Release Date: January 21, 2000
Starring: Freddie Prinze Jr., Julia Stiles, Shawn Hatosy, Zak Orth, Selma Blair, Henry Winkler
Directed by: Kris Isaacson
Distributed by: Miramax Films
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (mature thematic material, sexual content, language, drug and alcohol use)
In 1999, Universal Pictures released the Rob Reiner film The Story of Us, a sobering dramedy in which Michelle Pfeiffer and Bruce Willis starred as a couple whose last days of marriage seemed imminent. In the end, the power of love saves the couple as they realize the possibility of life without the one they love is a bridge neither of them wants to cross. The film was mildly entertaining but made use of an interesting storytelling style in which the viewer sat in as a cosmic reporter of sorts, while the main characters offered narration to the camera in response to unasked questions. It was an interesting novelty, but a novelty nonetheless; it's also one of the first mistakes made in the Kris Isaacson romantic comedy Down to You.
Once again, the audience is presented with a couple destined to find true love but not until the film's final fifteen minutes. Al (Freddie Prinze Jr., She's All That) and Imogen (Julia Stiles, 10 Things I Hate About You), students at New York University, strike up a passionate, youthful relationship after a chance meeting in a bar on some idle weeknight. But after the fires of life's first true love have settled to a moderate glow, they soon find that a full, happy, lifelong relationship takes a lot of work. As in The Story of Us, this tale is interspersed with brief bits of point-blank dialogue from Al and Imogen, told after the fact. It's a technique by which director Isaacson attempts to build up some suspense. He does not succeed in any capacity -- the ending is a forgone conclusion, and all who venture out to see the movie ought to know well ahead of time. Truly, the ending is only meant to inspire several Kleenex boxes' worth of tears from the female teenage demographic.
The script is poorly-written in that it is over-saturated with new age pop culture slang. The prevalence of such dialogue is sure to garner the film a few trophies at the next MTV Movie Awards, and it's doubtless necessary for an actor like Freddie Prinze Jr. (whose limited range has him stuck somewhere between the nicknames of "the seventh member of the "Friends" cast" and "the young Keanu Reeves"). It's confining for Julia Stiles, however, whose confidence and maturity on-screen is amazing. Stiles, who made her first major appearance in 10 Things I Hate About You, has been through the hoops of independent filmmaking and the film festival-level of celebrity status it affords an individual. She has inspired words of praise from critics not only for her powerful dramatic potential but also for her work as a talented screenwriter, and is quickly becoming one of Hollywood's most sought-after young actresses. Like a hot minor league prospect in baseball, she will be one to watch over the coming years.
Stiles adds gravity and weight to film's romantic element where there otherwise would be a gaping vacuum. The segments of the film which do not feature her character are painfully empty, and this stunning realization becomes obvious in the film's final third, when the audience is forced to watch Freddie Prinze Jr. struggle through the throes of a poorly-choreographed depression.
The supporting players nearly out-act the leading duo. Shawn Hatosy (Outside Providence) stars as Hicks, one of Al's friends suffering from a major identity crisis. His comic personality shifts keep the movie afloat, as do the melodramatic antics of Monk (Zak Orth, Snow Falling on Cedars), a pornographic film producer and another of Al's college buddies. These two have much to offer but little time to do it, and in the end their characters get swept under the carpet as minor footnotes in the torrid romance of a main attraction.
But the presence of all of these factors is just as predictable as the plot of Down to You, another low-budget romantic comedy vying for the title of the Next Great Party Movie. Last January, Miramax Films released the generic She's All That to a profitable turnout of over $60 million, and there's nothing to say that this film won't follow the same course. As the last five years in film history have proven, and as Down to You certainly knows, teenagers like to watch teenagers (or twentysomethings playing teenagers, as the case may be), and in this respect, the movie does everything right.
all contents © 2000 Craig Roush