I'd been
resisting seeing this film, starring Renee
Zellweger and Ewan McGregor, for quite some
time. Something just hasn't felt right, despite
the fact that I am a fan of both performers and
enjoyed this type of 60's style romantic comedy.
Something just hasn't felt right, so I've
avoided this film. Tonight, I finally rented
this film and here I am at the end of the film
still feeling like "something isn't right."
First, I was bothered by Zellweger...which
surprises me. I adore her in almost everything,
and yet I never felt like she firmly established
a character here...was she city? was she
country? was she really going to commit to
acting either one? I never bought the
performance because I could never clearly see
who she was trying to be.
McGregor, on the other hand, appeared to have a
blast playing Catcher Block...he certainly had
the look down, the style, the charisma...yet, I
have to admit that his accent bothered me. I
never heard an explanation for the accent, and
yet it was clearly not New York. Other than this
minor issue, I loved McGregor here.
I loved the set design, the colors...the
style...while we certainly don't see films like
this anymore...it is fun to watch and paced
nicely. It did feel like the sexual innuendo was
over the top...While 60's romantic films
certainly had innuendo...it was more
subtle...more playful...too often, we would
bounce from innocent to dirty in 4 seconds...it
was abrupt and felt out of place. I'm far from a
prude, but it just didn't seem to fit here.
The music here is wonderful, the mood
perfect...the supporting cast wonderful,
including a perfectly cast David Hyde Pierce. It
was nice to see Tony Randall again, and Sarah
Paulson was competent but not fantastic.
In short, this film is far from a dud...but, I
just don't feel like it ever decided what it
wanted to be. I question whether director Peyton
Reed had a clear vision, because clearly I
thought the performances lacked focus. This
film...I wanted it to be a "B" range film, but I
just can't justify higher than a C+.
©
Written by Richard Propes
TC Candler's Comment
Cute and
inventive... worth a rental.
Jacob
Hall's Comment
N/A
