A Cinderella story that's like a cross between Ever After, Princess Diaries, and Pretty Woman. It's a cheesy 90's romcom and it's perfect within its genre. Despite having an ancient trope, it was so hilarious, all the characters uniquely charming, with just enough variety to make it feel fresh and I LOVED it. Also it took me way too long to realize Ricki Lake plays the protagonist which is so bizarre but strangely fitting.
It was somehow even more boring than I expected lol. You already know the outcome of a movie like this, but you expect there to be a little bit more drama in the process or maybe get to know the characters stories and motivations so you can really cheer them on as they fight for victory, but no. Add in some really cheesy dialogue and and the most generic protagonist possible and you have the recipe for a true snoozer.
It's a shame that the Martha character is so lame, which makes it even more obvious that all this fuss is just because she is hot. At the same time it's just the sort of silly mediocre rom com that I can appreciate and the '98 Joseph Fiennes charm is undeniable.
I watched this after Reacher and I cannot warn you enough to stay away. Ritchson’s character is incredibly dumb and asks the most obtuse questions. To be fair, a lot of MMA fighters I’ve personally known do seem a bit addled due to all the head injuries. Overall, the dialogue feels forced and serves little purpose to progress the plot. The main characters Holly and Shayne (also what is that spelling?) have zero chemistry and Olivia Thirlby’s acting is awful. I think my favorite part is the way Tito Ortiz plays himself, especially with his apartment being plastered with pictures of himself.
Unless full frontal nudity of Tom Wilkinson and large age gap relationships are your cup of tea, I don't recommend lol. Suitable only for rainy, boring afternoons when the alternative activity is taking a nap, but I would still recommend the nap.
It's an objectively well made and well acted movie that I really enjoyed. The plot is well structured, fast paced, and dialog well written.
It has the moral imperative to end sex trafficking but it's not through heavy handed guilt tripping, but through telling a true story about a man who made personal sacrifices to do the right thing and courageously go into danger to be a genuine hero. I think anyone who has any sense of altruism will leave this movie inspired to take action against this truly heinous evil that is real and happening now. Go see this movie.
If you love British drama, run for the hills.
It's supposed to be a British drama and so you expect.... ya know... drama. Especially compared to the 2007 version, which captures the absolute misery and pining of Anne, the new Anne just doesn't seem miserable enough. They spent more time trying to have her come off as witty but just ends up kind of an asshole. In general, her character also doesn't have any particularly compelling qualities to win you over, so when she's supposed to be all miserable I'm kinda just thinking, "Well.... sucks to suck?". Similarly the 2007 Elliot comes off as strong, competent, authoritative, and sexy and man do you feel for Anne. Like damn, you really screwed up Anne but like I feel really bad for you at the same time, we're in this together hun, let's go wallow. By comparison when the new Elliot comes back, you don't really feel like she's missed out on much. He's basically an average bro, like initially kinda cute if you look hard enough, but the personality of a thumb. His wanna-be Darcy brooding just comes off as constipated.
I think a lot of the problem is the writing, which spent too much effort trying to add comedy (which it failed at), but Persuasion, while it has funny moments, is mostly supposed to be a DRAMA and TRAGEDY and reflect how yeah sometimes people make absolute shit decisions and you are going to pay dearly for your mistakes and it doesn't always get better with time, and that shit suuuuucks. You don't get much of a feel for that.
My biggest beef is that they BUTCHERED one of my all time favorite romance quotes... and with no obvious purpose.
The original in the book and the 2007 movie: "There could have never been two hearts so open, no tastes so similar, no feelings so in unison, no countenances so beloved. Now they were as strangers; nay, worse than strangers, for they could never become acquainted. It was a perpetual estrangement"
The new version: "There could have never been two hearts so open, no tastes so similar, no feelings so in unison, no countenances so beloved. Now they were as strangers; nay, worse than strangers, they were.... ex's."
Just WHY. It was the wrong moment to try to modernize this. Do they think their watchers can't handle words like "perpetual"? How patronizing. It really ruined an already mediocre movie for me. The real tragedy is that someone paid money to produce this Bridgerton (which I also hate) knock off. I recommend watching the 2008 BBC Sense and Sensibility for some proper misery and pining to help flush out all this garbage from your system if you failed to read this review before watching.
This movie was super quirky and cute, I recommend!
I had to turn this off literally 1:52 minutes in because the dialogue was so painfully contrived i wanted to punch the 3 total characters in the face. There is no way it is getting better.