Down With Love Review
by John Ulmer (johnulmer2003 AT msn DOT com)September 13th, 2003
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DOWN WITH LOVE
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
REVIEW BY JOHN ULMER
"Down with Love" is an odd movie, one that delights the viewer but then outstays its welcome by the third act. At first it is a cheery, corny romantic comedy set in the 1960s, but then it seems to take itself too seriously towards the end, as if it actually might be something more than what it initially set out to be.
It opens with the CinemaScope Fox logo used years ago, which sets the tone for the film. Then in voice-over narration, a cheery man says, "The time is now: 1962!" We are introduced to Barbara Novak (Renee Zellweger), the author of a new novel named "Down with Love." Eager to publicize her soon-to-be-released book, Barbara sets up a meeting with the head of a popular New York City magazine, Catcher Rye (Ewan McGregor), who delays their meetings time and time again. Catcher's fellow worker, McMannis (David Hyde Pierce), is bothered by Catcher's lifestyle of women, parties, women, and more women. The only thing he looks forward to from Catcher are his constant researchings, especially those into NASA. (Don't ask.)
Barbara Novak eventually gives up on Catcher, and releases her book to the public, only for it to become the best-selling book of the year, beating even J.F.K.'s novel off the stands (though, like Roger Ebert pointed out, it was about time, as his book had been around since the 50s). Barbara's book is named "Down with Love" for a reason: She states that women can be just as financially successful as men if they give up love. She says that if women live their lives just like men, they will jump up the corporate ladder, start their own businesses, and beat men at their own game. Barbara even lashes out against Catcher on public television, saying that she doesn't like men who change women as often as their shirts. (She even mentions his name.)
Catcher doesn't like this at all. Women are no longer letting him use them. They all know he's a worm thanks to Novak. And so he decides to create a fake persona, get Barbara Novak to fall in love with his fake character, and release a report on this to exploit her and ruin her career. He makes up the persona of an American NASA astronaut named Zip Martin. He even sports a tremendously funny 60s-style American doofus accent. These scenes reminded me much of those between Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe in "Some Like it Hot," when Curtis' character pretended to be Archie Leach (Cary Grant's birth-name).
Of course Catcher starts to fall in love with Barbara, and of course he can't bring himself to publish his exploit against her...but the film takes a dreadfully silly "twist" at the end that leaves the audience feeling cheated. There's a term for it in Hollywood: It's called throwing the audience a bone. The writer(s) couldn't figure out how to successfully make Barbara and Catcher fall in love without contradicting the theme of the film, so the writer(s) threw in something that didn't belong at all.
Other than that, this is is a corny, goofy, silly little film that perfectly captures the nostalgia of 60s films. I agree very much with other critics who pointed out that this is like an old Rock Hudson or Cary Grant-type movie, only because of the times the sexuality of the film can be put into play a bit more. There is a lot of sexual dialog in this film, more than any from the sixties, and if films like "Austin Powers" weren't already around this could be a breakthrough, but it just seems to be a bit too much. Is it a sixties film or a nineties film? I suppose a bit of both.
The actors have the style of the sixties films down-pat, although Renee Zellweger, who delighted in "Chicago," could have used a few lessons in how people spoke during the sixties. She walks and moves just like that generation of woman, but there's something missing a bit. Ewan McGregor doesn't play an American, so I can't comment on how authentic his accent is. The actor who really stole the show was David Hyde Pierce (who plays Niles in "Frasier"). He had some good dialog, some funny interaction between actors. There are some in-between scenes of his romance with Novak's editor which also, in a way, reminded me of Jack Lemmon's comedic relief scenes in "Some Like it Hot" (those who have seen the film will know what I mean).
This is a fun film to watch, but the ending left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. This was a good idea, and the first half of the film is perfect, but maybe the filmmakers should have gotten down with the script before they tried to make a movie like this.
Copyright, September 12, 2003, John Ulmer
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
