Down With Love Review:

Synopsis

When best selling feminist author Barbara Novak's (Zellweger) book 'Down With Love' hits New York in the early '60s, women all around the city from the Corporate sector to the Russian bread shop fall in love with her pink proposition that women should do whatever they want just like men. A battle of the sexes sparks off.  Novak becomes the target of stylish playboy journalist Catcher Block (McGregor) who agrees to do a feature on the wildly popular author with the ultimate intention of showcasing her as a typical spinster.


Critique

What an idea for a comedy spoof. A movie that makes a parody of the Doris Day - Rock Hudson romantic comedies from the 50's and 60's with a huge inventive twist. The director takes a script from those yesteryears and adds 21st century flair. Barbara Novak, a country girl is about to hit big time. It's 1963 and she is in New York for the publishing of her first book Down With Love. The book is Barbara's guidance for women to give up love and take control of their lives, showing them how to liberate themselves both at work and home by treating men in the same manner as they treat women. The book becomes the best selling book of the year.

Stylish, delightful and hilariously funny, it will take you for a ride to the Moon and back with some fresh ideas. McGregor (Moulin Rouge) is simply a pleasure to watch. His appearance and expressions are wonderful and consistent with the different stages of his role. Performs with ease and fun the extraordinary character of a notorious playboy journalist. Zellweger (Chicago) is no Doris Day but surprisingly she is quite refreshing and manages to present her role fairly well with some wit and charm to support the events of the plot. The split-screen phone call scenes between the leads is a reminder of the ancient film making techniques. David Hyde Pierce absolutely steals the show in his portrayal of Tony Randall's character. As always he delivers his typecast role competently. Sarah Paulson's costumes are the cutest and she pulls in some hilarious scenes out of her hat. The performance by the supporting cast is mesmerizing with excellent chemistry between them.  

The strong visual image, which gives the film the truly 60s feel, incredible costume and music works well and scores high points for fashion, set design, title sequence and great cinematography. Probably the lack of musical numbers from Renee and Ewan is a letdown, except during the end credits, which can well be regarded as the best part of the whole show.

The DVD is presented in Anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound. The video is totally free from blemishes, but just lacks the fine detail that is expected from most new films. Contrast and black levels are good and consistent throughout, while the colour reproduction is strong. The audio experience on the disc leaves a little to be desired. The track is nice. Special features of the Region 4 DVD is limited to scene selections.


Down with Love is an attempt to pay homage to Doris and Rock and nearly makes it. The attempt to show the carrot and bring back those memories is superb making the film a good piece of entertainment with tons of twist.

OVERALL 3 out of 5

Mos Khan

Reviewed from DVD distributed in Australia by 20th Century Fox

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