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Down With Love

Synopsis

This tribute/spoof to the cheesy films of Ginger Rogers, Rock Hudson, and that gang, is about Barbara Novack (Rene Zellweger) and her new book, "Down With Love", which teaches women how to be independent and be "more like men". But a magazine reporter, Catcher Block (Ewan McGregor), sees this as a challenge to his womanizing ways and decides to seduce her and show that all she really wants is love and marriage. Comedy ensues.

What I Thought

Let's get the good parts out of the way:

Wonderful costumes! Rene and Ewan look great in the retro-style-but-updated-look clothes. The sets are also quite fun to look at with their big bold furniture, mercilessly pink bedrooms, and swinging bachelor pads. Austin Powers eat your heart out. Rene and Ewan are also fun as the two leads, bringing energy to their roles.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure what movie they're in cuz they're not in this one. Instead of a tribute/spoof, we are reminded why those movies aren't popular these days. It felt tired and boring. Filled with visual sexual "innuendos", they are so in your face that you can't help rolling your eyes (in a bad way). I guess "subtlety" is a 4-letter word in Hollywood.

Yes, you get the bad cheesy dialog, convoluted and yet simplistic storyline, the stupid twists at the end, the overacting, the singing, and the "I'm so stunned with the news I'm gonna faint!" bits all in one movie.

This movie could be a rental, but only so that you get the satisfaction of turning it off before its over. I guess it's a nice try, but retro-chic requires more irony than the pseudo tongue-in-cheekness from this movie. Sorry, but I'm not down with it.

 

All photos and text copyright Ryszard Kilarski, unless otherwise noted. Clip art, drawings, paintings are either free domain or copyrighted by the artists.