Wiwille's movie reviews part 46

Romantic comedies have a difficult time being original and the reasons are obvious. Boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, boy messes up, boy wins back her affection, wash, rinse, repeat. Our affection for the genre is unmistakable though as looking at romance from a third party perspective can be quite comical.

'Down with Love' pays tribute to the films of yester year, namely the goofy comedies starring Rock Hudson and Doris Day. Set it in the mid 60s the movie stars Renee Zellwegger as an author with a feminist itch. She writes a book about sexual politics, titled after the film, and how women should abandon the concepts of love for the sake of advancing the gender.

Ewan McGregor plays a famous reporter who's not only known for his writing ability, but his sexual exploits as well. He's assigned to do a story on Zellwegger's new hit novel, but keeps rescheduling the interview because of he's too busy cavorting with women.

After he's caught by the newly famous author McGregor goes undercover to win her affection and attempt to expose her as a fraud. A comedy of errors ensue and minus a small twist the plot moves along with the same formula you're comfortable with.

While this spoof makes tributes to films that my generation never saw I love this movie. It's over the top set designs and costumes, cute story, and charming performances by reliable actors made me go and buy it. It helps that I'm familiar with the in jokes made about stories created over forty years ago, but still for those who aren't versed in classic comedies may find this enjoyable. I'd recommend it to most, well cept for Mattbear.

Thanks to Foster Communications for submitting this. Wanna see a film reviewed by Wiwille? Drop me an email or comment and you'll see it soon on Erik's Ramblings. Rules are posted here.

"No better or worse than the movies that inspired it, but that is a compliment, I think." - Roger Ebert