Down with Love
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Down with Love | |
|---|---|
 Down with Love movie poster |
|
| Directed by | Peyton Reed |
| Produced by | Paddy Cullen |
| Written by | Eve Ahlert Dennis Drake |
| Starring | Ewan McGregor Renée Zellweger David Hyde Pierce Sarah Paulson |
| Music by | Marc Shaiman |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | May 16, 2003 |
| Running time | 94 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Down with Love is a 2003 American romantic comedy film directed by Peyton Reed and starring Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor. It is an homage to the 'sex comedies' of the early 1960s starring Doris Day and Rock Hudson, such as Pillow Talk and Lover Come Back. The film was written by Eve Ahlert and Dennis Drake co-stars David Hyde Pierce, Sarah Paulson, Rachel Dratch, and Jeri Ryan. Tony Randall, a mainstay of the Hudson-Day films, appears in a small role as the owner of Novak's publishing house. It proved to be his final film performance. The film was released in the United States on May 9, 2003.
Telling the story of a woman who advocates female independence in combat with a male lothario, the plot reflects the attitudes and behavior of the early, pre-sexual revolution Sixties, but has an anachronistic conclusion driven by more modern, post-feminist ideas and attitudes.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
New-in-town Barbara Novak arrives to Banner house editorial to present her new book Down With Love, a book which intends to free women from love and use sex only as needed, replacing the need for men with things such as chocolate as a way to succeed in the workplace. At the same time, Catcher Block, a successful writer in Know magazine arrives from a mission he intended to use as one of his famous exposés... The only way Vicky Hiller, Barbara's editor, finds to promote her book, as the man in Banner House don't support them, is for Barbara to meet Catch, but he blows her off over and over again, postponing their dates, until she gets fed up, insults him and leaves the restaurant where they had planned to meet.
Vicky and Peter McMannus, Catch's boss and best friend, take a liking to one another; however, their relationship revolves around Barbara and Catch's and neither finds the gumption to express their feelings to the other. Peter feels overshadowed by Catch's strong personality, and Vicky constantly desires some strength in her lover.
Barbara starts promoting her book with Vicky's help, and they hit it off when they get Judy Garland to sing the song "Down with Love" as a promotion to her book on The Ed Sullivan Show. Sales skyrocket, as housewives and women around the world buy the book and rebel against their husbands; now it is Catch who wants to meet Barbara, but now it is she who blows him off. It all comes to boiling point when Barbara appears in a late night show talking about one of her book chapter's "The Worst kind of man", and cites Catcher Block on national TV as the perfect example. His date rejects him, and infuriates him, swears he will prove Barbara is the same as every other woman, therefore wanting the same things.
He arranges for a casual meeting in a laundry shop, taking advantage of the fact that she has never actually met him, and he poses as an astronaut, Major Zip Martin. Barbara is immediately infatuated with this man as he appears to have no idea who she is - men avoid her, viewing her as the enemy since the publication of her book. He takes her to the most fashionable locations in New York while maintaining considerable sexual tension in their relationship by feigning naivete and a desire to remain chaste until he is "ready" for a physical relationship. But he starts falling for her, and it gets harder to go through with his plan.
When Barbara finds Catcher/Zip in a party and he almost gets caught, he decides it is time to take everything to the next level: he tells Barbara that Catcher Block wants to interview him, for an exposé on the NASA's space program, and asks her to accompany him. It is his own apartment, and he sets everything up to record her saying she loves him. But then it is she who reveals the truth: she has known he is Catch all the time, but she also lied, since she is not Barbara Novak, but Nancy Brown, one of his many secretaries, who fell in love with him while working at Know, but turned him down when he asked her out because she did not want to be another one in his long list of romances. She tells him she did this to be different from all the women he knew, and make him love her. They realize that he loves her, but as he is proposing, one of Catch's many lovers appears and thanks Barbara for what she's done for womankind. Barbara realizes she does not want love, and not him either, she became a real "down with Love" girl. It is also here where Vicky's and Peter relationship changes, when she insults him for helping Catcher, he realizes he indeed is like any other man, and takes her to Catch apartment to take the next step forward.
