know magazine (the hottest magazine for savvy men) into appointing his best writer, Mr. Catcher Block (Ewan McGregor--Trainspotting, Moulin Rouge), a woman-loving misogynst whose known by his reader as "a ladies' man, a mans' man, a man about town" to write an article featuring Ms. Novak. A man too much caught into himself (not to mention a plethora of cheeky flight attendants), Catcher Block keeps cancelling on Barbara Novak until she is so fed up that she declares him unfit for interviewing her. Her book is publicized on the Ed Sullivan show and once it hits the international best-sellers list, she denounces Catcher Block publicly to all womenkind. Now unable to get a date, Catcher Block schemes a way to expose Barbara Novak as a hypocrite. And thus a plot of twists and turns unfurls and exposes what must be one of the longest uncut moonologues in cinematic history (so it seemed)! With a slew of bad reviews from some of the nation's most prominent newspapers, most critics are complaining about the lack of acting done by the two stars Ewan McGregor and Renee Zellweger. While almost all of them seem to equate the move with the Doris Day/Rock Hudson cheeky sex comedies of the early 1960's, critics are holding the movie to higher standards. While the acting seems shallow and empty, we know for a fact that it is all to prove a point. In a sense, Down with Love is a satirical attack against our past. The seemingly shallow and empty acting complements the exceedingly shallow characters. With aesthetically pleasing technicolor, the viewer is transported to another time that we're glad to have passed. If you're looking for a film that will not challenge you to think but instead challenge you to consider what pastel colors you really view the world in, Down with Love is the perfect treat.
Rating: Summary: WOW Review: At first I thought no movie could ever outdo the recent version of Chicago (Miramax.) But unbelievably I found Down with Love to be an excellent movie! Not only was it funny...it's every womans dream of a perfect movie...full of love AND laughter. Renee Zellwegger was absolutely outstanding in this movie and Ewan MacGreggor was also great. I'm 15...all I can say is that I wasn't expecting such OUTSTANDING things from a sixties movie produced in 2003. Go see it if you haven't...you won't regret it!
Rating: Summary: Down With Love - and bad filmmaking Review: I realize that title is a little harsh. However, I feel there's some validity to that statement. This movie was entertaining. The girl I saw it with loved it. But in a way, I felt like there was a good chance that was going to happen. Afterall, films like this tag along with such other classics as Pillow Talk or Breakfast at Tiffany's. But the updated filmmaking process they inherit unfortunately decreases their sense of overall quality. We have some wonderful actors in this film but not the same could be said for their acting. That's not their fault though. It's the film that is the culprit. When you watch this film you notice the mannerisms, the cheesiness quality to the characters and their statements. It's funny on the surface, but if you look too deep (like I unfortunately did) you realize that acting in such a manner let's you off actually having to do any work. Work being defined as embracing your character and allowing viewers to really get to know you. Again, like I said previously, this movie will entertain many. It's lighthearted, it is funny, but for me, just a little too cheesy. If you haven't seen a classic version of this style of movie, you probably will get a kick out of this. Heck, you may even know some of the songs and sing along to them. Then you're really enjoy it (and I have to say I really did like the musical selections). I just wish the chemistry between characters was a bit more apparent and the mannerisms weren't blown out of proportion. Of couse, I can't ask for everything.
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