Romantic Movies
Failure to Launch
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Stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew
McConaughey, Kathy Bates and Terry Bradshaw
If you wade through the first fifteen
minutes or so, you will be rewarded with a fairly
enjoyable movie about thirty-five year old Tripp (Matthew
McConaughey) who still lives with his parents (Kathy Bates & Terry
Bradshaw), and the plot to get him moved out of the old family home.
This arrangement seems to suit Tripp just fine, as he leads the life
of a revolving-door Romeo while still having all his clothes washed
and meals cooked by his Mom. Commitment-phobic Tripp routinely gets
rid of girlfriends who decide to get too serious by taking them home
and surprising them with his under-the-same-roof parents. His
parents, Sue (Kathy Bates) & Al (Terry Bradshaw), however, think its high time Tripp left the nest.
The solution lies with Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker), a
relationship-specialist for hire, whose forte is "simulating a
romantic experience" with stay-at-home sons that gives them enough
confidence to venture out and set up home on their own. Of course,
the scenario doesn't unfold as expected and the planned course of
events comes off the rails. Zooey Deschanel provides comic relief
and reality checks as Paula's roommate, Kit. Tripp's two best
friends, Ace (Justin Bartha) and Demo (Bradley Cooper) are also
live-at-home guys, whose characters mercifully develop a bit more
depth as the movie progresses. Overall, though, this movie combines
some fun scenes and situations, but doesn't live up to all its
potential.
The Last Holiday -
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Stars Queen Latifah, LL Cool J, and Gerard
Depardieu.
Queen Latifah is a joy to watch in this
movie, as she brings Georgia Byrd to life for us. She leads a tidy
little life as a shy cookware sales person in a large department
store. Her dreams for a better life are recorded in a scrap book she
keeps, filled with places she would like to visit, things she's like
to do - and the man she would like to marry. LL Cool J does a
remarkable job portraying Sean Matthews, as Georgia's co-worker, who
is as smitten with Georgia as she is with him. However,
shyness and self-doubt have kept them apart while working in the same
store. Georgia's life is abruptly upended when she is
diagnosed with a disease that only leaves her with a short time to
live. She decides to live out some of her life-long wishes, by
quitting her job, cashing in her savings, and flying to an Alpine resort to sample some of
Chef Didier's fine cuisine (Gerard Depardieu). At this hotel she is
mistaken for a wealthy businesswoman, including by the nasty man who
owns the store chain she used to work for. Humorous
misunderstandings, life lessons, and a dash of romance liven up this
life-affirming film. This film is a fluffy, heart-warming delight and the perfect
antidote for any down days you might feel. Don't confuse
this film with the 1950 original that starred Alec Guinness, as they
only share a basic premise and are totally different stories. The
script for the modern version underwent many years of gestation and
was finally re-written with Queen Latifah in mind - and is all the
better for the transformation.
The Family Stone -
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Stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Dermot
Mulroney, Diane Keating and Luke Wilson
Meredith Morton (Sarah Jessica Parker)
is dropped into the deep end by fiancé Everett Stone (Dermot
Mulroney), when he invites her home for Xmas to meet his family. The
Stones are exuberant even for extroverts, with non-stop banter
and teasing. Everett appears to be the odd man out, with his
uptight character standing apart from his siblings. However,
he apparently seems well matched to Meredith, who is urban neurosis
personified. Meredith's introduction to the Stones does not start
well and goes humorously down hill, the more she tries to fit in.
Diane Keaton portrays the Stone mother, who is a rather annoyingly
unbalanced character. Complications set in when Everett's brother
Ben (Luke Wilson) arrives, who is rather unbelievably attracted to Meredith. The plot thickens when Meredith calls her
sister Julie (Claire Danes) to come and visit to give her moral support.
Unfortunately, director Thomas Bezucha does not get his
actors to provide really convincing reasons for the romantic
entanglements that ensue. This could be a much better story than was
presented here - it's good for a rental on a dull night, but not always
enjoyable. Perhaps its biggest weakness is that few of the leading characters are really all that likeable.
Elizabethtown -
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Stars Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan
Sarandon and Alec Baldwin.
Elizabethtown is a richly varied movie
whose strengths transcend a few awkward scenes to allow the main
characters to leave their mark.
