Down With Love Movie Review 2003

This uneven but amusing homage/satire to the Rock Hudson/Doris Day sex comedies of the early '60s gets the look and feel right, but loses something in the attitude by superimposing modern sensibilities and perspective over the whole thing. Proto-feminist author Barbara Novak (Zellweger) writes a book proclaiming that women should claim their equality in the workplace by acting like men when it comes to sex. This puts a crimp in the style of Babe magnet/cad Catcher Block (McGregor), a magazine writer who conspires to expose her as an old-fashioned girl at heart. McGregor and Zellweger do a good job channelling Hudson and Day, and the production design and costumes perfectly capture the movie version of 1962 Manhattan that never existed in real life. Pierce is perfect in the old Tony Randall role.

Distribution

Fox Home Entertainment, PO Box 900, Beverly Hills, CA 90213, Phone: (310)369-3900, Toll-free: 888-223-4FOX, Fax: (310)369-5811, URL: http://www.foxmovies.com/index1.html, Remarks: Also known as Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 94 minutes.
Originally from United States.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Romantic Comedy, Period Piece: 1960s, Writers, New York, New York

Screenplay

Dennis Drake, Eve Ahlert

Cast

Renee Zellweger, Ewan McGregor, David Hyde Pierce, Sarah Paulson, Tony Randall, Jack Plotnick, Rachel Dratch, John Aylward, Jeri Ryan, Melissa George, Florence Stanley, Laura Kightlinger

Cinematography

Jeff Cronenweth

Director

Peyton Reed

Music

Marc Shaiman

Other

John Pritchett, Chris Douridas, Laura Z. Wasserman, Larry Bock, Martin Whist, Daniel Orlandi, Andrew Laws

Producer

Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks, Fox 2000 Pictures, Regency Enterprises, Mediastream Film, 20th Century-Fox