Romancefest 2016: Pride & Prejudice

What better way to end Romancefest 2016 than with an adaptation of a classic, Jane Austen's PRIDE & PREJUDICE. This is the 2005 movie from Joe Wright. I realize the TV movie has a big following but for Romancefest we're sticking with theatrical films. Unless I ever did a non-theatrical flick in the past in which case... I dunno. Sorry.

Joe Wright went on to make ATONEMENT, which is amazing, and then some other flicks that weren't quite as amazing, but PRIDE & PREJUDICE is basically the perfect flick: it's beautiful to look at, wonderfully acted, funny and dramatic. What more could you ask for?

The movie stars Keira Knightley as the second eldest daughter in a family of five daughters, all of whom the family matriarch (Brenda Blethyn) wants to marry off before the family patriarch (Donald Sutherland) kicks off so they can keep their hands on some property. Sounds grim, but it's not. The flick takes place at the end of the 18th century which is a change from the early 19th century of the original novel but to be honest I never would have noticed if I hadn't read some trivia.

Right around the time mom's trying to unload her daughters, several rich bachelors descend on the area, including Simon Woods and his buddy Matthew Macfadyen as the now-famous Mr. Darcy. Woods has the hots for Knightley's older sister (Rosamund Pike). Macfadyen and Knightley strike up an instant dislike for each other, trading sarcastic barbs at every opportunity.

Is PRIDE & PREJUDICE the origin of the bickering lovers? Everyone knows if two hot singles hate each other's guts at the beginning of the movie they'll be in love by the end. But did Jane Austen create that? Looks like it.

There are other potential suitors, including Rupert Friend of HOMELAND fame (what a badass) but the meat of the story is with the battle of wills between Knightley and Macfadyen.

I've already said this adaptation is beautifully shot and well acted. There's great scenery and lovely music. But it all works because of Knightley. Even though her very name conjures up visions of elegant costume dramas, here she's kind of the antithesis of the romantic lead. Yes, she's beautiful and plucky and all that kind of stuff, but Austen has not penned a typical Victorian character. Knightley is quick to share her opinions, and holds her own on screen. If you need any proof, just be aware that Judi Dench shows up as Macfadyen's formidable (and wealthy) Aunt. The moment Dench shows up, she commands the screen and there is one scene in particular in which she goes toe to toe with Knightley where you really see Knightley's power. It's not any actress who could convincingly back Dench down, and Knightley does it.

I'd say that's the best scene in the flick except for one thing. When Knightley and Macfadyen finally get together towards the end of the movie, it's one of the most beautifully realized "get together" scenes I've ever seen. Again, beautifully acted and gorgeously shot, Macfadyen approaches Knightley across the moors at sunrise, the music swells and.... well, that's what Romancefest is all about.

Romancefest 2016: Hitch

I guess this goes without saying but throughout Romancefest 2016 I've learned that successful romantic comedies are good natured. It's not uncommon for them to be about the "war of the sexes" or whatever you want to call it. But it's key for them to go into that territory without getting nasty. HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS got a little nasty and was worse for it. 2005's HITCH, directed by Andy Tennant, also deals with concealed identities and characters scheming and manipulating their relationships, but it always remains fun, light hearted, and yes, good natured. So it's good!

Will Smith stars as the title character, a "dating doctor" who advises men on how to get together with the women they pine after. He's not a "how to get laid" guy -- that would take the movie in too far of a mean direction. Instead, he helps guys get over their shyness and low self esteem in order to stand a chance with a woman they might otherwise assume they don't. Of course the movie has to couch the subject this way so it doesn't have to get into the ethics of the whole thing, but the movie also does get into that a little bit, so it's not as if it totally ignores its own premise, which is nice.

As the movie opens, Smith is advising a hapless, clumsy but sweet accountant (Kevin James) in his attempts to woo a wealthy heiress (Amber Valletta). Meanwhile, Smith's attempting to handle his own life as he falls head over heels for a gossip columnist (Eva Mendes) who is jaded and cynical about love and married to her work.

Of course the movie was a big hit and I saw all the ads, but I was still pleasantly surprised. From the ads I knew Smith was supposed to be cool and collected -- the guy who has all the answers. And he is, for half the movie, when he's helping his clients. In his personal life he's met his match with Mendes and their dates are one disaster after another, including a particularly amusing allergic reaction that first has Smith swelling up and then has him getting drunk on Benadryl. This is way more charming than a self serving portrait of Smith ONLY as the cool guy -- since we get a vulnerable look at his own goofiness, it lets the air out of the premise a little bit, gives the character room to grow, and lets the audience be on his side, as much as we're on the side of Kevin James, who is the more traditionally likable character.

The nice thing is, Smith learns from James and Mendes as much or more than he teaches his own clients, and the whole "date doctor" thing becomes kind of a red herring and not REALLY what the movie is about.

I've said before I don't think Smith ever had the one movie that really lived up to his star power potential. What I meant was, there was never that one that was loved by audiences, loved by critics, and a huge hit, that really took advantage of how great Smith can be. They all seemed to have asterisks as far as I was concerned. I guess I have to take that back a little because I think HITCH might be the one. The role that really does Smith justice.

I've been noticing a trend this month, though, and this movie sticks to it a little -- just when you think it's sweeping to a satisfying conclusion, there's one or two more awkward little scenes thrown in there to tie up what I guess the studio thinks are loose ends of the plot that we don't really need. There's an awkward epilogue in this flick where after Smith has learned his lesson and all is well with James, he still has to hunt down Mendes and make things right. That's to be expected but you know you're in trouble when mopping up this business involves introducing new characters with only minutes left in the run time.

That's just a minor hiccup though. Other than that, HITCH is great.

Romancefest 2016: Coming to America

COMING TO AMERICA is one of those movies I definitely saw but it's been so long that it was time to give it another look. Obviously, with the great comedy director John Landis behind the camera and the great comedian Eddie Murphy in front of it, I was in for a treat, although there is a marked difference between this movie and, say, TRADING PLACES. There's also a marked similarity between this movie and A VAMPIRE IN BROOKLYN, which I watched recently for Horrorfest. I guess I'll go into that later.

This is a fish out of water comedy as much as it's a romantic one, as Murphy stars as an African prince who has had everything handed to him on a platter his entire life, including the woman he's soon to be married to. But Murphy wants more out of life than arranged marriage, and leaves his kingdom (headed by James Earl Jones as his father) with his servant (Arsenio Hall) and heads to Queens (get it?) to find his love.

So, at the beginning of the movie we get lots of funny stuff with Murphy's overblown palace life, and then we get lots of fun stuff as Murphy becomes acquainted with the world of Queens, NY, eventually going to work for a fast food restaurant that's actively in the business of ripping off McDonalds. Murphy finds everything he's looking for in the independent and spirited daughter (Shari Headley) of the restaurant owner (John Amos).

This being a romantic comedy, there are some misunderstandings and false steps but eventually love finds a way. Yay! In the mean time, there's a prade of then up-and-comers who would soon be stars in their own rights, including Eriq La Salle as Murphy's romantic rival, Samuel L. Jackson as a hold up man, and more. There's even a quick glimpse of young Cuba Gooding, Jr. Other than that, Murphy plays multiple roles (some better than others) and Hall gets in a couple get ups as well.

So, the movie is very funny, but not perfect, and here I guess I'll get back to the comparisons. In TRADING PLACES you've got young Eddie Murphy as a scrappy, hustling  homeless guy who has to rely on fast-talk and charm in order to scrape by in the world. Murphy's talents as a stand up, and his natural charm and timing lend themselves well to this kind of role and have you rooting for him. But it almost seems like the more rich and powerful Murphy got, the more dreamed up rich and powerful characters, until you get movies like this one and VAMPIRE where the most talented comic in the movie (Murphy) plays the most boring, unsympathetic stiff in the movie. What's the fun in that? Is it an ego thing for Murphy? Of course, I don't know.