Orlando Bloom stars as Drew Baylor, a top designer of sneakers for a
Nike parody. We meet him just at the edge of the precipice of life, when the eight years he's invested in a new line of show goes
bust, costing his company a billion dollar loss. Alec Baldwin is
delicious as Phil DeVoss, the head of Drew's company. Drew is
snapped out of his despair by a phone call from his sister to say
that his father has died while on a trip to his hometown in
Kentucky. Claire Colburn (Kirsten Dunst) enters the film as the
chatty and slightly wacky airline attendant on Drew's flight to
Kentucky. Dunst and Bloom work well together, providing their
crucial initial scenes with the necessary sparks and tension needed
to ground their eventual journey together. Drew's time in Kentucky
ends up showing his father, and himself, in a whole new light as he
gets re-acquainted with relatives he hasn't seen in the years he
devoted to his career. This movie is pervaded with the multiple
threads at which love works within families and friends, and it does
so with a rich mix of humor and pathos. There are, unfortunately,
several uneven scenes and poorly sketched characters in the Kentucky
sequences; the scene in which Drew's mother (Susan Sarandon)
supposedly makes a breakthrough to reconcile with her husband's
family is just downright painful and the bulk of it should have been
sacrificed to the editing room floor. Even so, much of the film is
refreshingly creative and, like the two main characters, endearingly
quirky.
Rumor Has It -
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Stars Jennifer Anniston, Mark Ruffalo,
Shirley McLean and Kevin Costner.
Rob Reiner directs this unusual and
entertaining movie "based on a true rumor" that supposedly picks up
on the characters of The Graduate several decades later.
Sarah Huttinger (Jennifer Aniston) is an obituary writer who returns
home with her fiancé Jeff (Mark Ruffalo)
for her sister's wedding. Sarah is more convinced than ever that she
is just not like the rest of her family, and begins to wonder where
she truly came from. On an impulse she starts to track down
rumors that The Graduate really was written about an affair
her mother and grandmother (Shirley MacLean) may have had with Beau
Burroughs (Kevin Costner). In her quest to uncover the truth about
her family's secrets, Sarah falls under the charms of Beau - to the
dismay of her beau. In the end, love and reality are restored in her
life and among those around her. This is a great movie to
watch for many reasons, as it refuses to follow the usual romantic
comedy formula. Love lost and found, falling from grace, and
ultimate redemption may be packaged into other scripts but not as
they are here. Pathos and humor mix in an engaging story that
is strongly acted by all the principals. Special kudos goes to
Shirley MacLean who is larger than life in the most believable and
hilarious ways, eating up almost every scene she appears in; but the
story actually counts on such a dominating presence in her
character. Costner's performance is also very well rounded as the
multi-generational heartthrob, portraying a rich and successful but
quietly understated 'good guy.'
Must Love Dogs -
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Stars Diane Lane and John Cusack.
This romance is both drama and comedy, offering some great
performances and a good story even though there are rough spots
along the way. Diane Lane plays elementary school teacher Sarah,
whose family despairs of her meeting a good man. Her sister finally
places an add for her on an internet dating service. John Cusack
gives life to Jake, a recovering divorcé. His rather frenetic and
inept attempts to relate to Sarah provide the ups and downs of real
encounters. Both lead characters also juggle dating with other
people while trying to explore a relationship with each other.
Jake's competition is provided by Bob (convincingly acted by Dermot
Mulroney), father of one of Sarah's students. The movie twists in
ways that one expects from a Cusack movie, and one's own feelings
towards it go up and down as the characters unravel and then find
their proper path. Stockard Channing gives an enjoyably campy
performance as Jake's father's girlfriend (played by
Christopher Plummer).
- A Walk To Remember
- About a Boy
- Birthday Girl
- Charlotte Gray
- Crush
- The Importance of Being Earnest
- Kate & Leopold
- The Majestic
- My First Mister
- Serendipity
- Shallow Hal
- Spiderman
- The Shipping News
- The Sweetest Thing
Top Ten Movies About Love
& Romance
1. Pretty Woman (1990)
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Starring Richard Gere, Julia Roberts
2. When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
- watch preview
Starring Meg Ryan, Billy Crystal, Carrie Fisher,
Bruno Kirby
9. Sliding Doors (1998)
- watch preview
Starring Gwyneth Paltrow, John Hannah
4. Strictly Ballroom (1992)
- watch preview
Starring Paul Mercurio, Tara Morice
5. Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
- watch preview
Starring Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Bill Pullman,
Rosie O'Donnell
6. Working Girl (1988)
- watch preview
Starring Melanie Griffith, Harrison Ford, Sigourney
Weaver, Alec Baldwin
7. Titanic (1997)
- watch preview
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet (Drama)
8. A Room with a View (1986)
- watch preview
Starring Helena Bonham Carter, Julian Sands,
Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench
3. Four Weddings and a Funeral
(1994) - watch preview
Starring Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell, Kristin
Scott Thomas
10. Life Is Beautiful (1998)
- watch preview
Starring Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi,
Giustino Durano (Drama)
Movies About Love & Romance