Romancefest 2017: 10

There are certain movies you haven't seen that you're still aware of because the trailers, or because of what your friends have said about them, or because they loom so large in pop culture that you feel like you've seen them even if you haven't. And then there are those movies you're aware of because they had memorable VHS box art and you saw them on the shelf at the video store.

That's Blake Edwards' 1979 romantic comedy "10" for me. Nothing is more memorable about that movie to me than seeing Bo Derek on the cover of the video box running down the beach when I was just a little kid wandering the video store aisles. I was probably too young to think it was sexy, but a memorable image is a memorable image, so for my entire life, "10" has been good box art, as far as I'm concerned.

Now I've finally seen the film, and have discovered that far from being the sexploitation flick I assumed it would be, it's actually a somewhat insightful farce about a dude's mid-life crisis and how he projects it onto a woman he becomes obsessed with.

Dudley Moore stars as a famous composer who is struggling with life after 40 and can't stop thinking of a woman he sees in traffic, on her wedding day (Bo Derek). After alienating his long-suffering girlfriend (Julie Andrews), Moore embarks on a quest to track down Derek on her honeymoon in Mexico. Wacky hijinks ensue. One thing leads to another and Moore amazingly gets his chance with Derek, but things aren't as he expects, and he learns a valuable lesson! Good shit.

This movie was well reviewed and well liked at the time it was released, and for a while, I think, looked like it was going to permeate the pop consciousness and stay there. But it has since faded. I think part of the reason for that is that in the early scenes of the film, Moore comes off as weird and unlikable for seemingly no reason. You don't really start to identify with him until maybe a half hour into the film, and for many audiences, that might be a little too long. Once he goes to the dentist and suffers through fillings just to get some info about Derek, the comedy really kicks in and you start to see where this movie is going, and why. But up until then you're kind of annoyed by Moore. Oops!

If you want to compare it to something more recent, I'd wager the makers of FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL must be fans of this flick. Once Moore hits the Mexican resort, you can see where the SARAH MARSHALL crew must have gotten some of their ideas and tone. Speaking of, Brian Dennehy is particularly entertaining as a bartender at the resort.

This was, of course, the movie that made Bo Derek a household name and she's nicely acquitted here, actually coming off as more impressive in her dialogue scenes than she does in the scenes where the camera's just ogling her body. Her character also comes off as somewhat more reasonable and modern than Moore's, with her biggest sin being that she might be a little flaky. She's not a femme fatale or anything like that. Ultimately, she's just from the wrong generation for Moore.

That's why the movie's message isn't insulting. It's not about how Moore finds out the perfect 10 isn't perfect after all. It's about how Moore finds out stuff about himself that he didn't previously know, or at least didn't admit. So, there's hope for us guys, after all.