Still this movie's CITIZEN KANE compared to the likes of Murphy's worst, and still shows a spark of fun and excitement some of his later stuff lacked.

Romancefest 2016: Notting Hill

NOTTING HILL was the first DVD I ever bought and I never saw the movie until the other day. That's because I bought the DVD for my mom for Christmas, even though she didn't have a DVD player back in 1999. Still, I was pretty sure I was going to get one for Christmas, so why not.

Of course the movie is famous enough that I've picked up the basics over the years: ordinary guy Hugh Grant lives in a cute, quirky neighborhood, falls in love with a visiting movie star (Julia Roberts) and lives with a crazy scene-stealing roommate (Rhys Ifans).

Knowing all that is one thing, enjoying the fun and romance of the movie is another. And there's lots of fun and romance. It's a light-hearted, breezy, happy affair, directed so well by Roger Michell and written so cleverly by Richard Curtis, that I would imagine it'd be great even without two heavyweights in the leads. Of course we never have to find out because here we've got Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts, royalty among movie stars.

I've sung both their praises throughout the rest of Romancefest but let me do it again: they're good, especially together, and it's really heartwarming how they find something resembling real love, as opposed to Hollywood love.

And, Rhys Ifans is just as funny and scene-stealing as everyone has been saying the last decade and a half. Plus, Alec Baldwin's in it!

It's no wonder my mom liked this flick.

Romancefest 2016: 13 Going on 30

Gary Winick's 2004 flick 13 GOING ON 30 starts off promisingly enough with a flashback to the lives of 1980s middle-schoolers, awkward but fun Christa B. Allen and her best bud and next door neighbor, the nerdy but sweet Sean Marquette. An attempt to impress the popular girls (led by Alexandra Kyle) at her 13th birthday party ends in humiliation and Allen takes out her frustrations on Marquette.

She wishes her awkward adolescence was over and that she could skip right to being 30. And since this is a movie, there's a little magic, and she wakes up as Jennifer Garner, having skipped her awkward adolescence and arrived as a fully successful and glamorous fashion magazine editor in New York City.

Now you might be wondering what 13-year-old would want to skip to the age of 30. When I was 13 I would have thought 30 was too old, and if I wished for anything it would have been to be maybe 21. I figured by then I would have already won an Oscar. After all, 21 was so far off. 30 was unthinkable. Where would I be then? I dunno. Married with kids? Early retirement?

Anyway, I'm 35 now and realize I had no idea what I was talking about when I was 13. In the movie, our heroine bases her wish on an article in the magazine she'll soon be running, about someone who is fabulous, flirty and 30. So, I think it's just a contrivance to have a catchy title, and we just have to accept that 30 sounds glamorous to a 13-year-old instead of the age cutoff for how old people you trust are allowed to be.

Now I've overthought it. The point is, Jennifer Garner has to adjust to her new life as a 30-year-old success. This isn't like BIG where Hanks literally just got an adult body. In this flick, she's still herself, she's just missed the intervening years, somehow, and has arrived fully, uh, developed. She's pleased with her boobs and her career, but less pleased with some of the things she learns about herself. She's become kind of a cut throat business woman who is quick to turn on friends and has a distant relationship with her parents. This doesn't seem right to her, so she seeks out her childhood buddy, who has grown up to be the awesome Mark Ruffalo.

If you ever want to cast someone where I'll totally understand why the woman is falling in love with him, cast Mark Ruffalo. He just seems so sweet and cool. He's a little put off since apparently Garner actually ended up becoming popular in the latter half of middle school and the rest of high school, and grew apart from young Ruffalo, ignoring him for the rest of their teen years. So he's not sure why she's coming to him now, and is a little hesitant, especially considering he now has his own life and relationship.

In her new life, Garner has surpassed the leader of the popular girls (Judy Greer as an adult) who is now her scheming underling.

Garner is great at playing the awkward teen in a grown woman's body, and very convincingly embodies the part without going into outright slapstick territory. There's definitely physical comedy here, and it's well played, but it's not like in that Radcliffe movie I watched earlier this month where people fall out of windows and stuff. Garner's just appropriately gangly and goofy, and for once it is endearing, since there's a built-in reason for it in the premise of the movie, and not just a cliched klutz.

The movie starts to wear out its welcome near the end as it gets past all the fun premise and build up stuff and moves into the part where it has to tick off the romantic comedy plot points. It never really comes to terms with the implications of what it would really mean for an adult man to fall in love with a 13-year-old in a grown woman's body, but I guess that can be explained away by magic, to a certain extent. In any case, at least most of the movie is fun and light hearted.

Romancefest 2016: Muriel's Wedding

I've been waiting for this one all month! I saw MURIEL'S WEDDING years ago but I couldn't remember anything about it. I've been saving it for a time when I was able to sit down with my girlfriend so we could watch it together. This Australian flick from 1994 was directed by PJ Hogan, who also directed MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING from earlier in R-fest. Apparently he's good at flicks about weddings!

Seriously, though. MURIEL'S WEDDING benefits hugely from the fact that it stars the great Toni Collette as the title character, an awkward but lovable woman who still lives at home but dreams of the day she'll have her own beautiful wedding. When she feels down, she pops in her ABBA tape and it lifts her up. As the movie opens, her lousy friends berate her for daring to catch the bouquet at a wedding, and then she's busted for showing up in a shop lifted outfit (leopard print) and unceremoniously dragged out of the party by cops.

So it's not a good day for Muriel and when she gets home we see it is not a good life: all the adult children still live at home, her dad is an over-bearing failed politician (Bill Hunter) who never misses a chance to tell his kids how worthless they are, and her mom (Jeanie Drynan) has withdrawn into submission in his wake and mostly just stares, dazed and in denial.

Without getting into too much detail, Muriel scams her way into some money, follows her awful "friends" (Sophie Lee, Pippa Grandison and Belinda Jarrett) on vacation after they ditch her, and finds her life turning around for the better when she meets up with a free-spirited old classmate (Rachel Griffiths) who helps Muriel believe in herself, and also loves ABBA.

Unfortunately, like most of us, Muriel is not perfect, so even as she moves to Sydney to start a new life with her new friend, and even as things are looking up, she continues to dig holes with lies and fantasies as her family attempts to track her down and she continues to dream of her glorious wedding. Griffiths runs into some medical problems (cancer) and Muriel tries to help take care of her, but something has to give when she's on her marriage mission.

I said I wouldn't get into too much detail, and I guess I have, but there's one more thing: Muriel eventually hatches a scheme to marry an athlete (Daniel Lapaine) just so he can stay in the country, but at what cost? How long can she stay in her fantasies and denial before real life comes calling?

That's the interesting thing about this movie, and aside from Collette's performance, the best thing about the movie: it is a one-sided romantic comedy. That is, it's about Collette's character, and not about a central relationship with Collette. Yes, there's the marriage scheme, but that's almost a footnote where most movies would make it the central plot. No, this movie is about Collette finding herself, finding her independence, learning what kind of person she wants to be, and how that differs from maybe the person she has fantasized about becoming. She has to take a hard look at what she likes and dislikes about the people around her, and decide which values she wants to embrace. Is the surface really that important? Does it matter what people think of her? Or is there something else more important?

