Down with Love Poster

Down with Love (2003)

Comedy  
Rayting:   6.3/10 39.7K votes
Country: USA | Germany
Language: English
Release date: 25 September 2003

In 1962 New York City, love blossoms between a playboy journalist and a feminist advice author.

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User Reviews

aguasmarked 6 June 2009

A total misfire. Not an ounce of the charm of the comedies "Down With Love" seems to want to pay homage to, parodied, emulate, whatever the intent was, it failed. I like Renee Zellwegger and Ewan McGregor enormously, but not here. I was embarrassed for them. Her pout here was infuriating and her costumes! So up front as if designed to dazzle us are really atrocious. Ewan McGregor seems totally disinterested and thinking of Rock Hudson and one does he looks so, so, so...small. The only redeeming feature is David Hyde Pierce. He's the only one who finds the right tone and made me smile.The failure of this half baked attempt will probably spoil the possibility of other frothy comedies 50's style to be made. Pity. The genre needs and deserves a real shot in the arm.

Shilohbloo 28 November 2005

Fmovies: I just love Ewan and Renee (not to mention David & Sarah!) in Down With Love. Ewan and Renee have proved themselves over and over again to be fantastic performers, and in my book, this one is tops! I am so glad that they made this film, for those of us who miss this type of lighthearted, uplifting, classy work of days gone by -- not to mention being able to see Ewan and Renee in some real quality signing and dancing! WOW! True chemistry. Their timing is impeccable. And I've got to say, Ewan, a very handsome man in his own right, never looked sexier. Absolutely gorgeous. They were meant for this... They all were! It was all wonderful. The glamorous outfits, the bright sceneries, the spaciousness, the clever props, the catchy music, the perfectly timed split screen segment done as sleek and artistically as a dance... the whole cast -- Including Tony Randall to bring it all back!!! -- Nothing could have been improved upon. This piece has kick, bounce, nostalgia, wit and smooth elegance. David Hyde Pierce, playing Tony Randall's classic character role, is right on the mark. I couldn't imagine a closer match... and his sidekick, Sarah Paulson, is pure gold. This movie was made for them, and anyone who hasn't watched it, or who did but just doesn't get it, is missing something genuinely worthwhile. To not "get it" is your unfortunate loss. When "It's A Wonderful Life" first came out, it was considered one of the worst movies around, having done pitifully in the box office. People were simply confused and thought it to be unrealistic silly fluff. It wasn't until many years later, when it was shown by accident on TV, that it started being cherished for the rare gem that it truly is. And that simply goes to show that it is all about allowing yourself to relish and appreciate a work of art when it is presented to you. Move with it, sway with it, laugh, dance and sing with it -- Savor the clever twists and turns. When this is done, you will grasp Down With Love, and it will be valued for the fine quality labor of love that it always was -- just waiting for you to see.

MLDinTN 3 June 2004

DWL didn't do to well at the box office. I guess it must have been due to a poor advertizing campaign. After finally seeing it, I though it was pretty good. It's sort of like a battle of the sexes. Barbara Novak pretends to be a man hating woman who doesn't need love while Catcher Block is a womanizer out to prove he can get the DWL girl(Novak) to fall in love. So along the way, we get funny situations, like Catch pretending to be Zip and many over heard conversations that seem to be about something else, ie... the secretary overhearing the sock discussion. And an unusually scene using split screens with Barbara and Catch talking on the phone. She's below and he's on top doing pushups. At the end they smoke. Cute idea.

The 2 supporting characters, Vikki and Peter, were good. Plus we get a surprise twist toward the end involving Barbara, which I never saw coming.

FINAL VERDICT: Cute and funny. It's different than your average romantic comedy. So if you like romantic comedies, I recommend this one.

cariart 1 October 2003

Down with Love fmovies. DOWN WITH LOVE, director Peyton Reed's homage/spoof of the Doris Day/Rock Hudson sex comedies of the early 60s, is a delightful bit of fluff in a movie season filled with inferior sequels and overwrought epics. Dazzling to watch, with Givenchy-inspired costumes (if Daniel Orlandi does not receive an Oscar for his work, his peers should turn in their Designer cards), wonderfully over-the-top sets (EVERYBODY in those 60s films lived in apartments you could land airplanes in), and a 'More 1963 New York than 1963 New York' look (created on the studio back lot, with ample support from CGI), the film would deserve a viewing even if the cast never uttered a line of dialog!

Fortunately, the script, by Eve Ahlert and Dennis Drake, is wickedly funny, full of the politically incorrect double entendres that were as close as Hollywood could get to actual 'naughtiness', 30 years ago (and, yes, there are more than a few present that WOULD have been censored, even then). The story, of a woman who writes a best-selling 'self-help' book eschewing the necessity of men for any more than 'casual sex', and the 'Hugh Hefner'-like writer who turns his prodigious charms to work, in the guise of a naive astronaut, to win her love, and thus discredit her theories, would have fit Doris Day and Rock Hudson to a 'T'. While Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor lack their role models' charisma, they have a pleasant chemistry together, and the 'split-screen' phone call scenes between the pair are even racier than the Day/Hudson 60s versions.

