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Last
January, Miramax struck gold with a teen comedy based on the
tale of “Pygmalion.”
She’s All That opened to decent reviews and an
amazing $16 million, eventually taking in over $63 million as
well as garnering two MTV Movie Award nominations.
That starred up-and-comers Freddie Prinze, Jr.
and that girl from the anti-heroin commercial that smashes the
egg with the frying pan.
Firm
believers that lightning can strike twice, Miramax is back
with a new January teen comedy with Prinze. The film, Down to You, is refreshing in the fact that
it places its young stars in college rather than the typical
high school setting. But
in doing so, it tries to be too adult and comes off as a
failed attempt at making Annie Hall for the Gen-Y
crowd. The film
also suffers from both a really bad set-up and a complete lack
of a proper ending.
You
opens with aspiring chef Al Connelly (Prinze, Wing
Commander) in a New York coffee shop.
As he watches a young couple pawing at each other, Al
explains his story of true love.
He does this by delivering his lines right into the
camera, which makes the whole thing seem like a hemorrhoid
commercial. So
the whole film is a flashback, being told by Al as he waits in
line to get a double mocha latte.
Al
launches into the tale of how he first met the girl of his
dreams, which is one of the more bizarre tales I can recall in
a mainstream movie. He’s
in a seedy bar with his two pals Eddie and Monk (Shawn Hatosy,
Outside Providence, and Zak Orth, Snow Falling on
Cedars), who are arguing about their sexual stamina.
Monk is a well-endowed rising star in the porn world
and Eddie thinks he has both the girth and vigor to break into
the business as well. A
bet is made involving a bar slag (Rosario Dawson, Light it
Up) and, as a result, Al is left without a bed for the
evening. When the
college sophomore complains about his lack of sleeping
accommodations, Monk points Al toward a wispy freshman that,
of course, turns out to be Ms. Right.
The babe
is Imogen (Julia Stiles, 10 Things I Hate About You)
– not Imogene – a first-year student interesting in
pursuing an arts career.
She’s gorgeous until she opens her mouth, revealing a
voice like a forty-year-old and a maw full of crooked,
yellow-tinted fangs. It
sounds like she’s had a three-pack-a-day habit since
kindergarten, which would explain her discolored teeth.
The two hit it off way too easily and before long Al is
introducing Imogen to his television chef dad (Henry Winkler, The
Waterboy) and disc jockey mom (Lucie Arnaz).
I wonder what the late Freddie Prinze, Sr. would think
of the Fonz
playing his kids screen pop.
As
expected, their relationship momentarily turns sour when
Imogen spends a summer in France, but don’t worry – things
work out. The
structure of the film is of bigger concern, namely when the
two lovebirds flashback to their first kisses and high school
squeezes. Can you
flashback within a flashback?
Then there is the equally troubling moment when Imogen
starts to co-narrate the film with Al.
How’s that work?
You can’t just jump in and hijack the voice-over.
Al is clearly the main character in the film, so butt
out.
You
is the feature film debut of Kris Isacsson, an assistant to
Barbra Streisand for The Mirror has Two Faces.
Isacsson also wrote the screenplay, which features some
pretty frank sexual dialogue for a PG-13 film.
Also of note is the fact that the characters are rarely
without a drink in their hands, despite the fact that
they’re all underage. Also
look for the hilarious Ashton Kutcher (Kelso from That
‘70s Show) who plays a guy named Jim Morrison.
1:40
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for adult language, sexual content and underage drinking
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