Most romantic comedies never even begin to touch that kind of stuff. Only the best ones. And even then, they're still primarily relationship oriented. Which is fine. That's the genre, after all. But MURIEL'S WEDDING breaks the mold. It's about a unique character in a unique way and has as much affection for her as it has for Rachel Griffiths, for her mean friends and for her sad family.

Now that I think of it, MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING is similar in that regard. There is a central relationship driving most of the movie, but the ending of the film is not dependent on it. It's more about Roberts' character learning something about herself and becoming a better person. Good job, PJ Hogan.

It's so nice to see Muriel's smiling closeup at the end of the movie and feel like the character has really earned it. You can really be proud of her. You don't know where she is going, but you know where she's been and what she's learned and you know her smile is worth it.

Romancefest 2016: Going the Distance

Sorry guys, this is Drew Barrymore's last appearance in R-fest 2016. Maybe she'll come back next year. Don't worry, though -- we still have one more Hugh Grant flick left.

Join me, won't you, for Nanette Burstein's 2010 GOING THE DISTANCE, starring the afore mentioned Drew Barrymore and Justin Long. The two meet arguing over a game of Centipede at their San Francisco watering hole, instantly fall in love, and are instantly torn apart by the fact that Barrymore's moving to New York City. After posturing that they're going to let things end, they have a realization at the airport that they should try to make it work. So, they take it long distance.

This movie wouldn't work if you weren't rooting for the central couple. If they didn't have chemistry, you'd just be like, "Who cares, move on." Fortunately Barrymore and Long have chemistry to spare, maybe because they were on again/off again in real life. Or, maybe just because they're fucking pros, okay?

One cool thing about the movie is that it is unabashedly R-rated, so it can be frank about sex and language. That makes it a little more fun than a lot of the other stuff I've been watching all month. It's not like I was sitting there being like, "I wish these people would say fuck more often" but then when this movie started, and Barrymore started cursing a blue streak, I was like, "Oh that's what I've been missing."

The supporting cast is hilarious, with Christina Applegate as Barrymore's uptight sister, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis as Long's drinking buddies and Jim Gaffigan as Barrymore's put-upon brother in law.

Plus, you have to give this movie props for the interesting story it tells -- we start off with the stuff that usually takes the entire rom-com to happen. In other words, the two leads getting together. That stuff is done within the first 20 or 30 minutes. The whole rest of the movie is about what would happen AFTER the end credits of most movies in this genre. The bulk of this movie is about how you keep a relationship working, how you prevent it from slipping away, how you have to put work into it and how that sucks sometimes but is awesome other times. In that way, the whole "long distance" part of it is kind of a red-herring -- yes, this movie is about the struggles of a long distance relationship, but in a way, it's an allegory for the struggles of ANY relationship. Being in love is only the beginning.

Okay. So long, Drew Barrymore. You win MVP this year.

Romancefest 2016: How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

Now let's move on to something that's not quite as nice and fun as the last one, but still has about as much star power -- Donald Petrie's 2003 HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS, starring Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey.

First thing's first: they make a good couple and it's no wonder they ended up in at least one more movie together after this one. It's a shame they haven't been in a super-good movie together, yet.

That's not to say HOW TO LOSE A GUY sucks or anything. It has a good premise, good leads, good supporting characters, but I feel like it's just a little too mean maybe? Or, how do I explain it. Not mean enough? The premise lends itself well to a real slash and burn of relationships. But the movie never really goes there, because it's also trying to be a typical rom-com.

I've mentioned the premise but haven't explained it -- Hudson works for a magazine like Cosmo and pitches a story about what NOT to do in a relationship -- aka, "How to lose a guy in 10 days." Meanwhile, McConaughey is an ad man who wants to snag a sweet account but enters into a bet that in order to do so he has to prove that he can make a woman of his competitors' choosing fall in love with him.

So, Hudson and McConaughey end up together, with Hudson deliberately trying to drive McConaughey away and McConaughey deliberately putting up with everything in an attempt to win her over. As you can see, this could be the perfect set up to really exploit stereotypical gender and relationship stuff, but it doesn't quite take off as much as I wanted it to.

There's still plenty of cringe inducing scenes in which Hudson plays the clingy girlfriend, which must have been fun for Hudson and shows her comic chops on full display. And, the two leads do have good chemistry. We've also got Adam Goldberg as McConaughey's buddy and Bebe Neuwirth as Hudson's boss, so they're fun, too.

Still, it might have been nice to see these two really destroy each other. Maybe next time.

Romancefest 2016: Music and Lyrics

Romantic comedy titans Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant join forces for 2007's MUSIC AND LYRICS, written and directed by Marc Lawrence. And guess what? It's super good! Like, if you think it sounds dumb you'll be pleasantly surprised, and if you think it sounds awesome, you'll be blown away.

Grant stars as an aging rock star, famous for being the less popular half of a WHAM-esque band back in the 80s. Now he's relegated to appearing on programs where washed-up stars box each other, although his manager (Brad Garrett) has landed him a gig writing a song for a Britney Spears-ish teen pop idol (Haley Bennett) who happens to like his work.

Thing is, he's only good at music. Not lyrics. He tries to work with a renowned lyricist but the dude's a dick, and the girl who shows up to water the plants is a little bit of a flighty klutz but she's good with words. On top of that, she's played by DREW BARRYMORE! So of course Grant bends over backwards to get her on his team and together they write a song that is actually nice to listen to.

Of course the pop star snaps it up, but she wants to put her stamp on it, and her stamp includes a bunch of tasteless bullshit, so there's a little trouble in paradise as Grant attempts to play nice in order to secure his comeback and Barrymore wants her first effort to be taken seriously and not compromised. They also sleep together, so that complicates things.

The whole movie is just so nice and fun and well made that even though you might say it is formulaic it doesn't matter at all. Once again, we have a couple characters here who are actually working on something, and doing that work together brings them together in a very believable way. We're not just asked to buy they love each other. You actually get to see the love blossom! It helps that Grant and Barrymore work their usual magic, but they have a good script to work from, too.

The choices Lawrence makes with the characters and story add some poignancy. For instance, Grant could have been a disgusting, blowhard, typical egotistical star who is washed up but doesn't realize it. But instead, Lawrence has Grant play it as a guy who's kind of amused by his own position and even sort of enjoys going out to make his fans happy in performances at high school reunions and amusement parks. Similarly, Barrymore is not a slobbering fan girl, but a pragmatic person who has been hurt before and admires Grant without being eclipsed by him. We have Kristin Johnston as Barrymore's sister to do all the necessary slobbering over Grant, and she's hilarious and needs to be in more movies.

Also, stay for the credits -- we get updates and background on the characters through a sequence inspired by VH1's pop-up video, which is an inspired touch.

Romancefest 2016: Imagine Me & You

IMAGINE ME & YOU is a 2005 co-production between the US and UK, which I guess explains why Piper Perabo stars with a fake accent. It's a good fake accent though. So forget I said anything.

Ol Parker's flick is set in London and we open with Perabo's wedding to Matthew Goode. They seem like a couple suitable for one of those pictures that comes with the frames you buy in the store, but Perabo becomes increasingly fascinated with the attractive florist who works the wedding because she's played by Lena Headey.

So we've got a straight girl who might not be so straight and I don't think this whole thing was even unique back in 2005. So there's a strike against it.

And unlike BROWN SUGAR, this flick does not take place in a world where there's anything interesting going on. The sad thing is the cast is super likable and the movie is pretty to look at, but there's just not that much going on.

There is a sweet, classic, Hollywood-ish ending involving our two lovers finding each other in a London traffic jam, and it's nice when the title song kicks in, but ultimately the flick is forgettable.

