Why DOWN WITH LOVE is a Modern Classic
Down With
Love was
released 20 years ago today—and dang, I’m old.
I have visceral memories of going to the movie rental store and renting this multiple times. Do any of those exist in your neck of the woods anymore? I think the only places you can rent movies in Halifax now are, maybe, those late-night convenience stores. That’s where I bought my copy of The Artist, anyways.
Notice how
my favourite modern movies are more often than not period films? When I sat
down to write this post, I realized that if you asked me what my favourite modern
movies are, I wouldn’t be able to name five of them. So I made one on my Letterboxd profile and I
was honestly shocked at how many new movies I forgot that I loved (Charlie's
Angels with Drew, Cameron and Lucy being one of them).
Back to Down With Love. Let me set the scene for you: it's 2003. Moulin Rouge! and Chicago have both been released to general acclaim. 15-year-old Jess is capital-O Obsessed with both of them. I rented Chicago so frequently, and so continually, that when they finally had a copy for sale they teased me when I bought it.
So then out comes Down
with Love and teenage Jess sees Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor—Roxy Hart
and Christian—in a movie together, and she's like "Oh yes, this is
happening!" And then I became capital-O Obsessed with this movie,
too.
If you're not familiar with Down with Love, here's a
brief overview: Barbara Novak (Renee Zellweger) has just moved to New York and
written a book. Her editor Vicki (Sarah Paulson) tries to get her publicity for
her anti-love manual, including a magazine piece by man's man, man-about-town
Catcher Block (Ewan McGregor). His publisher and best friend, Peter (David Hyde
Pierce), is trying to catch Vicki's eye.
When Catcher keeps standing up Barbara for an interview, she
finally snaps and embarrasses him on live television. He plans to get back at
her by proving she believes in love, and goes undercover as astronaut Zip
Martin to expose her. Shenanigans ensue.
It’s an homage to ’60s sex comedies and the characters are
send-ups of the classic characters portrayed by Doris Day, Rock Hudson and Tony
Randall.
Down with Love is a perfect send-up of those classic Doris Day/Rock Hudson comedies. Barbara Novak stands in as the independent woman who just 'needs' to find love. Catcher Block (whose name is a parody of Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, et al) is the ladies man who needs to be tamed and resorts to a disguise (à la Rex Stetson or Dr. Linus from Pillow Talk and Lover Come Back). Vicki is the straight talking best friend to the female lead. Peter is the neurotic best friend to the male lead (à la every character Tony Randall ever played).
And throughout, the script is chock-full of clever, sly references to those sex comedies. At one point Catcher and Peter swap apartments so that Barbara and Vicki don't realize their subterfuge. Near the end of the movie, Vicki thinks she has it figured out: Catcher and Peter and gay and closeted. She says, "At one point, I had even convinced myself that life was all one big zany sex comedy and you had switched keys with the lead to use his swinging pad to snare me."
Peter's response? "I did! I did switch keys with the lead!"
And the costumes! Oh man, the costumes. Is there anything as iconic as Renee Zellweger’s pink and white checked dress coat and hat? Okay, maybe Keira Knightley’s green gown from Atonement, but still!
I sincerely hope Renee and Sarah had it in their contracts that they could keep at least one of the fabulous dresses they get to wear. The extended fashion sequence—where they pop up at various places where Catcher has promised to interview Barbara—is out of this world.
Earlier in the film, when Vicki's complaining that nobody wants to date her, they only want to slip her their manuscripts, she tells Peter, "The men who resent my success won't give me the time of day, and the men who respect my success won't give me the time of night." Peter tells her, "If you give me the chance, I'd respect you and resent you day and night, and night and day!”
My
favourite line, one that I quote all the time to my best friend, is when
Barbara thanks Vicki for landing her an interview with Catcher Block at the
beginning of the film. She says, "Oh, Vikki, you're the best friend a girl
from Maine who wrote a book and came to New York could ever have!" I say
this all the time, and I'm even considering using it when my own book is published, to thank my best friend
and copyproofer for all her help.
Here are a few other examples of the '60s homages:
gif by me
Comments
Post a Comment