Pretty Woman (Aniv)

Customer reviews:

A star is born in a wasted movie..., 2008-10-24
One of those movies you watch every time it comes on television because it's so cute, yet one of those movies you're almost ashamed to adore because it has almost no redemptive features; `Pretty Woman' has become an instant classic for almost no reasons at all. Sure, it's cute, but so aren't a lot more respectable films.

Oh yeah, I forgot; Julia Roberts is amazing here.

So, that answers all questions doesn't it? Why do we love this movie? We love it because it gave us Julia, our beloved Julia. She is charming and warm and heartbreaking and moving and memorable and sincere and we just want to eat her up in every scene. The problem with `Pretty Woman' is that when you take Roberts' magnetism out of the equation you have a rather empty film that relies on clichés to carry it across the finish line. It works to an extent (in the fact that it is charming in that totally forced kind of way) but it is nothing spectacular.

So Edward, a wealthy businessman, pays Vivian, a streetwalker, a large sum of money to pretend to be his girlfriend over the weekend while he attends some social events. He falls in love with her and visa-versa but this poses a problem because he starts to question his ethics (business-wise) and his partners are furious and attempt to break apart the pair.

Total cliché.

The acting is also hit-or-miss. Like I said, Roberts is luminous. We all know that (she has the Oscar nomination to prove it), but aside from her there are only a few standouts. Jason Alexander is a little overdone, but I'm not a fan of his to begin with. Laura San Giacomo is decent, but underused so she is rather unimportant. Hector Elizondo is wonderful, and totally chews up his few scenes. Then there is the rather boring and uninspired Richard Gere. I have never been blown away by this guy, and here he just kind of sulks there throughout the movie.

Does this guy know how to evoke any emotion?

He just always appears so sullen. Him and Nicolas Cage; like seriously, why are they acting? Gere may be even worse that Cage for me. At least Cage as the perfection that was `Leaving Las Vegas' and `Adaptation' (how he pulled those off is beyond me), and what does Gere have? Chicago? I rest my case.

Anyways, this movie is really all about Roberts. The film is a mess really; plot-wise at least. It doesn't make a lot of sense and it glorifies a profession that is rather insulting and degrading. At least `Leaving Las Vegas' had the decency to create a likable character stuck in a gritty world. `Pretty Woman' is so obsessed with being charming and likable that it insults the audience by expecting us to buy into this Disney World variation of prostitution.

Oh well, the movie is a C- but Roberts is a solid A+.

Fast & Accurate Delivery of what was ordered, 2008-09-23
I needed this is a hurry and that is what I got. It was delivered as promised and was exactly what I ordered.