Romancefest 2016: Brown Sugar

Rick Famuyiwa's 2002 romantic comedy, BROWN SUGAR, is refreshing because it features characters who have definite likes and dislikes. This might seem like a low bar to set but trust me, it's rarer than you think to see a movie where the character's have personalities, let alone opinions.

BROWN SUGAR takes place firmly entrenched in the world of hip-hop, starring Sanaa Lathan as  the editor-in-chief of a hip-hop magazine. The movie starts with a flashback to Lathan's childhood where we see the first time she realized she was in love with hip-hop. As she grows, her first interview question as a journalist becomes, "How did you fall in love with hip-hop?"

We see several hip-hop luminaries answering this question throughout the movie and one early sequence tipped me off that this movie knows what it's talking about. There's a series of cameos with real artists, and it's not a pandering series -- I don't know much about hip-hop, but I know enough to know that these are highly respected artists with actual credibility, and not flavor-of-the-month types. Names like Talib Kweli, Common, Method Man, Russell Simmons and more show up to put in their two cents.

Lathan is still friends with her childhood buddy who has grown up to be Taye Diggs, a high up at a hip-hop record label. They're friends that never quite hooked up, so of course you know this means they're going to hook up when all is said and done, even though they birth flirt with relationships with the wrong people as the movie runs. But that's not what's important. The important thing is all the details.

Aside from having specific opinions about their hip-hop world, Lathan and Diggs' characters are also each at thresholds of their professional lives, Diggs particularly feeling like a sell out as he backs an up and coming but talentless act. Lathan's feelings for Diggs are awakened when Diggs announces his engagement and etc, etc.

Mos Def is also on hand as a cabby by day, promissing hip-hop act by night, and Queen Latifah lends her likableness as Lathan's cousin and Mos Def's potential love interest.

I probably sound like I'm repeating myself, but basically all you need to elevate an otherwise standard romantic comedy to something special is to just make sure to include some kind of unique point of view. In this case, the fact that everything unfolds in the hip-hop world among young professionals actually concerned about their careers and struggling with trying to do what they think is right or fulfilling, or both, makes BROWN SUGAR memorable. And it doesn't seem fake.

Romancefest 2016: The Best Man

All right, enough with all these dumb white people. Time for Malcolm D. Lee's 1999 flick THE BEST MAN.

Taye Diggs stars as a writer who is about to come out with his first novel. Oprah herself is going to showcase it on her program, so he's destined for imminent fame and fortune. Problem is, Diggs used his pals from college as inspiration for his story, and it doesn't take much for them to sleuth out who is who and who did what with who. Or, rather, what Diggs may have wished happened. Or wished didn't happen.

Normally this wouldn't be that pressing of an issue except that Diggs is due to hit New York for his buddy's wedding, a religious up-and-coming NFL star (Morris Chestnut) also from his college days. So, at this wedding he's going to see the girl who got away (Nia Long) along with Chestnut's bride to be, AKA "the girl Diggs probably shouldn't have slept with" (Monica Calhoun).

Diggs is running around doing a lot of covering up. On the surface he's the most down to Earth and together of his buddies, but underneath he's conspiring to keep his own faults secret. He doesn't want Chestnut to know he slept with his fiance in college, and doesn't want his own girlfriend (Sanaa Lathan) to know that he still pines for his college crush and even hopes to have one more chance with her on the wedding weekend.

So, even though this is primarily a romantic comedy, the interesting thing is that it is equally about Diggs and his ego. He needs to look perfect to all of his friends even while he's running around scheming in the background. And these aren't overt Julia Roberts MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING type schemes. These are more realistic, shady schemes you might admit you yourself have entertained thoughts of in the moments you're less proud of. So, like Radcliffe in WHAT IF, Diggs doesn't have the most likable character to portray, but the movie about this character has a lot to say.

We've also got a couple other glimpses at relationships here with Diggs' buddies, Harold Perrineau as the victim of a controlling girlfriend (Melissa De Sousa) and Terrence Howard as a perpetually single self-proclaimed ladies' man. They each have their own arcs that compliment Diggs' own story, so even if the movie runs overly long, it's a tight screenplay.

Romancefest 2016: All Over the Guy

Enough with these straight people and lesbians! Bring on the gay dudes! Dan Bucatinsky stars in ALL OVER THE GUY, a 2001 indie flick that he wrote, directed by Julie Davis.

The film opens with Bucatinsky unloading the details of his previous relationship on the receptionist (Doris Roberts) at an HIV clinic. The other half of the relationship (Richard Ruccolo) is simultaneously unloading his tale on an acquaintance from an AA meeting. So, we see the first half of the movie as flashbacks from both dudes' points of view.

Bucatinsky is a more straight laced type, raised by a couple of psychiatrists (including Andrea Martin). Ruccolo is more into one night stands and comes from a couple of alcoholic parents (including Joanna Kerns). Bucatinsky's Jewish, Ruccolo is Protestant. Etc., etc. Anyway, these opposites eventually end up hooked up on a date by their friends, who are also dating each other (Adam Goldberg and Sasha Alexander).

At first they don't like each other, then they end up in love, and then they end up out again. You know how it goes with these things. Aside from the unique perspective on relationship specifics by Bucatinsky, the basic plot is well-worn. But, the unique perspective is enough to make this a fun and engaging flick worth checking out.

One thing I like is that it allows differing points of view among people sometimes sidelined as one monolithic culture in other more mainstream flicks. For instance, on their first date, Bucatinsky says he caught the Kevin Kline "gay guy coming out of the closet" flick IN & OUT on cable and enjoyed it. Ruccolo freaks out about what an insult that flick is to the true gay experience. Later, Bucatinsky's own parents express outrage at the Hollywood fakeness of IN & OUT as Bucatinsky looks on in bewilderment. This is just one example, but there are many of these in this well observed screenplay.

The movie also deals seriously with the implications of the characters' actions and lifestyles. Specifically, Ruccolo's character doesn't just get a pass as a magical movie alcoholic who drinks when the screenplay wants him to and is sober when the plot demands it. Instead, he actually has to deal with his own alcoholism, and his parents. It is something that effects his life, even though he's a character in a screenplay. He just happens to be a character in a good screenplay.

Romancefest 2016: Never Been Kissed

I worked at a movie theater when 1999's NEVER BEEN KISSED was set to come out, so I saw the trailer a billion times. Although I've never seen it until now, it's one of those ones I feel like I've seen because I can clearly hear Drew Barrymore triumphantly yelling, "I'm not Josie Grossie anymore!" I'm also very familiar with the premise because I can also clearly hear Garry Marshall proclaiming, "Josie Gellar, prepare to return to High School!" Or whatever he says. I forget. Sorta.

Point is, now I've seen it. And it's good! Maybe Drew Barrymore should be the Matron Saint of R-fest or something. She just keeps knockin' 'em out of the park. Fortunately there's even more Drew Barrymore flicks to come this year.

Barrymore stars as an awkward copy editor who had an embarrassing high school experience and takes on an undercover high school assignment at her newspaper in the hopes of finally becoming a real live reporter. At first she's pumped for the chance but then she realizes she's just as awkward amongst the high schoolers as she ever was.

Luckily her brother, David Arquette, is on hand to go undercover with her. He'd like to reignite his squandered baseball career, but in the mean time hopes to help Barrymore become popular so she can get the dirt on the cool kids and provide her newspaper with the story of the century! Or something.

The movie's touching because Barrymore is irresistible and you want her to not be sad. The main surface story is about Barrymore's chances for romance with the cool teacher (Michael Vartan) but the heart of the movie lies with Barrymore's awakening and coming into her own as someone who is not ashamed of herself and realizes how bad the popular kids suck.

