Down With Love
In the mid-90’s I dated a girl who’s family did not own a television. This wasn’t too odd to me, I’d grown up that way too. But they did have a VCP (video cassette player). It looked like a TV, but was just a 19 inch CRT with a video player built in.
The only one who really used it was her younger sister Jordan. She would ride her bike to the library and borrow their free movies. The vast majority of the movies they had were classics, like Funny Face, and Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
For a variety of reasons, I ended up spending a bit of time with Jordan, and I saw a lot of movies I would probably have never seen otherwise. I really enjoy both versions of Sabrina.
Why am I telling you this? Because while Down with Love is a decent movie in its own right, understanding the history of the genre will give you a much greater appreciation for it.
Down with Love is about a girl who writes a book suggesting that women don’t need love or sex or men to be happy and successful. She is stood up by a book reviewer who’s famous for being a womanizer, and she disses him quite publicly. He then sets out to make her fall in love with him, though without letting her know it’s him.
The plot quickly becomes a twisty maze of passageways, all alike.
It’s very similar to Pillow Talk, though the ending is quite different. They did an excellent job of caricaturing romantic comedies of the 50’s and 60’s, particularly in the set and costumes.
A bit of irony is that this is the first part I’ve seen Ewan McGregor play where the character had a Scottish accent. His alter ego has a US Southern accent though, and he does it quite well.
I probably would not have seen this movie were it not for my wife, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I would not have enjoyed it nearly so well if it weren’t for Jordan, so Jordan, if you ever read this, thanks.
