10 Things I Hate About You
Personally, I ended up adoring this film. I loved Heath Ledgers character, and I felt like I related to the angsty twin, which made me giggle because I normally find those types of characters pretentious and irritating, but Julia Stiles pulls it off and makes her sincere, and incredible self contained which works perfectly against Heath Ledgers outgoing, arrogant, and refreshingly sweet character. I also like how the 3 couples stories were intertwined, it was smooth and well written and it never felt forced or clunky. Another note on writing is how perfectly cute and funny it was; the humour was actually very well crafted and fitted in each characters personality perfectly, no line felt out of place which is difficult to achieve in comedy sometimes, I'm glad it was such a good film. It also used costuming very well as throughtout the film we saw Heath ledgers character initially wearing black, and dark colours, but they graduate into paler, happier colours which reflects how the characters mood and outlook changes after they start dating. This can also be seen in Julias character as she starts off very dark colours, skinny jeans etc, and ends up in pale tops and long, pale skirts which still suits her character and doesn't seem like a wolf in sheeps clothing, to put it it simply.Overall, a really enjoyable film, very cute and very sincere. Clever writing, very good well delivered jokes, and varied characters that hint at, but don't actually fall into clichés making them incredibly unique distinguishable. I really enjoyed this film and it's a benchmark for how to blend humour, romance, tension, and realistic emotions seamlessly. Finally, I would like to mention the morals in this film because I hate that other films lack these, it teaches people to be fair, honest, kind, opinionated, but well meaning which is normally pushed aside, and this for me makes this film one of the best.
Pretty Woman
"Pretty Woman" is actually a pretty big benchmark in the history on Romantic Comedies, it launched the careers of Julia Roberts, and the romantic comedy pairing of herself and Richard Gere. Pretty woman is another one based off a book and basically what happens is when Julia Roberts character, a prostitute, is hired by wealthy business man, Richard Geres character, to be his 'girlfriend' for a week. Over the course of this week, they fall in love, but of course people end up finding out shes a prostitute, lots of public shaming, the argue, split up, but they get back together and decide to stay together forever.
Now I must admit, this was the movie that made me lose faith in romantic comedies. Because ,although I do appreciate the fact that this film was made in the 80's so the general quality isn't as good as modern films, to me its just an overall badly made film. The writing is probably the only thing that makes it stand out, its not bad; it flows well and the characters are written in a very smooth and subtle way so we gradually get to know more about them, but its ripped out by the acting.
I just really don't like Richard Geres acting, he's dead in the face and makes so few emotions I struggle to bond with his character temporarily or otherwise. Julia Roberts wasn't much to shout about either but she had subtleties that at least showed her acting skills off, and on the note of acting, the sex scenes that were featured looked so awkward. Since Richard Gere can't pull any sort of emotive expression, every sex scene looked so robotic and emotionless, it just didn't make any sort of impact, that and it seemed the actors themselves just had no chemistry either; and I've seen them act together in other rom coms, they just never seem to have the spark that makes most movie couples brilliant, its really disappointing.
But here's another little niggle, there are easily about 4 sex scenes, and only 1 kiss; I know this is for the sake of the character ("I never kiss its too personal") but when you've seen the main couple have sex a few times, you just don't get the same payoff when they kiss. The good romance movies, in my opinion. are the ones that have it all climax at the end of the movie with an amazing, world shifting, star exploding kiss because thats the first time we see them become the couple we love, and 'Pretty Woman' just does not have that quality going for it. Sadly, this film just does not hit the high notes for me, its just lacking in nearly every area and I can't seem to get to grips with why people like it so much. I wish I could understand the hype behind it but it was built up to be so brilliant and now it just seems like such a let down. Oh well, its not my thing and I doubt it ever will be.
17 Again
"17 Again" is a rom com starring Mathew Broderick as a 37 year old salesperson, and father, who's bitter about his current life and has been obsessing over his high school life when he threw away a basketball scholarship to support his then pregnant girlfriend, they ended up having 2 kids together but are now in the middle of a divorce after his bitterness got too much to bare. But after talking to an old janitor in the highschool and wishing to him to start his life over, he falls off a bridge and wakes up as his 17 year old self (Zac Efron). He gets to grip with being 17, starts attending his kids highschool, and starts playing basketball again believing he can do it all over again; but this motive changed when he realises how badly his kids are doing, with his son being the school punch bag, and his daughter dating the worst psycho jock there. He then has to fight helping his kids, and sorting out his divorce with his wife all as a 17 year old. In the end, he helps his daughter see the wrong in her boyfriend, help his son become a basketball team player with his dream girl, and get back together with his wife.
What I really enjoy about this film is how seamless the transition is between the actors; Mathew Broderick and Zac Efron do an excellent job at copying and adopting each others mannerisms which really comes across in their performances. This is helped by the stellar writing in the film, its funny, light, and cute, but it hits heavy when problems and issues are raised, its realistic but incorporates a fantastic element of fantasy to make it interesting to watch. Another note on the writing is how on point the cute fluffy interactions were between couples, especially between Mathew Brodericks character and the wife, they seemed like they really did have the entire history behind their interactions but just presented with the face of a 17 year old guy, it was really fun to watch.
The characters are also stunningly written, they do tend to be a bit predictable, but still likeable and very watchable, they never seem to repeat themselves or seem 1 dimensional, its obvious to see that the director and actors worked well to create these, giving them amazing on screen chemistry and humour that makes this film.
Overall, a funny, bright, and well formed film. It delivers well on story, the interactions really are very real and sincere, the awkward interactions are the best, you feel the awkwardness with them and it makes you cringe as well, I love it. Its certainly not a legendary rom com, but its definitely an enjoyable one.
It was an interesting experience being able to look into the genre of rom coms, and I definitely have a new appreciation for it. Its also certainly enthused me at the ever looming prospect of creating my own trailer, and seeing the general base line for it helps. Overall, a fun and enlightening experience.
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