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Down With Love (PG) (opens Aug 21)
Love Sours printer
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Down With Love isn’t made for lovesick puppies who want to down their diet coke and sweet popcorn with some soppy love. Instead, this technicolour movie about the equality of the sexes is meant for anyone looking for some silly laughs. The film stars Renée Zellweger as Barbara Novak, a feminist author, while Ewan McGregor plays Catcher Block, a chauvinistic playboy journalist who is full of himself (as is the case with almost any playboy). Directed by Peyton Reed who previously shot the cheerleading comedy Bring It On, Down With Love captures the essence of the early 60s, a period of sexual revolution. Oozing with parallelisms to the sexual comedic collaboration between Doris Day and Rock Hudson in the 60s, the film is as sweet as eye candy gets, with its rich saccharine colours. The hues and shades may dazzle you, so pay close attention, because as the bizarre and lacklustre plot unfolds, you may just get lost in this silly comedic farce. Novak writes a book on how to be a man-type of woman, or in other words, she advocates women to abstain from sex until they can play it [the sex] like a man. “A la carte” is her definition of the ideal relationship a woman should have. Catcher Block on the other hand, is “the ladies’ man, man’s man, man about town”, who manages to change lady friends as often as he changes his shirts. David Hyde Pierce plays Peter MacMannus, Block’s ‘sidekick’ and the owner of Know magazine for men in the know. Pierce gives a credible performance as Catcher’s employer with his witty laugh-a-minute liners. Catcher’s assignment is to do an exposé on Novak for the magazine by making her fall in love with him to prove she is after all, a sucker for love. Maybe more writers should watch How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and stop the foolishness of trying to prove a point with an article only to regret it. The film hangs on a thin plot with
an otherwise laughable act by the brilliant Zellweger. She pouts, flutters
her lashes and lays on a sexy charm.
All of which is not quite enough to compensate for the non-existent chemistry between McGregor and her. Both are unconvincing in maintaining any comedic or sexual tempo and do a great disservice to Day and Hudson. Next to Pillow Talk and Lover Come Back, 2 of Hudson and Day’s main romantic comedies of their era, this film is a cheap imitation. Whatever points you give the screenwriters for effort, they, nevertheless, have failed to deliver the ingenious lines. Consider Barbara when she tells her agent, “Oh Vicki, you’re the best friend a girl from Maine who wrote a book and came to New York could ever have.” What a waste of colour, what a waste of words. If there’s any consolation, the movie soundtrack is pretty good and features the staple jazz in any romantic comedy. Usual suspects Frank Sinatra and Astrud Gilberto croon ‘Fly Me To The Moon’ and Michael Buble, hailed as the new generation’s Frank Sinatra, is featured prominently on the soundtrack too. Down With Love offers nothing more than light comedic relief to pass away your time. Despite the big stars, it’s not hard to forget the film 5 minutes out of the theatre. Rating:
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