20140129: Movie Review--Love and Other Disasters

Love and Other Disasters

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. British live action feature length film, 2006, rated R, 90 minutes, comedy, romance.
2. IMDB: 6.3/10.0 from 9,415 audience ratings. Aspect: 1.85
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 20% on the meter; 57% liked it from 6,767 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.3/5.0 from 687,301 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by: Alek Keshishian.
6. Starring: Brittany Murphy as Emily Jackson ('Jacks'), Matthew Rhys as Peter Simon, Catherine Tate as Tallulah Riggs-Wentworth, Santiago Cabrera as Paolo Sarmiento, Eliot Cowan as James Wildstone, Stephanie Beacham as Felicity Riggs-Wentworth.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Emily is an American working in a fashion house in London.  Her formal job is in fashion photography, but her hobby seems to be matchmaking.


2. Jacks' friend Peter is looking for a significant other; his tentative screenwriting centers around Jacks.  So Peter is a lead in the film perhaps as much as Jacks.


3. How many of Jacks' matchmaking schemes will work?  Will she find her own good and lasting relationship?  Or will she stay stuck in her rat's maze of correctness?


4. Least favourite moment, paraphrased: "I don't want to be one of those characters who gushes out their deepest secrets while the violins play."  Then Jacks gushes out her secrets while the violins play.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: An overabundance of tired cliches: young adults in the fashion world.
2. Two stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 7/10 Often overexposed, rendering thousands of frames nearly washed out.


2. Sound: 7/10 Okay.


3. Acting: 4/10 The late American actress Brittany Murphy was going through the motions at best, and flying over the top at worst.  Matthew Rhys was even worse. The other actors seemed to be in competition for who could be the most wooden, except for Catherine Tate, who was indeed irritating.


4. Screenplay: 4/10 Yikes.  There seemed to be no cliche from the fashion industry that could not be exposed and exploited.  The central joke of this mess is just not funny.  The film's open self-awareness was discouraging.