Down With Love

For the lack of some better category, Im going to call this film a slapstick farce. It portends to take place in 1962 and it works very hard to be a parody of the Doris Day and Rock Hudson goodie-two-shoes films from that period. But the screenplay dialogue is so stuffed full of clichs and double entendres that I found it unbearable. I even got tired of the repetitive sexual innuendos. And of course everything was over acted on purpose as the films dramatic tour de force. Wild clothes were also part of the drama. I dont think I have ever seen so many outrageous costumes in one film.

The plot line was the standard boy-girl theme, and intriguing only because of the anti-love aspect. The disadvantage of love does have dramatic value and it was used to great effect by John Gay in the Beggars Opera. This was a hit at its first performance in 1728. Gay disavowed love (and truthful feelings) as the antithesis of pragmatic materialism and indeed it is. This film portrayed love as a force distracting women from equality and a successful career path, a case that could also be interesting. But the goal of the film was to be silly and not to deal with any real sociological issues.

Several background things involving the 1960s period didnt make sense to me. Men probably wore garters in the 1920s, but not the 60s. There is a situation in the story where the characters cite equal employment opportunity, however the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that resulted in forming the commission in 1965 all occurred after this films period. Also the dialogue about Beatniks seemed inappropriate since they had mostly disappeared by the 60s. Their heyday was the 50s. And finally the big band music used for the film was history by the 60s. I know this is nitpicking the screenplay and it could be argued that the Day Hudson films of that era were lagging dramatizations, but it annoyed me.

I do take serious issue with the comments in the film about Nazis doing U.S. government rocket research. Werner Von Braun and his scientific team surrendered at the end of WWII and participated in the beginnings of our space program. They were German but not Nazis.

Renee Zellweger plays Barbara Novak, the author of a book titled, what else, Down with Love. Zellweger has been moving up through different roles and improved acting in Nurse Betty (2000), Bridget Jones Diary (2001) and Chicago (2002). Shes also good at overacting, as this role proves.

Ewan McGregor plays Catcher Block, the love interest man-around-town womanizer. He also did well at this over acted role. I was surprised to discover that in his ten year career I had seen him in Emma & Brassed Off (1996), Black Hawk Down & Moulin Rouge (2001) and as Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars I & II (1999, 2002). He is an actor to watch.

Sarah Paulson plays Barbaras editor, Vikki. Her work has been mostly in television.

A more accurate rendition of the 1950s film genre is reproduced in Far from Heaven (2002). As for this comedy, I thought the outtake bloopers included in the rental DVD Special Features segment were funnier than the film itself.

Reviewed November 14, 2003