If the leads seem a bit bland, the supporting cast more than makes up for any shortcomings. In a role that SHOULD garner a 'Supporting Actor' Oscar nomination, David Hyde Pierce takes on the part assumed by Tony Randall or Gig Young in those 60s farces, that of the put-upon, neurotic, sometimes prissy friend of the hero. He is superb, even SOUNDING like Tony Randall, and steals every scene he's in. His 'opposite number', friend of the heroine Sarah Paulson, while not quite at Pierce's level, is still quite funny as a chain-smoking career woman who would chuck it all for the right man. And, in a FABULOUS piece of casting, the MAN himself, Tony Randall, appears as the book publisher whose bestseller is RUINING his love life. At 83, the man can still toss off a funny line...

With a very inventive 'twist-within-a-twist' climax, and Marc Shaiman's evocative score punctuating the proceedings, DOWN WITH LOVE is a delight!

inkblot11 15 February 2007

Barbara (Renee Zellweger) has just written a book called Down With Love. She leaves Maine and lands in New York City, where her book is about to hit the shelves. Unfortunately, the male executives at her publishing house have doubts about the new tome and are not forking over any marketing money. The lone woman at Banner publishing, Vicki, takes Barbara under her wing and they work to get the nonfiction title some fame. First, they decide to ask Catcher Block (Ewan McGregor), a prominent male writer for Know magazine, to do a cover story for the book. He postpones the interview again and again. In the meantime, Vicki and Barbara get the book mentioned on the Ed Sullivan show. Soon, copies of DWL are flying out of the bookstores, mainly because the book empowers women to think more about themselves and less about attracting a man. Catcher spies a picture of Barbara in a bookstore window and knows he has to meet her. However, since he is a notorious ladies man, he assumes the identity of an astronaut named Zip Martin. Naturally, he plays the perfect gentleman when he begins to take Barbara out on the town. How long will it be until Barbara discovers the truth? And, will she have fallen for the guy first? Romantic comedy fans everywhere should love this film. It is a takeoff of the old Doris and Rock movies that are so delightfully fun and full of clean mischief. Zellweger and McGregor are a joy in their roles as the smitten couple. The rest of the cast, including a cameo by Tony Randall, are great, too. The look of the film is nice, as are the costumes and the Big Apple setting. If you love crazy, contrived, comic love tales, get this one tonight. You will bask in its take-me-out-of-my-blues delivery.

rosscinema 26 May 2003

This is an homage to the light romantic comedies of the early 60's and a strong influence by "Pillow Talk". Renee Zellweger is Barbara Novack and she writes a book about women and how they look at relationships and an editor at a publishing firm named Vicki Hiller (Sarah Paulson) convinces the board of directors to publish her book. One way to get attention to her book is for a well known writer to write an expose of it so they try to get Catcher Block (Ewan McGregor) to do the job but he's so busy womanizing that he keeps canceling their appointments so they try other methods to get attention to her book and they succeed as it becomes a best seller. Catcher is amazed by her success and bets his friend and coworker Peter MacMannus (David Hyde Pierce) that he can make her fall in love with him which would make her a hypocrite and he would have a big story to publish. Catcher pretends to be a shy astronaut from Florida and they start to date. This film is directed by Peyton Reed who has worked almost exclusively in television and is directing the "Fantastic Four" next. Film does an admirable job of recreating those type of films that were prevalent in those times. The sets are terrific with the decor for the offices and apartments. Even the scenes like when Zellweger is riding in a car its obvious that its a sound stage with a movie screen behind them showing stock footage of 1960's traffic. The script also does a good job of adding some flavor of 1960's culture like when one of the board of directors describes her as "The Farmers Daughter" from Maine. This is of course in reference to Debbie Reynolds and when MacGregor says he's an astronaut from Cocoa Beach Florida its from "I Dream Of Jeannie". All pop icons from the sixties. And having Tony Randall in the film gives it the ultimate cavalier compliment. Its not a perfect homage like the scene where Paulson accuses Pierce of being homosexual which would not have been allowed during those times but the lighthearted charm of the film remains intact. Zellweger is fine as usual as Barbara but its MacGregor that caught my eye. His performances in the last two years have never ceased to be interesting. He was almost unrecognizable in "Black Hawk Down" and then shows he can sing in "Moulin Rouge!" But also shows he can handle playing American dialects. He's an amazing actor to watch and here he adds to his mystique. Film is utterly charming and it does compliment the films from the early sixties.

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