Laws of Attraction Review
by Jerry Saravia (faustus_08520 AT yahoo DOT com)April 19th, 2006
LAWS OF ATTRACTION (2004)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
RATING: One star and a half
When you cast two attractive movie stars in a romantic comedy, you should have sparks flying in every direction. A spikingly witty script would help and a decent director. These are qualities you would expect when casting Julianne Moore and Pierce
Brosnan as the stars. Unfortunately, as is often the case with romantic comedies, there is not much wit and hardly any sparks.
Julianne Moore plays Audrey Woods, a ditsy divorce attorney who eats junk food. Pierce Brosnan is Daniel Rafferty, a competing divorce attorney with stained ties who lives in an apartment in Chinatown. The two of them often end up on the same cases. The judge is always played by Nora Dunn. Audrey tries to dig up dirt on the opposing clients by rummaging through Daniel's belongings. But Daniel has a miniature camera that catches her in the act in his apartment. Daniel is not as keen on digging up any dirt, or so it seems. Both Daniel and Audrey decide to eat out at restaurants and on three different occasions, they get drunk and end up in bed together.
Meanwhile, their latest case is a divorce settlement between a womanizing rock star (Michael Sheen) and his desperately shrill wife (Parker Posey). This subplot involves a nice visit to Ireland and to a roomy castle, though scenic shots last merely a few seconds which can mean that footage could've easily been shot in Canada to substitute for Ireland. If you are going to shoot in Ireland, by all means shoot Ireland in all its natural beauty!
There is not much more to "Laws of Attraction" I am afraid. And don't get me started on saying the same old negative things about stale romantic comedies (Norman Jewison's
"Only You" is far better than this, okay?) As for Julianne Moore, she was more convincing playing a ditz in "Evolution" than in this movie. Brosnan can effortlessly play off his charisma but he seems like he rather be drinking Huevos
de Chivo (Goat's Balls) and partying in Ireland than starring in this movie. He shares no real chemistry with Moore
because the director Peter Howitt and the screenwriters have not allowed for such scenes. The movie is so inert that the foreseeable climax doesn't register any honest emotion
whatsoever. Considering that this is the classic boy-meets-girl, girl-breaks-up-with-boy and then they live happily ever after tale, the crucial girl-breaking-up-with-boy scene would've lead to something other than what is actually delivered.
No romance, no comedy, no sparks, no movie - it just coasts along relying on the charisma of the two stars to give it weight. Yes, they are attractive but so were Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in their comedies - nobody would've ever
accused them of coasting along on their looks alone. But there is one good line delivered with expert comic timing by Julianne Moore. Brosnan responds to her theories on
marriage by saying, "I see. I see a lot." He then asks her if she is dating anyone. She says: "You see a lot? Am I
dating anyone? What kind of a segue is that?" There are a few other good lines in that one sequence but that is still no reason to recommend this stifling huevos de chivo of a movie. Case closed.
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