I'm beginning to think it might be key for romantic comedies to have killer supporting casts because all the best ones do. This one's no exception. Of course the MVPs are Barrymore and Arquette but we've also got John C. Reilly as Barrymore's boss, Jessica Alba as the lead "cool girl," Leelee Sobieski as the nerd Barrymore befriends and more! There's even Garry Marshall but I done said that already.

So the thing about Barrymore is that she's basically the perfect star. She's pretty, likable, projects intelligence and can nail comedy. And in this movie she nails it hard: her own physical performance is probably funnier (and more touching) than anything in the actual screenplay. So, good casting, guys.

Also I want to be friends with David Arquette.

Romancefest 2016: The Proposal

It wouldn't be the romantic comedy edition of ROMANCEFEST without one appearance by Sandra Bullock, so now I bring you THE PROPOSAL, the 2009 flick directed by Anne Fletcher.

Bullock stars as a high powered editor at a big book publishing company who is feared by all who works under her. When she finds out she's due to be deported to her native Canada for being lax on her residency paperwork -- wait. This doesn't ring true. Forgive me for using an out-of-date term, but I find it hard to believe Bullock's totes Type A character would let her work visa go. Wait, again -- which was the out-of-date term? Totes or Type A?

Anyway, she finds out she's getting kicked out of the country and therefore potentially losing her one and only love, her career, and in a moment of desperation enlists her erstwhile executive assistant (Ryan Reynolds) to act as her fiance. It's kind of a fun dynamic -- ruthless female boss, hapless male assistant. The plan: they'll get married just long enough for her to get to stay stateside and then call it off. Reynolds can use it to further his career. It's a win-win! Nothing could POSSIBLY go wrong.

Except the immigration dude (Denis O'Hare) doesn't buy it so in an effort to make it more real, Bullock heads with Reynolds' to his home town to meet his family. This is where my ears perked up: his home town is Sitka, Alaska! I just visited there on vacation last year, and it was my favorite stop on my Alaskan tour, so I got pumped for an in-movie trip to Sitka. But, knowing movies the way I do, I made sure to check the filming locations on IMDB while Reynolds and Bullock were on the plane. Turns out the whole thing was shot in Massachusetts, so that's a bummer. I guess AK might have been too costly to shoot in for whatever reason. Still, it made the movie more interesting to be set in AK than, I dunno, like, the midwest or something.

When they get there it turns out Craig T. Nelson is Dad, Mary Steenburgen is Mom and Betty White is Grandma, which goes a long way towards helping the movie succeed, even when White is in native garb dancing around a fire (yikes).

So, I won't be giving anything away to reveal that even though Bullock and Reynolds don't really care for each other, their fake engagement starts to turn into real love. Bullock's uptight-ness starts to loosen up, and Reynolds, playing the more down to Earth one for once, comes to grips with his family issues.

Bullock does a good job with a thankless role, and Reynolds projects his natural likableness even though he plays kind of a boring dude, and like I said before, the location is cool and the supporting cast is great. You can enjoy all that stuff even though the love story itself isn't much to remember.

Romancefest 2016: What If

I was just thinking, it's time for an Irish/Canadian co-production. That's what Romancefest 2016 needs. Luckily Michael Dowse's 2013 flick WHAT IF is here to fill that role. I saw this trailer a bunch of times the year the movie came out and thought it looked pretty cute but never got to the theater for whatever reason. I guess I was always too busy watching something else. You know sometimes the more movies you see the harder it is to see movies.

Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame stars as a recently dumped, bitter 20-something who thinks love sucks so badly that he starts making refrigerator magnet poetry about it at a party. But Zoe Kazan shows up and lights up his life, even though she already has a boyfriend (Rafe Spall). So, they become buddies and everyone's like "Can a chick and a dude really be friends without getting together?" The answer is obviously yes but since this is a romantic comedy you know they'll bone.

So this flick is squarely aimed at a younger generation, and all that implies. It's kind of caught between two worlds: it wants to be all indie and twee and cute and quirky but also wants to be a traditional rom-com. I think it does the traditional rom-com stuff better than it does the pseudo-indie stuff. The thing is, there's nothing shameful about being a straight out rom-com. You don't have to hide behind animated interludes or other things that were cooler back when other movies did them.

Still, Radcliffe is likable enough to carry the movie and make it okay. It's interesting because the character he's given to play kind of a simpering asshole. It's clear to everyone but him that he's in love with Zoe Kazan, but he maintains this fantasy that he only has the best intentions to be her buddy, right up until he decides it's time to drop the, "I love you" bomb. On one hand, if you really are honest with yourself, you can probably identify with being a little two faced and self serving when no one's looking. On the other, it doesn't make the most likable protagonist.

But, like I said, Radcliffe overcomes it. I don't know if I'm programmed to like him since I know he used to be Harry Potter, or if he was Harry Potter because some genius in casting knew he'd be irresistably likable. Either way, he deserves to be in more (and better) movies. Luckily he has a long career ahead of him.

Adam Driver is on hand as Radcliffe's best bud and it's cool to see him in a pre-Kylo Ren role, but he's pretty much the only standout in the cast other than the central couple.

The movie was lulling me into being totally on board in the early scenes, but it had a weird mixture of tones where I'd be sitting there thinking it was a nice little flick and then suddenly something wacky would happen, like a character would fall all the way out a window and crash to the sidewalk below, seriously injured, and I'm supposed to think it is funny. And I'd think, oh, okay, so it's THAT kind of movie now. Then it'd get back to being good and I'd forget about the window and relax and start to like it and then another character would fall all the way down a staircase and I'm supposed to laugh again. And I'd think, oh, yeah, it's THAT kind of movie.

One other thing that annoyed me was Zoe Kazan's character's name was Chantry. Chantry? It sounds like the kind of name Radcliffe's character would make up if he was writing a screenplay based on this movie. There should have been a scene where she introduces herself to someone who doesn't understand her name and she goes, "Chantry. Rhymes with pantry."

But I'm just cranky. The movie was okay.

Romancefest 2016: Love Actually

When I first moved to Portland, LOVE ACTUALLY played at the theater a couple blocks from my apartment for what seemed like months. Everyone said it was great and somehow I never made it down the street to check it out. So, I finally have.

Richard Curtis' 2003 UK romantic comedy features a huge cast of characters, mostly played by very famous actors, all intertwined in various ways, all in various different forms of love stories. It's like Curtis wanted to make the be-all, end-all romantic comedy, with 20 movies worth of couples and plots in just over 2 hours running time. Sounds like a mess. Amazingly, it works.

Where do I start?

So, the whole thing takes place in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Billy Nighy stars as an aging rock star who, at the urging of his manager (Gregor Fisher) has recorded a Christmas novelty song.

Hugh Grant is the new PM and he has eyes for a junior member of his household staff (Martine McCutcheon).

Liam Neeson has recently lost his wife and now must raise her son, his stepson (Thomas Sangster), who needs some help navigating through his first huge crush.

Colin Firth is a jilted writer who escapes to his country house in France where he begins to fall in love with his Portuguese housekeeper (Lucia Moniz) even though neither of them understand each other's language.

Laura Linney is a graphic designer who has the hots for a co-worker (Rodrigo Santoro). Her boss is Alan Rickman, who has the hots for his assistant (Heike Makatsch) even though he's happily married to Emma Thompson.

Keira Knightley and Chiwetel Ejiofor are recently married and think Ejiofor's buddy (Andrew Linclon) hates Knightley, but really he's in love with her.

