By Tanya Batson-Savage, Staff Reporter
A scene from the movie 'Down With Love'. - Contributed
THE CREATORS of the movie Down With Love had the chance to create a wonderfully witty, intriguing movie and then simply decided not to. Down With Love stars Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor, which seemed to indicate that they were on the right track to a great movie (that teaches you to assume).
Down With Love is clearly a take-off of the 1959 romantic classic Pillow Talk. Zellweger is the 'Barbara Novak' to Doris Day's 'Jan Morrow', while McGregor's 'Catcher Block' stands in for Rock Hudson's 'Brad Allen'. Rather than being an update or remake, Down With Love is set in 1963.
Barbara Novak is a feminist on the rise, who has discovered that love is a distraction which holds women back. She therefore writes a book called Down With Love that teaches women to substitute sex with chocolate until they realise that sex and love are not the same. After this, they will be able to have casual sex.
For some reason this does not sit well with the men in this movie, who are adamant that (despite their own feelings) women should be in love with them before they engage in intercourse. Open door number two and in walks Catcher Block, a womanising journalist who is bent on writing an exposé which shows that, like 'all women', Novak only wants marriage and children.
WELL-NEEDED LESSONS
Before making this movie, director Peyton Reed and writers Eve Ahlert and Dennis Drake should have watched a few episodes of The Powerpuff Girls to get some much-needed lessons. The creation of the Powerpuff Girls involved sugar, spice and everything nice - and a touch of Chemical X (the mysterious element that gave Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup their superpowers). A romantic movie such as Down With Love needs the same formula, especially the dosage of Chemical X, to keep it from being sickeningly sweet.
Unfortunately, Reed and company must not have been paying attention when they stirred up this concoction, which completely lacks flavour. Rather than rich, potent brown sugar they used the granulated version, did not use enough spice and there is no sign of Chemical X. The result is that the movie fizzes on occasion, but essentially does not leave much of a lasting impression in the end.
The characters are properly outlined, but they have no real depth and are therefore unable to endear themselves to the viewer the way that Doris Day and Rock Hudson did. They seem to be playing at being Rock Hudson and Doris Day, rather than developing any personalities of their own.
The support characters, Peter MacMannus (David Hyde Pierce) and Vicki Hiller (Sarah Paulson), are much more effective, though they can't save this movie.
LACK OF FOCUS
Down With Love also suffers from a lack of focus. At times it appeared to be headed toward becoming a smart parody, which simultaneously pays homage to the original movie. Somewhere along the line, however, it got hopelessly lost. Probably realising how far off-track they were, the movie attempts to throw in a plot twist earmarked by desparation. All this serves to do, however, is make you wonder what (or if) they were thinking.
The only great thing about this movie is the costuming. Costume designer Daniel Orlandi truly went to town on the creation of dresses and hats that truly played homage to the 1960s woman of the world, in that time before women knew that confidence did not mean high heels (Oh! Has that happened yet?).
The pretty clothes works in much the same way as a cashmere sweater on an ugly mutt (or any dog for that matter). It adds more to the ridiculousness of the situation than distract from it. Like milk on its expiry date, Down With Love is not worth the possible bad outcome. It is certainly a good concept gone sour.
