LAWS OF ATTRACTION
US, 2004, 93 minutes, Colour.
Pierce Brosnan, Julianne Moore, Parker Posey, Michael Sheen, Norah Dunn.
Directed by Peter Howitt.
So, they still do make them as they used to. This romantic comedy is like the old days of Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn, the kind of film they might have made today if they were still with us but had looked more handsome and glamorous. It's the battle of the sexes - in the courts.
Julianne Moore is a very adept actress. She can do very serious (The Hours, Far from Heaven) and she do daffy comedy (Evolution). This time she needs to do a bit of both. She is a very successful divorce lawyer who is pitted against a scruffy looking attorney (Pierce Brosnan being un-James Bondish) who turns out never to have lost a case. No, need to go further. You know exactly what is going to happen, except that some of it takes place in beautiful Irish settings (because Pierce Brosnan's company produced it and he is doing more than his bit for Ireland).
Parker Posey and Michael Sheen co-star as a feuding couple, but the scene-stealer is Frances Fisher, very glamorous, very face-lifted but self-conscious of the use of the word 'Mother' in public. You will enjoy her retort when asked whether she is 56, "parts of me are". Entertainingly glossy fluff.
1.21st century style romantic, screwball battle of the sexes and comedy?
2.The New York settings, the collage during the credits? Fashion, restaurants, the courts? The musical score?
3.The contrast with Ireland, the countryside, the town, the pub? The Irish score?
4.The range of moods and styles of New York, of Ireland? Each of the characters adapting to the places?
5.Julianne Moore as Audrey, her practice of the law, her reputation, interest in divorce law, in winning? Her mother and her being out with her, advice from her mother? Her being single? Not dating? The fashions and going with her mother to the shops? Her interviewing the divorcees? With her mother surveying the house, searching for information about the paintings? The background for her court case?
6.Pierce Brosnan as Daniel, his initial appearance, asleep, slovenly, gradually manifesting his skills? The interaction between the two in the court? The snowball and the speck? On the television, her watching, his issuing a challenge?
7.Audrey, eating the snowball, a speck, her losing the case, her doing the exercise, discussions with her mother, the phone call, the television, her decision to make an apology to Daniel, in his office, her looking at the documents, the alarm, running out of the building, her being caught on security television? Their giving the speeches at the convention, the acclaim, Daniel’s speech, showing the video? The dinner, the drink, her being drunk, the night together, the morning after, his dapper clothes?
8.The collage of all the cases, the interviews, the reactions of the judge?
9.Going to the concert, with her mother as an old-time rocker, the singer, meeting Serena, her weeping, giving her advice? Discovering who she was, Serena’s comment on her wearing the clothes? Going to the restaurant with the members of the company, the irony of Serena being with Daniel, her change of advocacy? Audrey and her going to the singer?
10.The hearings, the couple and their fights and insults? Their going to Ireland, the castle, the Blarney, the car and the breakdown, staying at the castle?
11.The night, the beer competition, dancing, the wedding ceremonies, their thinking they had married really? The aftermath? The return to the United States? The newspapers, the judge, the arrangement in the apartment? Keeping up appearances?
12.The court case, Daniel and his finding the document in the rubbish, his cheating, her reaction?
13.The return to Ireland, seeing the couple in the house again, the reconciliation? The apology, going to the airport, the return to the United States?
14.Going to the supermarket, the reconciliation with Daniel? The judge presiding at the wedding?
15.The portrait of Audrey’s mother, her glamour, most of her being fifty-six! Her advice, her not wanting to be seen as a mother? At the final wedding?
16.The portrait of the judge, in the courts, partial to Daniel, her comments, presiding at the wedding?
17.The traditions of the comedies of the battle of the sexes – updated?
