Release Date: May 16, 2003
Starring: Renée Zellweger, Ewan McGregor, David Hyde Pierce, Sarah Paulson, Tony Randall, Jeri Ryan
Directed by: Peyton Reed
Written by: Eve Ahlert, Dennis Drake
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox Films
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (sexual humor and dialogue)
Like Todd Haynes’ Far From Heaven, Down With Love mimics Hollywood filmmaking from decades ago. Both add a modern touch of suggestiveness while acting as a window to the 1950’s and 60’s, but the difference is that the former is a deep and reserved drama while the latter is colorful, candy-coated romantic comedy. This film does everything possible to reenact the innuendo-laden romances that Rock Hudson and Doris Day made famous, except with Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor. The problem is that the film gets too caught up in its own cleverness and never develops any purpose or substance.
Zellweger, hot off her highly celebrated role in Chicago, plays an attractive feminist writer from Maine named Barbara Novak who travels to New York City to get her latest book (also called Down With Love) published. But after the novel sees worldwide success, she catches the attention of bigshot magazine reporter Catcher Block (Ewan McGregor), a James Bond-esque womanizer who is exactly the type of men Novak's book says women should avoid. Facing defeat in his romantic life and looking to make a significant professional gain, Catcher sets out to woo Novak, prove that her hypocritical theories are wrong, and write all about it in his magazine.
Through her book, Zellweger’s character preaches that all women should exercise their power over men by demanding equal career opportunities and refusing to have romantic intercourse. In essence, she explains that women don’t need to be loved by men, and eating chocolate works as a viable substitute for any and all lustful cravings that wives and girlfriends may need satisfied. So in a way, this movie is a classier and more glamorous -- but still very predictable -- version of the patently dull Ashely Judd romantic comedy Someone Like You. And like that film, Down With Love will be enjoyed by a far greater amount of women than men because of its identical all-men-are-dogs philosophy.
Director Peyton Reed (Bring It On) does deserve credit, however, for so closely imitating the silly romantic comedies of the 1950’s and 60’s, which all seem to have had the same lighthearted characters, sassy dialogue, and laughably fake backgrounds. Here, Zellweger and McGregor can be easily compared to Day and Hudson, two of the biggest figures of the genre during that time period, and that definitely supports director Reed’s cause. The two performers have playful confrontations and share words and actions of blatant sexual innuendo, which are things that, when they’re done right, add the right zip to any romantic comedy. But the reason these moments lose their luster in Down With Love is because the movies that they’re trying to mimic here would have been called daring for such content; these days, it's the standard operating procedure for any film of this genre.
One scene steps above mediocrity: a split-screen phone conversation between the two leads that turns into an overlapping display of insinuation. The tricks done during this sequence resemble something Mike Myers did in his Austin Powers films, but it’s one of Reed’s most clever moments and it maintains the level of taste and tactful style that holds the rest of his picture together.
Other elements, like the opening credits (which would have been quite fresh had Steven Spielberg not done it shortly beforehand in Catch Me If You Can), the Technicolor title card, and the bright sets and costumes, all help Down With Love achieve a successful style of playfulness. But it’s this style alone, not the shallow, estrogen-driven story, that makes the movie worth your time. Then again, that’s almost exactly what you would expect from the late 50’s and early 60’s romantic comedies Down With Love models itself after. The only difference is that this one shouldn’t anticipate the same success.
-- Andy Zientek (zfilm@earthlink.net)