(Redirected from Down With Love)
'''Down with Love''' is a 2003
American romantic comedy film.
An
homage to the films made by
Rock Hudson and
Doris Day in the early
1960s, most notably ''
Pillow Talk'' and ''
Lover Come Back'', it tells the story of Barbara Novak, a farm girl from
Maine who finds fame and fortune as the author of ''Down with Love'', a book that urges women to become
liberated from male domination by giving up on love and substituting
chocolate for physical pleasure. Ace reporter Catcher Block (McGregor), a playboy in the classic sense, sets out to expose her as a fraud, and invents an
alter ego,
astronaut Zip Martin, to seduce her. In a sub-plot, Novak's garrulous editor and publicist, Vikki Hiller, and Catcher's naïve, insecure best friend and boss Peter MacMannus, provide comic relief as they struggle to engage in a romantic fling of their own.
Released in the
United States on
May 9,
2003, the film, written by
Eve Ahlert and
Dennis Drake and directed by
Peyton Reed, stars
Renée Zellweger,
Ewan McGregor,
David Hyde Pierce,
Sarah Paulson,
Rachel Dratch, and
Jeri Ryan.
Tony Randall, a mainstay of the Hudson-Day films, appears in a small role as the owner of Novak's publishing house. It proved to be his final film performance.
The sets,
costumes,
cinematography,
editing,
score, opening credits, and
special effects, including split-screen shots during phone calls heavily laced with
double entendres between the two leads, are carefully designed to give the impression that the movie was actually shot in 1962, even to the extent of digitally recreating the
New York City skyline and developing a
greenscreen technique simulating cheesy 1960s rear projection. While the plot reflects the attitudes and behavior of the early, pre-sexual revolution Sixties, the film has an
anachronistic subtext driven by more modern,
post-feminist ideas and attitudes. The script mixes early 21st Century ideas with the type of light-hearted banter that dominated films of the early 1960s.
The movie features the song "
Down with Love" as sung by
Judy Garland.
Trivia
★ The musical number seen during the closing credits (and in its entirety on the DVD release) was a last-minute addition to the film. Songwriters
Marc Shaiman and
Scott Wittman appear in the number as the bartender and the pianist. According to commentary on the DVD, it was added at the suggestion of Ewan McGregor, who pointed out the opportunity the filmmakers had to unite the stars of two recently popular musical films (his ''
Moulin Rouge!'' and Zellweger's ''
Chicago'').
★ The script includes a reference to
CinemaScope, a now defunct widescreen process introduced in the
1950s, developed and owned by
20th Century Fox, the studio that released the film.
Soundtrack

''Soundtrack cover'' (2003)
#Kissing A Fool (Album Version) —
Michael Bublé
#For Once In My Life (Album Version) — Michael Bublé
#Down With Love (Album Version) — Michael Bublé and
Holly Palmer
#Barbara Arrives (Album Version) —
Marc Shaiman
#Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words) (
Count Basie And His Orchestra) (Album Version) —
Frank Sinatra
#
One Mint Julep (Album Version) —
Xavier Cugat And His Orchestra
#Girls Night Out (Album Version) — Marc Shaiman
#Everyday Is A Holiday With You (Album Version) —
Esthero
#Barbara Meets Zip (Album Version) — Marc Shaiman
#Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words) (Album Version) —
Astrud Gilberto
#Love in Three Acts (Album Version) — Marc Shaiman
#Here's To Love (Album Version) — Renée Zellweger and Ewan Mcgregor
External links
★