In ‘Romance,’ Love Catches a Real Break

Sophie (Gia Carides) writes fabulously erotic novellas about women on holiday and godlike Greeks and white-washed huts and wind-blown sex, but has this habit of reading her work out loud. In public. And one night, in the public library, Eddie (Anthony LaPaglia), a jewel dealer, overhears her. He gets very interested. He asks her out. She says no, of course, and we soon see why: Having waited for him to leave, she hobbles to her feet, the kaa-clang of her leg brace echoing through the unlit stacks.

This is the stuff of a romance novel itself, or something starring Valerie Bertinelli, or maybe a vicious spoof on “The Jenny McCarthy Show.” But “Paperback Romance,” which stars the real-life couple Carides and LaPaglia as a couple of charmers with secrets, avoids any maudlin sentiment. And because it does, its sad subtext becomes merely a foundation for Australian outrageousness.

Imagine the same film made in Hollywood and you’ll see what I mean. Julia Roberts would be Sophie, all earnestness and winsomeness. Mel Gibson would play Eddie as slightly psychotic; he’d go to medical school between jewel heists and would have Sophie running wind sprints by the end of the picture.

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In “Paperback Romance,” the inspiration comes from Sophie’s willingness to throw caution to the wind and find love outside her fertile imagination. And from the penchant of writer-director Ben Lewin (“The Favor, the Watch and the Very Big Fish”) for understating almost all the gags, or even creating some of them in the first place.

Things happen here that are strictly out of Australia, which has exported such unorthodox and dark-hued recent comedies as “Strictly Ballroom,” “Muriel’s Wedding” and “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.” Sophie’s accident, for instance, is a mad bit of the unexpected: Shadowing Eddie in the mall where he’s been met by his humorless (but very funny) fiancee Gloria (Rebecca Gibney), she’s desperate not to let him see her limp. One thing leads to another, and she ends up in a shopping cart hurtling from the second floor to the first. It may be due to the Pavarotti impersonator she lands on, but the whole thing is very funny and--given the relatively low-key tone the film has had so far--pretty hilarious.

The accident gives Sophie the break she needs, and with her leg in a cast she can pursue Eddie into what she figures will be a short-lived but high-perspiration relationship. “Paperback Romance” isn’t much more than predictable in its plot line--Eddie’s shady jewelry operation comes into it, as does his pursuit by a former cellist/KGB agent named Yuri (Jacek Koman). But the script and the performances more than compensate, as does Carides, who plays Sophie as half-naif and half-Machiavelli, and a character who wouldn’t stoop to being a symbol of anything noble.

* MPAA rating: R, for sexuality and related dialogue. Times guidelines: Fleeting nudity, adult situations, language make this movie inappropriate for young audiences.

‘Paperback Romance’

Gia Carides: Sophie

Anthony LaPaglia: Eddie

Rebecca Gibney: Gloria

Jacek Koman: Yuri

Sioban Tuke: Kate

A Goldwyn Entertainment Co. production, in association with Generation Films, Lewin Films and Pandora Cinema, released by MGM. Director Ben Lewin. Producer Bob Weis. Screenplay by Ben Lewin. Cinematographer Vince Monton. Editor Peter Carrodus. Costumes Anna Borghesi. Music Paul Grabowsky. Production design Peta Lawson. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.

* In limited release.