Little Black Book Movie Review:


Little Black Book is a typically mild romantic comedy that turns into a crude betraying sitcom by its final act. Though the film has numerous structural problems, it is watchable due to the spunkiness of Brittany Murphy and for the very reason that it does not have a formulaic Hollywood ending.

Stacy Holt (Brittany Murphy) idolizes Diane Sawyer and listens to the beats of Carly Simon whenever her New Jersey based love life becomes stressful. However, things seem to be looking up since she has landed a new job as associate producer for a “Jerry Springeresque” show that stars a once flamboyant broadcast journalist named Kippie Kann (Kathy Bates). Her new best friend and fellow producer is Barb (Holly Hunter), who is an un-touchy person that knows the reality business better than anyone.

Stacy’s personal life is also going well with her live-in boyfriend Derek (Ron Livingston), who is a hockey scout for the New Jersey Devils. However, after one of Derek’s ex-flames makes an appearance on the Kippie Kann show, Stacy questions his past. Brushing her questions aside pleasantly and having to leave town for a few weeks, Barb recommends the idea of Stacy going through Derek’s little black book (which is a Palm Pilot) to find out about his ex-girlfriends. Slithery and uncomfortably, Stacy pays a visit to Derek’s past three flames by approaching each to interview for the show. One is a sexually oriented super model (Josie Maran) and another is an intelligent gynecologist (Rashida Jones), who come to find out has part custody of Derek’s dog. The final ex is a up and coming chef (Julianne Nicholson), who still has feelings for Derek and develops a bond of friendship with Stacy, even though she does not know who she really is.

With trying to dodge Derek’s phone calls and slipping up the true reason behind getting to know these women, Stacy becomes mentally drained, but pushes forward to find out the past of her supposedly perfect man.

Written by Melissa Carter and Elisa Bell, Little Black Book follows the normal routine of a Hollywood comedic chick flick until its final act. The film takes a crude turn and becomes a harsh twisted story with questionable characters. From this comes a more acceptable epilogue than one would first expect from a film of this nature. Though some of the dialogue is clever, the overall script is at times very silly, preposterous, and lame.

Director Nick Hurran humorously captures the world of reality television effectively, especially with Kathy Bates’ blended Rosie O’ Donnell and Jerry Springer character. There is also some tenderness in the film, but for the most part everything is framed, shot and collected by every technique used by Nora Ephron. Hurran also nearly one sides everything exactly towards Stacy’s favor at least until the ending. Even during the final scenes of the film, not all of the opened questions are answered, even though there was so much attention in the first hour of the film given to the secrets revolving around the boyfriend Derek.

Brittany Murphy has the perks, the smile, and of the course the beauty to be a Hollywood leading lady, it just seems that she needs to pick better roles. As Stacy she is keen with her dramatic and comedic antics, but it is all something we have seen from Murphy before. Nonetheless, she is still so immensely likeable. As Stacy’s new producer buddy Barb, Holly Hunter takes a different turn as a producer character than the one she played in Broadcast News, but she is still effective in the role. Kathy Bates has fun as the talk show host Kippie Kahn and Julianne Nicholson is also apt in her role as Derek’s ex-girlfriend Joyce. As Derek, Ron Livingston is not given too much to work with and suffers from it. In the few scenes between Livingston and Murphy’s characters, it is never felt that these two people are head over heels for one another.

Little Black Book has a non-Hollywood ending that is something out of the box and the personality of Brittany Murphy for audiences to enjoy. However, the film has a number of flaws, mostly from its flimsy script and miscalculated choices of development and continuity.

Grade: C

Bailey Henderson

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