Fever Pitch
July 6th, 2007
Barely acceptable even by the extremely formulaic conventions of the romcom. As if it wasn’t insult enough that in the stateside adaptation, Nick Hornby’s soccer obsession morphed into Red Sox fandom, it’s now demoted to “what’s wrong with this guy” plot hurdle to be taken by lovers Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Falllon. The movie’s at its best (and that’s not saying much) when he’s charming her in act I; all the disappointment over the missed Yankees game or whatnot is ever so much chaff.
What I fail to understand is why anybody would want to mistake these bundles of clichés shoehorned into a preconceived plot for real people. It’s one thing to use cardboard stiffs as an excuse for popcorn action, but shouldn’t a love story center on more or less recognizable, likable, lifelike characters? Instead we get the one-trait-per-person cartoons that, at least since Sex in the City, somehow pass for urban realism but in truth offer less depth and verisimilitude than your average Marvel superhero book. And doesn’t the “comedy” half of it at least suggest the occasional joke?
Fever Pitch. Bobby and Peter Farrelly, 2005. *
My Wife is an Actress
October 31st, 2006
Yvan Attal, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Terence Stamp in a romantic comedy from France: Yvan’s jealous of his successful actress wife Charlotte, who’s making a movie in London. It’s all very pleasant, Gainsbourg is beautiful, and favorite Ludivine Sagnier has a minor part. But in the end it gets way too goofy, and there’s a dreadful subplot hinging on the circumcision of a Jewish baby. Written and directed by Attal, who really is married to Gainsbourg. It’s suprising Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn haven’t remade this yet.
My Wife is an Actress. Yvan Attal, 2001. **
