Serving up all kinds of love notions
Since couples in movies often dash to the altar even more quickly than the actors who play them, the multiplex may not be the most sensible place to find love advice.
But this Valentine’s Day, when couples are commanded to celebrate their devotion and singles are left to curse Hallmark, lessons gleaned from the latest batch of romantic comedies give fresh perspective to ancient courtship issues, such as the question most men find themselves pondering: “What in the world do women want?”
The date doctor has answers. That would be Hitch, of the Sony release “Hitch,” a man who’s so good at making romance happen for his clients his very name connotes wedded bliss. The combination of Smith and romance proved a heavenly match at the box office, with an estimated $45.3 million, the biggest Valentine’s Day weekend opening and the best for a romantic comedy.
As the title character, Will Smith is off and motivating with the opening credits. Hitch adheres to the optimistic notion that any man can sweep any woman off her feet -- he just needs the right broom.
After all, he tells the camera, “No woman wakes up in the morning and says, ‘Gee, I don’t want to get swept off my feet today.’ ”
At last, a chick flick for men.
Recently on “Oprah,” Smith said he hopes guys in the “Hitch” audience will learn about the level of effort it takes to please a woman and start working accordingly. Judging from the frenzied response from Oprah’s audience, he struck a nerve.
Hitch’s most salient advice is for his clients to be themselves -- just a cleaned-up, savvier version. “She wants the real you,” he says. “She just doesn’t want it all at once.” But when he meets his own match, a stunner named Sara (Eva Mendes), he’s unable to take his own advice. Their dates crash and burn; hilarity ensues.
With everything going wrong, can it still turn out all right?
Possibly the most endearing message to be gleaned from “Hitch” is that when love is meant to be, nothing you can do will mess it up.
Not for lack of trying. Which brings us to another question: “What should I do when I fall for my prostitute?”
The latest twist on this movie subject, in “The Wedding Date,” is that the “john” is a lady and the “pretty woman” is a man. Dermot Mulroney plays Nick, a high-priced escort hired by Debra Messing’s Kat for the week of her sister’s wedding. Kat’s ex-fiance is the best man, so she needs the perfect date to make the ex realize his huge mistake. Nick wins over family, friends and Kat alike -- not just with his physical charms, but also his sage love advice. After a bachelor party, for example, when Ed the bridegroom notes that people were disappointed he didn’t have the requisite sex with a hooker, Nick replies thoughtfully, “A man in love doesn’t want a prostitute.”
It may seem farfetched that the people Nick encounters would be so impressed by his wisdom, but remember, we’re starting with the premise that someone who looks like Debra Messing would need to pay a man for a date. And it stands to reason Nick should have something to offer other than run-of-the-mill escort services.
Nick’s views are best suited to people who can handle criticism for their single status, or for those to whom love means never having to say, “I’m sorry, but I don’t take advice from a hooker.”
If that prospect seems unsavory, consider arranged marriage. Or, as many parents might ask, “Why won’t you let me fix you up with someone nice?”
Such is one of the themes of “Bride & Prejudice,” from Gurinder Chadha (“Bend It Like Beckham”). The film marries Jane Austen’s 19th century English drawing-room novel “Pride and Prejudice” with an Indian Bollywood musical extravaganza to look at how parents and children deal with love and its obstacles.
The methodology here is slightly more subtle -- characters burst into song when they need to get a message across.
In an early scene at a wedding party, groups of gorgeous men and women flirt by dancing and singing lyrics that refer to the fairer sex as live wires -- “if you touch them, you will get an electric shock of love” -- while mothers strategize. True to form, the lead couple wastes no time shocking each other.
Our Indian heroine, Lalita, played by the impossibly beautiful Aishwarya Rai, sees the ridiculously handsome American Will Darcy (Martin Henderson), and you just know that two people that good-looking will find their way to each other no matter what their mothers throw in their path.
In Will’s opening salvo to Lalita, he calls the concept of arranged marriage backward. Lalita wastes no time in proclaiming him arrogant, and this romance is on. Live wires are crossing all over the place.
Lalita’s mother ridicules the idea of falling in love before the wedding day. “You marry first, and then love grows,” she says to her husband (by an arranged marriage), who doesn’t seem convinced. In its light and breezy way, the movie speaks to the cultural pressures that singles face. Marriage as a commercial transaction is seen to be as prevalent as it was in Austen’s time. Indian mothers scheme for their daughters to hook a rich man. Rich Americans seek appropriate partners for their children as if arranging a business merger. An entire Indian town erupts in a singing and dancing frenzy at the prospect of upcoming nuptials and the positive effect they will have on the local economy.
The “when in doubt, break into song” style may take some getting used to, but it works remarkably well for the film’s cast.
As Lalita sings of her desire for a man with soul, intelligence and a big heart, she is simply making her goals very clear -- something all the self-help books recommend. They just never mentioned putting it to music.
But after seeing the results of all that purposeful singing and dancing, it might be the next hot new technique for processing one’s romantic issues. It would sure make sitting next to a blind date at the Coffee Bean more entertaining. And it’s cheaper than an escort service.
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Box Office
Preliminary results (in millions) based on studio projections.
*--* Movie 3-day gross Total Hitch $45.3 $45.3
Boogeyman 10.8 33.3
Are We There Yet? 8.5 61.5
Million Dollar Baby 7.6 45.1
Pooh’s Heffalump Movie 6.0 6.0
The Wedding Date 5.6 19.5
Hide and Seek 5.6 43.6
Sideways 4.8 53.1
The Aviator 4.6 82.3
Meet the Fockers 3.4 269.9
*--*
Source: Nielsen EDI Inc.
Los Angeles Times