Kris Marshall is a young dude who feels like he's struck out with every chick in the UK and decides to head for the US to try to hook up with American chicks, who end up including the likes of January Jones, Elisha Cuthbert, Shannon Elizabeth and Denise Richards.

Finally, Martin Freeman and Joanna Page are nude stand-ins for sex scenes in motion pictures who make easy small talk while in provocative poses together but struggle with shyness in other contexts.

So, look at all that. All that's going on in the movie. It's not confusing, but it's a lot.

The movie's strength is that it is overall happy and optimistic. This is truly a movie about how love conquers all, in one way or another, even if some stories are sad, and some stories are unrequited. Others are bittersweet, and still others feature traditional Hollywood endings. We've got a sampling of basically every rom-com outcome here.

The other strength is the fact that the cast is amazing. Has there ever been one movie with a longer list of super likable actors than this one? I'd be hard pressed to think of one.

The only thing that sucks is that this is clearly a Christmas movie and here I am watching it in the middle of February. My bad.

Romancefest 2016: It Could Happen to You

I remember seeing trailers for Andrew Bergman's IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU back in 1994 but I never got around to seeing it until now. And I'm glad I have. It's great!

Nicolas Cage stars as a cop married to a nagging wife (Rosie Perez). One day, inspired from a dream-time visit from her dead father, she instructs him to purchase a lottery ticket using the date of their marriage as the number. Later, Cage doesn't have enough cash on him to tip a waitress at a diner (Bridget Fonda) and vows to split his lotto winnings with her, if he should win.

And he wins!

And he's a good guy so he follows through!

Fonda's down on her luck after being ripped off by her husband, who she's waiting to divorce, if she ever gets enough money to do so, and Cage's kindness and forth-rightness begin to reawaken her faith in humanity, even as Perez attempts to ruin everyone's happiness with her social climbing and greedy grab for all the money, culminating in a court case.

People give Cage shit these days, I guess because of a string of movies that didn't make much money and also weren't very critically acclaimed, but this flick is a shining example of his appeal as a leading man. He puts everything right out there and does not hold back, which I guess makes him easy to make fun of. But this flick is about why all the people who would make fun of a dude like Cage are actually assholes, and why dudes like Cage are to be admired. So there.

The rest of the cast is good, too, including Wendell Pierce as Cage's loyal partner and Stanley Tucci as Fonda's shitty husband. Isaac Hayes is also on hand as a seemingly omniscient narrator who turns out just to be a photo journalist.

Of course, Cage and Fonda begin to fall in love, and that's what's at the core of this romantic comedy, but it's not quite as formulaic as it sounds. Sure, it has a cute premise and great "villains" in Perez and Tucci, but there's something extra here: the way the movie includes the public's reaction to the story as it appears in the papers brings in an added element that puts things in perspective. This elevates the flick from just screen-written characters doing what they need to do to make the plot happen, and brings the story into the arena of a fairy tale, kinda like IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.

Romancefest 2016: Kissing Jessica Stein

I was pretty sure I rented Charles Herman Wurmfeld's 2001 flick KISSING JESSICA STEIN back in college but I wanted to check it out again. And guess what? I totally couldn't remember any of it. So maybe I didn't rent it back in college. Who knows?

This American indie flick was written by its two stars, Jennifer Westfeldt and Heather Juergensen. Westfeldt stars as the titular Jessica who is striking out with a string of shitty dates with hetero dudes and currently works as a copy editor under her ex (Scott Cohen).

Juergensen co-stars as a more sex positive chick who has a variety of different booty calls ready at any time based on her mood, but is getting bored. Maybe it's time to date a chick? With the help of some friends she places a personal ad that quotes Rilke, and this catches Westfeldt's eye. All the dudes she's trying to date suck, so why not try a chick, Westfeldt thinks.

So, here we have two ostensibly straight chicks trying out lesbianism "just in case." In some ways this is kind of a dated premise -- even though 2001 is not that long ago, gay love stories had to be couched in straightness in order to have any chance at mainstream acceptability. I'm not saying in this day and age the whole gay thing has been totally solved and accepted, but it has been way more than it was back in 2001, and this movie is an artifact of that: it's okay to have a lesbian love story as long as you assure everyone that these chicks are REALLY straight. I guess I should stop saying "chicks."

Anyway, it's all awkward and stuff at first, but then they start to get into it, and then it's a question of how much Westfeldt can loosen up (she's kinda uptight) and how much Juergensen can commit.

Despite its somewhat dated premise, KISSING JESSICA STEIN comes to a fairly realistic and satisfying ending. Stop here if you don't want spoilers, but it's refreshing how the two women's relationship works out, then fails, and then they're still able to be friends. Juergensen goes on to try more relationships with women and Westfeldt has to admit to herself that maybe her future lies in dudes after all. But what they do find out is that they do love each other in a platonic way and want to keep on doing that. And that's nice, for a change.

I'd have to turn in my MAD MEN fan club card if I didn't mention young Jon Hamm has a quick cameo here, too.

Romancefest 2016: Smiles of a Summer Night

Let's go back across the ocean for Sweden's SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT, a 1955 Ingmar Bergman romantic comedy. I mostly know Bergman for his more dour stuff, though even that has its comedic moments, so it was nice to see an outright comedy from him. He has such a huge filmography and it's all so important that any chance I have to check off a new Bergman flick, I'm excited to do so.

As the title might suggest, this is a little bit of a riff on A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, though not a straight adaptation by any means, and was probably an inspiration for Woody Allen's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S SEX COMEDY.

It's the turn of the century and Gunnar Bjornstrand stars as a once divorced, newly remarried lawyer. He has yet to hook up with his much younger new wife (Ulla Jacobsson) and has to put up with his melancholy adult son from his previous marriage (Bjorn Bjelfvenstam) who is moping around the house so hard he doesn't even notice the sexy maid (Harriet Andersson) at first.

Bjornstrand and his wife attend a play starring an actress (Eva Dahlbeck) Bjornstrand dated in between his marriages, and Bjornstrand visits the actress to share his problems with her and get her advice. After all, he feels she was the only one who ever really understood him. Dahlbeck has a son who might be Bjornstrand's and is now having an affair with a high up in the military (Jarl Kulle) who is married to a friend of Bjornstrand's wife. He catches the two in what he thinks is a compromising position, and misunderstandings ensue.

Soon everyone's conspiring and they all end up at the actress' mother's country house for a weekend away. I'm sure you can imagine the hijinks.

Bjornstrand is properly put-upon as the hapless husband and Dahlbeck is convincingly wise as the "been there, done that" actress. Even the more thankless roles are effectively acted by the rest of the cast, and the comedy definitely makes the translation from 1950s Sweden to 2016 America.

It is clear to see Bergman's strengths even in this relatively early and lighthearted work as he juggles many characters and multiple motivations, all involving relationships. SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT may not have the arthouse profundity of his great works like THE SEVENTH SEAL, but it does profoundly understand the art of love.

Romancefest 2016: Gold Diggers of 1933

All right, back to classic Hollywood for the pre-code musical GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 from... you guessed it! 1933.

Mervyn LeRoy directed the "story" portions of this flick while Busby Berkley took on the show-stopping song and dance numbers, and it's a joy to behold. They just don't make 'em like this anymore. And I don't even mean quality-wise. I mean they literally do not make these movies anymore. Someone should.

The story involves four out-of-work showgirls (Ruby Keeler, Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon and Ginger Rogers) and their attempts to get ahead in life during the great depression. A broadway producer (Ned Sparks chewing all the scenery) has an idea for a depression-based musical, and an aspiring songwriter (Dick Powell) puts up the money to get it produced. At first the girls think he might be a bank robber, but it turns out he's just from a rich family.

