PROGRAMME

Down with Love

Movie Star Movies

Displaying similar nostalgic gimmickry to Far from Heaven, yet far more accessible and fun, this frothy confection satirises/celebrates the sex comedies of the late 1950s and 60s. Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor aren’t the most obvious stand-ins for Doris Day and Rock Hudson, but both hit the mark amusingly with the sprightliest performances of their careers. Zellweger plays the new writing sensation who has produced a bestseller claiming that women can consign love and romance to the garbage heap, while McGregor’s cocky, man-about-town journalist plots to publicly disprove her theories. Shot in faux Technicolor with sublimely kitsch decor and a soundtrack choreographed to every accentuated footstep, this may be the most camp mainstream movie since Moulin Rouge. Performed with a nudge, a wink and a smile by all concerned (Frasier’s David Hyde Pierce also puts in an energetic turn), this is real air-freshener cinema - fragrant, invigorating, yet likely to disappear from the memory within hours.

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