Tuesday

Down with Love is one of the most bizarre films I've ever seen. Set as a 1960s comedy romance, it's so overly stylised as to be almost sickening. Every joke and accompanying facial expression is given its own camera movement and music. The characters almost dance across sets, choreographed, rather than walk naturally. It's all very strange. Even the sense of humour is 60s, prudish and puerile, like an episode of I Dream of Jeanie, or Bewitched - people defend it as a 'homage', or a 'satire', but I think they're on weak ground. I don't know who thought this film was a good idea. Somehow it reminds me of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. It's off-putting, and, as I said, bizarre. There are a lot of split screen telephone calls, and at one point, with a lot of clever camera work, the main characters appear to have foreplay and then intercourse whilst talking to each other from different apartments. Very strange, but it makes more sense than my description of it does. Anyway, besides all that, I did strangely enjoy it. The ending is inevitable, but the plot has many un-inevitable twists along the way. Some of the puns and wordplay are actually enjoyable. It's a pity there's not much chemistry between Ewan McGregor and Renée Zellweger - if you could change one, I think she's the weaker of the two. So, this is perhaps worth watching, but definitely either sober or only slightly inebriated, as you may think you are hallucinating otherwise.