When Powell's well-to-do brother (Warren William) finds out his brother is slumming it on Broadway, he travels to New York with his lawyer (Guy Kibbee) to put a stop to things. From here we get cases of mistaken identity, people getting wasted and forgetting what they did, and lots of chances for the girls to hook up with rich dudes.

There's definitely some funny stuff here but for the most part this is all just the clothes line for the big ass song and dance numbers to hang on. We've got bathing beauties, semi-nude girls dancing with giant coins strapped to them, and an eventual depression-themed finale that tugs the heart strings. This movie has it all.

All the girls are great and have their own standout moments, with Ruby Keeler getting most of the sweetheart stuff and Aline MacMahon getting most of the one liners. Powell manages to avoid being bland in a potentially thankless role, and even the stodgy rich guys (William and Kibbee) are memorable.

It's no wonder this movie spawned any number of sequels and imitators, and the whole genre is prime for a comeback.

Romancefest 2016: But I'm a Cheerleader

I've been meaning to see BUT I'M A CHEERLEADER ever since it came out in 1999 but never got around to it until now for whatever reason.

This John Waters-inspired comedy directed by Jamie Babbit stars Natasha Lyonne as the titular cheerleader who comes home from high school one day to find that her family and friends have staged an intervention for her because -- gasp! -- she's a lesbian! Before she knows it, Lyonne's shipped off to a gay rehabilitation camp to learn "proper" gender roles and how to be into guys.

The most clever thing about this premise is that Lyonne is so naive and innocent that she doesn't even realize she's gay until she's told she is. Then, in another interesting twist, the anti-gay camp backfires and she learns to embrace her homosexuality more than ever.

Clea DuVall stars as Lyonne's love interest, at first a more "out" lesbian than Lyonne, but soon the tables turn as Lyonne learns more about herself and DuVall grows to just want to get out of the goddamn camp, at whatever cost. There's also Cathy Moriarty as the militant head mistress of the academy and Eddie Cibrian as her so-macho-he-must-be-gay son.

Cinema outsiders like Mink Stole, Bud Cort and even RuPaul Charles round out the colorful cast. RuPaul is especially awesome as a "reformed" gay male, playing against type but still looking pretty damn glamorous. I fucking love RuPaul.

The limited production values of indie flicks usually don't bug me as long as the movie is good, and this is a good one, but it sits in an uncomfortable valley between shoe string and small studio. So, it has A-list talent and B-list most everything else. In some ways, a John Waters tribute like this one could benefit from dirt cheap guerrilla production values. Even John Waters' own flicks suffer when they start to look too good (sometimes).

But why am I complaining, it's a funny, cute flick with a unique point of view, so who cares.

Romancefest 2016: Heartbeats

Now let's head to French-Canada for 2010's HEARTBEATS. Xavier Dolan wrote, directed and starred in this flick when he was only 20. In many ways that is amazing. In other ways it seems like a movie written and directed by a 20-year-old.

Dolan stars as a 20-something best buds with Monia Chokri. The two of them lock eyes with a newcomer to their circle of friends at a party (Neils Schneider). At first they act like they're not into him, but really they both are. So, a subtle competition to win Schneider's affections breaks out between the two of them and it isn't long before it becomes a not-so-subtle competition.

One has to wonder: is Schneider playing Dolan and Chokri? Who's really in control here? Who's playing who, you guys?

I dunno. To be honest this movie had a ton of style and not much substance. That's what I meant by that 20-year-old thing at the beginning. It's beautifully shot, there's beautiful people in it, and there's a cool soundtrack and lots of shots of beautiful people walking in slow motion in beautiful locations.

Other than that there's not much going on.

Romancefest 2016: My Best Friend's Wedding

Okay, back to the 90s for that decade's reigning queen of rom-coms, Julia Roberts in MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING. I guess you could say Meg Ryan is the actual queen of 90s rom-coms but Julia Roberts is up there. Look, they're both queens, all right? Don't make me decide!

Anyway, Roberts stars as a restaurant critic in her late 20s who realizes she's been in love with her best friend (Dermot Mulroney) when he announces he's about to be married to a woman he's just met (Cameron Diaz). This isn't cool because Roberts and Mulroney vowed to marry each other if they weren't married by the time they were 28 and now Mulroney's ditching Roberts at the last moment.

So, it's off to the wedding to bust shit up! No sooner does Roberts arrive than Diaz asks her to fill in as maid of honor. Diaz also turns out to be a pretty sweet and sincere young woman, so now Roberts has a couple obstacles standing in the way of the whole wedding break-up thing.

She enlists her gay other best friend, Rupert Everett, to help out and it isn't long before he's pretending to be Roberts' fiancee. Will Roberts bust up the wedding and hook up with Mulroney? Wacky hijinks!

This movie works for a few reasons, but the main thing is that Roberts has such a natural and likable star presence that you could put her in pretty much anything and it'd be all right. Everett's the other stand out in this flick with Mulroney being kind of a boring love interest. Diaz is good but isn't on screen as much as she probably deserves.

What's really cool, though, is despite all the scheming and sitcom shenanigans, for the most part the characters, situations and motivations remain human and not just plot contrivances. This is most obvious in the way the story eventually plays out in a bittersweet ending. Even though this is packaged as a super mainstream Hollywood romantic comedy, it does not have a typical Hollywood ending forced upon it.

I should also mention the movie's particularly good use of the word "fuck" in one scene in which Julia Roberts is attempting to justify why her fake fiancee has suddenly flown into town and just as suddenly has to fly out.

"He, uh, just need to, uh," she stammers, "... fuck me."

That's good shit.

Romancefest 2016: I Married a Witch

So far most of these flicks have been fairly contemporary so let's head back to 1942 for Rene Clair's I MARRIED A WITCH.

This delightfully offbeat Hollywood comedy features Veronica Lake as the titular witch, so I was excited to see it since she's such a legendary screen presence. I think the only other thing I've ever seen her in was SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS, so I was pumped to get another dose.

The titular "I" is Fredric March, visiting from HORRORFEST where he memorably portrayed Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He's also a romancefest alum, having starred in THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES. So I was excited to see him also.

The story starts back in Puritanical Salem-y times in America, where March's ancestors have just captured Lake and her warlock father (Cecil Kellaway, another FEST alum, except that kind of doesn't count, because I'm pretty sure he was in basically every movie ever made) and are about to burn them at the stake when they put a curse on March's family: thanks to their witch-finding ways, they will now never have a happy marriage again.

So we warp through the ages and see several examples of March's various ancestors failing at marriage until we arrive at present-day March, a politician on the eve of marrying a kinda unpleasant Susan Hayward. Lake and Kellaway just so happen to raise themselves from the grave right around this time and vow revenge against March (as if the curse isn't enough) and this is where things get kinda weird: Lake's plan is to seduce March. But he's already destined to marry the wrong person, per the curse. So really wouldn't it still be revenge for Lake to just let him get married? I guess she's intent on tormenting him with her sexuality, thinking it will suck for him to be into her while he has to get married to someone else. So the marriage will suck and so will the temptation.

But guess what! They REALLY fall in love. But witch-dad Kellaway is none too happy about this, so, in between bouts of drunkenness, he attempts to stop Lake in her new attempts to destroy March's wedding and fix his political career.

This is a light little romantic comedy without a lot of substance, but there is a ton of style in the cool visual effects, and even a little poignancy towards the end of the flick when it looks like Lake is going to go back to being dead rather than hooking up with March. Of course March and Lake are great and so is Kellaway with the assist. The jokes are inventive, also, including a sequence in which Puritans sell "pop maize" to spectators at a witch burning.

