DOWN WITH LOVE (Peyton Reed, 2003) 54

Reviewed: May 12th, 2003

"The major accomplishment of Haynes's film is that {...} there is a sincerity that resonates through every frame. I saw virtually no trace of {...} Haynes and company ever winking or trying to be overtly clever. If that hadn't been the case this movie would have been an abject disaster, a failed experiment dripping with contempt for its subjects."

So quoth Jared re: Far From Heaven. Now here is Down With Love, another film which toes the line between paying homage to a lost style of filmmaking (the Rock Hudson/Doris Day RomComs of the 1950s/60s, such as Pillow Talk) and mocking it. The difference is that Down With Love, unlike Haynes's film, primarily chooses the later mode of attack and nearly busts its eyelids wink wink wink WINK WINK WINKing. Because it's a comedy, this 'HA! gotcha!' 'HA gotcha again!' 'HA tricked ya yet again!' 'Hohoho look how knowing and witty I am!' approach is not automatically disastrous or contemptuous, but -- at least in this specific case -- still wounds severely enough for the bleeding to eventually be fatal. Which is to say Down With Love's blithe attitude winds up compromising the plot's machinations so inordinately that a total disengagement with Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor's inevitably hollow caricatures occurs (a major problem since this is a bubbly romantic comedy where we're supposed to actually care that the guy and gal walk off into the sunset together). Instead we get an Austin Powers-esque spoof with hardly any of the laughs as the incessant reversals and double entendres get progressively tiresome. Down With Love is also pretty damn stupid and vaguely nonsensical even on its own silly terms (why are the men so up in arms that Barbara has taught women to have mindless sex? most of the bachelors of the world should be ecstatic.) and very sloppy from a scripting standpoint (two examples: "you're gonna have to come up with a really creative way to fire her!" next scene: she quits without them having to do so. "how on earth could we ever get the book promoted on The Ed Sullivan Show!" next scene: the book is promoted on The Ed Sullivan Show without them having to do anything.). Do the writers of these movies not realize that the clever schemes are what provides a lot of the fun? All that said, the flick has a few genuinely great, awfully funny sequences (the explicit split screen usage; Ewan's initial creation of Zip; Renée's tour de force monologue) and Jeff Cronenweth's (Fight Club, One Hour Photo) recreation of vintage photographic techniques (complete with circa-1950s film stock lacquer) is impressive.

PS: Anyone else annoyed Down With Love doesn't end with the musical number? Why make that a during-credits scroll, TV-boxed coda (I know it was literally supposed to be on TV, but you know what I mean)? I wanna see that baby in CinemaScope. The stars of Moulin Rouge and Chicago finally unite!

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