Days later, Catch is completely depressed, and all his efforts to win Barbara back have failed. Even his exposé is ruined, now that Barbara told her story in her own magazine; Peter is also depressed, his relationship with Vicky based apparently only on sex. Catch realizes he can do something, and writes his own exposé "How falling in love with Barbara Novak made me a new man"; he learns there is an opening at Barbara's magazine, and goes for an interview with her. There, he tells her how much she changed him, and it is visible she wants him, but turns him down anyway; he says he wishes there could be a middle ground for them "somewhere between a blonde and a brunette", referring to her real persona, where she was a brunette. As he is leaving her office, he realizes she is not coming to him, but she surprises him on the elevator, showing him a bright red hair, meaning she wants to be with him. They fly to Vegas to be married. This affects Vicky and Peter's, also deciding for marriage themselves.
The end credits show their marriage has resulted in a new book intended to end the battle of the sexes, and they sing "Here's to love".
[edit] Style
The sets, costumes, cinematography, editing, score, opening credits, and visual effects (including split-screen shots during phone calls heavily laced with double entendres between the two leads), are carefully designed to echo the style of 1960s comedies. The New York City skyline of 1962 was digitally recreated for backdrops. A greenscreen technique was used to simulate unconvincing 1960s rear projection. The film begins with the 1960s logos for 20th Century Fox and for CinemaScope, a now defunct widescreen process introduced in the 1950s, developed and owned by 20th Century Fox. The Regency Films logo is in pink, and contains a saxophone jazz rendition of its theme.
[edit] Cast
- Ewan McGregor ... Catcher Block
- Renée Zellweger ... Barbara Novak
- Sarah Paulson ... Vikki Hiller
- David Hyde Pierce... Peter MacMannus
- Rachel Dratch ... Gladys
- Jack Plotnick ... Maurice
- Tony Randall ... Theodore Banner
- John Aylward ... E.G.
- Warren Munson ... C.B.
- Matt Ross ... J.B.
- Michael Ensign ... J.R.
- Timothy Omundson ... R.J.
- Jeri Ryan ... Gwendolyn
- Ivana Milicevic ... Yvette
- Melissa George ... Elkie
[edit] Reception and Box Office
Down With Love received mixed reviews at best, receiving a 60% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes[1]; fames critic Roger Ebert spoke of it fairly positively, saying parts were "fun", and describing Renée Zellweger's famed long speech at the end as "a torrent of words pours out from her character's innermost soul."[2]. The film earned a semi-respectable $40 million at the international box office.[3]
[edit] Soundtrack
The movie's title comes from the song "Down with Love" as sung by Judy Garland, who is seen singing it on the Ed Sullivan Show in one scene.
The song "Here's to Love" sung by Zellwegger and McGregor during the closing credits (and in its entirety on the DVD release as a special feature) was a last-minute addition to the film. Songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman appear in the number as the bartender and the pianist. According to the DVD commentary, it was added at the suggestion of Ewan McGregor, who pointed out the opportunity the filmmakers had to unite the stars of two recently popular musical films (his Moulin Rouge! and Zellweger's Chicago).
[edit] Track list
- Kissing A Fool — Michael Bublé
- For Once In My Life — Michael Bublé
- Down With Love — Michael Bublé and Holly Palmer
- Barbara Arrives — Marc Shaiman
- Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words) (Count Basie And His Orchestra) — Frank Sinatra
- One Mint Julep — Xavier Cugat And His Orchestra
- Girls Night Out — Marc Shaiman
- Everyday Is A Holiday With You — Esthero
- Barbara Meets Zip — Marc Shaiman
- Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words) — Astrud Gilberto
- Love in Three Acts — Marc Shaiman
- Here's To Love — Renée Zellweger and Ewan Mcgregor