Watching the flick makes one wonder if this might have been an inspiration for I DREAM OF JEANNIE and BEWITCHED. If so, the creators of those shows had good taste.

Romancefest 2016: Jamon Jamon

What's better than Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem in a sex movie together? How about super young Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem in a sex movie together? Sold? I was!

Let's travel to 1992 Spain for JAMON JAMON, which seems kinda like a Pedro Almodovar flick but instead it's a Bigas Luna flick. That is supposed to be a compliment because Almodovar is the best.

Penelope Cruz stars as the omelette-making daughter of a small town madame who is in love with the son (Jordi Molla) of the local underwear factory mogul (Stefanie Sandrelli). Mom doesn't want son to marry Cruz, so she hires well endowed ham factory worker Javier Bardem to show Cruz why maybe she shouldn't get married so young.

Passions run high and everyone ends up sleeping with people they're not supposed to and then some people end up dead and you're like, "Wait I think I missed something in translation but whatever it is doesn't matter because this was good anyway!"

At least that's what I thought.

JAMON JAMON is a crazy movie. Like, really crazy. Like, naked bullfight crazy. So of course it was good.

Romancefest 2016: Something Wild

All right let's get out of the 21st century and check out Jonathan Demme's offbeat 1986 rom-com SOMETHING WILD.

Jeff Daniels stars as an uptight business/family man who finds himself basically kidnapped by wild child Melanie Griffith as she offers him a ride to work on the streets of New York and ends up driving him deep into Pennsylvania first to meet her mother and then to go to her high school reunion.

There, they run into Griffith's ex-criminal ex-boyfriend who has recently gotten out of prison and is played by Ray Liotta. So, you know he's going to be trouble.

Daniels is great both as the straight laced square he starts out as and then later as the more loosened up and unhinged character he either becomes or reveals, depending on how you look at it. Griffith is equally as good, if not better, as an outwardly punky and "devil may care" chick who ultimately has a little more going on under the crazy image.

The movie is almost evenly split between the free spirited fun and adventure of the first half of the film, as Griffith and Daniels get to know each other on their impromptu road trip, with Daniels ultimately standing in as her fake husband for both her mom and her old classmates, and the darker second half in which Griffith is sucked back into Liotta's orbit and Daniels must decide whether to go back to what's left of his former life or to assert himself and show Griffith how important she is to him.

It'd be too simple to view this as a morality tale. At first glance it does seem to be a story about the bad shit that happens to you if you dare to step outside your comfort zone. It also seems to be about a woman as an object for two men to fight over, kidnap and rescue. But there's something slightly more complicated going on here. It's really about the patterns we fall into, the people we're inexplicably drawn to, how we can break out of destructive routines and how we can avoid judging someone we love for struggling with these things.

Maybe I'm not articulating this very well. That's all right. Jonathan Demme and screenwriter E. Max Frye articulate it better in this flick and it's a joy to watch so check it out.

Romancefest 2016: Much Ado About Nothing

I know I'm supposed to be into Joss Whedon because a bunch of my friends are and I respect their opinions. But I tried to watch BUFFY and there was an episode where a guy was dressed up as the Internet and I was like, "Not for me?"

He directed a black and white contemporary version of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING back in 2012 and I actually wanted to see it. I remembered liking the Kenneth Branagh version when I was a kid (naked people ftw) and I also tend to like Shakespeare in general (high school Thespian Club ftw) and that show FIREFLY was pretty good and the first AVENGERS movie was cool so why not?

Then I was a victim of my own filmgoing. I saw the goddamn trailer so many times at Cinema 21 that by the time the movie came out I was like, "I get it. Joss Whedon. Black and white. MUCH ADO." Then I'd roll my eyes really hard and think, "I hope everyone in this theater can sense how over this trailer I am."

So I didn't go. And then I didn't watch it on Netflix. And then Romancefest 2016 came along and MUCH ADO popped up on a list of great romantic comedies so I was sucked back in. I'm sure you care.

MUCH ADO is the totally non contemporary tale of love and mixups, featuring Alexis Denisof as a dude who shuns marriage and Amy Acker as a chick who is so cranky she'll never get married. So of course they'll end up together. Meanwhile there's Fran Kranz as a dude who totally wants to marry Jillian Orgese, as a chick who totally wants to marry Fran Kranz. So of course they'll end up together.

The plot involves a celebration as soldiers return from battle, the couples getting together, splitting up, getting back together again, people conspiring to fuck up each other's relationships and/or conspiring to hook people up, and also Nathan Fillion is there as a bumbling cop and, as usual, is the best thing in the project.

So, artistically, what does Whedon bring to the table that others have not? Well, first it's in black and white. Which is usually cool and it is almost cool here but it ends up just being okay. Because for some reason the black and white seems kinda flat. It almost looks like someone shot the movie in color and just flipped the black and white switch and called it good. I'm not saying that's what happened because that would be crazy, but that's kind of how it looks. So, it's all right, but not awesome.

The second thing is that it takes place in a contemporary looking cool house with contemporary looking cool people, which is fine except then it gets weird when Whedon favorite Clark Gregg is freaking out that his daughter isn't a virgin and saying he'd rather she was dead and stuff like that. I mean some people probably act like this in contemporary times but not rich Hollywood hills types, I don't think.

But, you can forgive that stuff because you go into the theater knowing it's Shakespeare in a contemporary setting. It's still noticeable, but you can forgive it.

Probably the best thing in the movie is the lead couple, Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker as a couple of "Fuck marriage!" types who end up falling in love. So, while most of the movie is kinda forgettable at least the central part is good.

Romancefest 2016: 50 First Dates

Last time we left Romancefest I was like, "I dunno if I want to do this anymore."
wanna do this anymore."

But guess what? It's February, time to watch 29 romantic movies in 29 days, and write about them. It's tradition. So welcome to Romancefest 2016.

This year I'm going to be sticking with romantic comedies. That way I can keep the run time of each movie down. It'll also be easier on the old emotions because if there is anything I've learned from previous Romancefests it's that people die a lot in romantic movies that aren't comedies. For the most part they'll be movies I've never seen before but every now and then I'm either not sure if I've seen a movie or I know I've seen it and totally can't remember it, so some of those will sneak in here, too.

Let's start with 2004's 50 FIRST DATES, the second romantic comedy pairing of Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. I'd either never seen this one or forgot all about it. I'm not sure which. That's how old I am now. I used to not get it when my parents couldn't remember which movies they'd seen. Now I get it.

Anyway, the premise of 50 FIRST DATES is pretty clever: Drew Barrymore stars as a young woman who has a mental disorder as the result of a car accident and wakes up each morning thinking it's the same day. In other words, her short term memory is shot and erases as she sleeps every night.

Adam Sandler stars as a womanizing commitment-phobe, so you'd think this would be a match made in heaven: a dude who can't commit and a chick who can't remember. Except of course that Sandler falls in love with Barrymore and that complicates things.

At first the movie didn't have me. I didn't get why Barrymore's family had to go to such lengths to keep up the illusion that she was living the same day over and over again, instead of simply letting her know about her predicament. But once all that stuff (and the stuff with walruses puking on people) was over, Barrymore's charm took over and the sweetness of the movie got me.

It helps that the movie is set in Hawaii, with great cinematography capturing beautiful scenery, all set to bouncy reggae tunes. It's hard not to be happy watching a flick like this. Aside from Sandler and Barrymore's easy chemistry, we also have a supporting cast of colorful characters including Rob Schneider as Sandler's bestie and Sean Astin as Barrymore's lisping meathead brother.