Addicted to Love (film)

Addicted to Love

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Griffin Dunne
Produced by Jeffrey Silver
Robert Newmyer
Written by Robert Gordon
Starring Meg Ryan
Matthew Broderick
Kelly Preston
Tchéky Karyo
Maureen Stapleton
Remak Ramsay
Music by Rachel Portman
Cinematography Andrew Dunn
Edited by Elizabeth Kling
Production
company
Miramax Films
Outlaw Productions
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release dates
 May 23, 1997
Running time
 100 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Box office $34,673,095

Addicted to Love is a 1997 American romantic comedy film directed by Griffin Dunne, starring Meg Ryan, Matthew Broderick, Tchéky Karyo, and Kelly Preston. The movie's title is based on Robert Palmer's song "Addicted to Love".

Plot

Two pairs of lovers play out a comedy of errors, in which Maggie (Ryan) and Sam (Broderick), an astronomer, try several unethical and nasty tricks to break apart the envied union of their respective former partners, Anton (Karyo) and Linda (Preston).

Good-natured astronomer Sam is devastated when the love of his life, Linda, leaves him for a suave Frenchman named Anton. He therefore does what every other normal dumpee would do: he goes to New York and sets up house (and a camera obscura) in the abandoned building opposite his ex-girlfriend's apartment, intent on winning her back and waiting until she decides to leave her current lover. What Sam does not count on is being joined several weeks later by ultra hip tomboy Maggie, a photographer and motorcyclist, who is determined to get revenge on Anton, her ex-fiance. Mutually hostile at first, the two of them eventually join forces in an attempt to separate the couple and ruin Anton's life. However, complications ensue when Sam and Maggie start falling for each other.[1]

Critical reviews

The film received mixed reviews. Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert panned it as immature, implausible and imbecilic, but still gave it two stars out of a possible four.[2]

He did not go as far as the Los Angeles Times' Kevin Thomas, who called it creepy and said:

“ It is exceedingly difficult to find what's funny in the calculated, obsessive, relentless destruction of Anton, especially when he proves to be the most likable and mature of all four of these people. Maybe Addicted to Love might work as a pitch-dark comedy, but in the way Robert Gordon has written it and Griffin Dunne directed it, it gives us the impression that we're supposed to take drastic, irrational revenge as a larky laff [sic] riot. ”

Addicted to Love currently holds a 57% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Reception

The advertisements did warn viewers that it would be darker than what Ryan and Broderick are usually associated with, using the taglines "A comedy about lost loves and last laughs" and "A comedy about two people who are getting off on getting even."[3] However, the film only managed to take $34,673,095 gross at the box office,[4] several million less than either Ryan[5] or Broderick's averages.[6]

Release

The film, marking actor Griffin Dunne's directorial debut, was released on May 23, one week before the highly competitive Memorial Day weekend in the United States.

Box office

The film opened at #2 at the North American box office making $11.4 million USD in its opening weekend, behind The Lost World: Jurassic Park.[7]

Locations

While the majority of the filming took place where it was set, in the Greenwich Village area of New York City, some shooting was done in Centreville, Delaware and Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.[8]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118556/plotsummary
  2. ↑ Addicted to Love :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews
  3. ↑ Taglines from Addicted to Love from the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
  4. ↑ Addicted to Love performance from The-Numbers.com
  5. ↑ Meg Ryan performance from The-Numbers.com
  6. ↑ Matthew Broderick's performance from The-Numbers.com
  7. ↑ https://comedymoviesreview.wordpress.com/
  8. ↑ Filming locations from IMDb

External links