High Marks To "Little Black Book"
Aug. 7th, 2004 06:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shipperxWent to see the afternoon matinee of the movie "Little Black Book." I really enjoyed this movie (though I tend to think the marketing campaign is just a tad misleading). Brittany Murphy is likable and appealing throughout, which is what she needs to be to make the story work. And I thought the writing was smart. All in all, nice little movie.
They advertise this movie as a romantic comedy, and, yeah, 2/3 of it actually looks like a romantic comedy. But at its heart it's closer to the movies "Broadcast News" and the movie which there are clear homages to -- "Working Girl."
It's definitely a chick flick. . . but not a romance. The male lead barely rises above cameo in the movie.
The set up is that Murphy's character is a bit controlling (not excessively so, but she has some of that to her personality), whose life long ambition it is to grow up and become a producer for Diane Sawyer. At graduation she dumps her boyfriend because she isn't sure that he fits in with her plans. (This is all told in the first few minutes of the movie and prior to the movie starting a few years later).
In the interim, Murphy's character has met and fallen in love with a great guy, mostly lives with him and she has a job as an associate producer for a Jerry Springer-like show "Kippi Kann" (Kathy Bates) and her co-producer is Holly Hunter. It's at this point that they really do give you a huge honking clue where the heart of the story is, because they also show that Murphy's character adores the movie "Working Girl". . .and this movie is far more in that vein than romantic comedy. It's mostly a working girl story.
All the associate producers compete to pitch stories for the show (whose ratings are going down)like "Married Midgets" or "My Grandmother is a Hooker". Murphy becomes friends with Holly Hunter, the hot shot producer on the staff. One of the struggling young male producers pitches a story on men's "Little Black Book" -- your guy's romantic past. As Murphy's boyfriend goes out of town on business, Hunter's character wants juicy details on Murphy's relationship. . .and Murphy sort of realizes that she doesn't know all that much about him. Little things but not that much, she doesn't know anything really about the girls he's dated and she's never met his parents. Hunter's character says it's a not a good sign if she's never met his parents. And what if he's cheating on her? Murphy's character doesn't believe he's cheating on her. . . but her curiosity is peaked on his romantic past. And, while he's out of town on business, he's left his palm pilot behind. Even against her better judgement she begins to snoop. . .
I won't go into the details, but of course she ends up encountering a string of her boyfriend's ex's (and naturally she has to lie to each ex about exactly who *she* is. . .usually using the cover story that she's interviewing them as possible guests for the Kippi Kann show.) She even finds that she LIKES one of his ex girlfriends a great deal and she feels horrible about having lied to the girl.
Up to this point, it's really standard romantic comedy fare. That changes when near the end of the movie she finds that she's been set up by Holly Hunter's character and her escapades are exposed when SHE becomes the center focus of a Kippi Kann show about snooping girlfriends. Suddenly she's confronted with the ex-girlfriends, all of her own lies. . .and her boyfriend who she has snooped on. She then handles it all the best she can.
The thing that's nice about the movie is that Murphy's character in fact does NOT end up with the guy. (He also doesn't have some huge angry fit with her over what she's done). She admits that this mess means that there are problems in the relationship. There were reasons why he didn't introduce her to her parents. he didn't share things with her. She was Ms. Right Now for him. She wasn't his Mrs. Right.
For a brief moment they fake you out that she just might end up with the guy she once dumped. And they ehave her confess that she still believes in happy endings even though the girl didn't get the guy. . .either of them.
They skip down the road several months where she V.Os that she's regrouped since the Kippi Kann debacle and they have her interview, and get, a job as associate producer for Diane Sawyer (and THAT is her happy ending).
Anyway, I found the movie quite enjoyable and give it a thumbs up.
They advertise this movie as a romantic comedy, and, yeah, 2/3 of it actually looks like a romantic comedy. But at its heart it's closer to the movies "Broadcast News" and the movie which there are clear homages to -- "Working Girl."
It's definitely a chick flick. . . but not a romance. The male lead barely rises above cameo in the movie.
The set up is that Murphy's character is a bit controlling (not excessively so, but she has some of that to her personality), whose life long ambition it is to grow up and become a producer for Diane Sawyer. At graduation she dumps her boyfriend because she isn't sure that he fits in with her plans. (This is all told in the first few minutes of the movie and prior to the movie starting a few years later).
In the interim, Murphy's character has met and fallen in love with a great guy, mostly lives with him and she has a job as an associate producer for a Jerry Springer-like show "Kippi Kann" (Kathy Bates) and her co-producer is Holly Hunter. It's at this point that they really do give you a huge honking clue where the heart of the story is, because they also show that Murphy's character adores the movie "Working Girl". . .and this movie is far more in that vein than romantic comedy. It's mostly a working girl story.
All the associate producers compete to pitch stories for the show (whose ratings are going down)like "Married Midgets" or "My Grandmother is a Hooker". Murphy becomes friends with Holly Hunter, the hot shot producer on the staff. One of the struggling young male producers pitches a story on men's "Little Black Book" -- your guy's romantic past. As Murphy's boyfriend goes out of town on business, Hunter's character wants juicy details on Murphy's relationship. . .and Murphy sort of realizes that she doesn't know all that much about him. Little things but not that much, she doesn't know anything really about the girls he's dated and she's never met his parents. Hunter's character says it's a not a good sign if she's never met his parents. And what if he's cheating on her? Murphy's character doesn't believe he's cheating on her. . . but her curiosity is peaked on his romantic past. And, while he's out of town on business, he's left his palm pilot behind. Even against her better judgement she begins to snoop. . .
I won't go into the details, but of course she ends up encountering a string of her boyfriend's ex's (and naturally she has to lie to each ex about exactly who *she* is. . .usually using the cover story that she's interviewing them as possible guests for the Kippi Kann show.) She even finds that she LIKES one of his ex girlfriends a great deal and she feels horrible about having lied to the girl.
Up to this point, it's really standard romantic comedy fare. That changes when near the end of the movie she finds that she's been set up by Holly Hunter's character and her escapades are exposed when SHE becomes the center focus of a Kippi Kann show about snooping girlfriends. Suddenly she's confronted with the ex-girlfriends, all of her own lies. . .and her boyfriend who she has snooped on. She then handles it all the best she can.
The thing that's nice about the movie is that Murphy's character in fact does NOT end up with the guy. (He also doesn't have some huge angry fit with her over what she's done). She admits that this mess means that there are problems in the relationship. There were reasons why he didn't introduce her to her parents. he didn't share things with her. She was Ms. Right Now for him. She wasn't his Mrs. Right.
For a brief moment they fake you out that she just might end up with the guy she once dumped. And they ehave her confess that she still believes in happy endings even though the girl didn't get the guy. . .either of them.
They skip down the road several months where she V.Os that she's regrouped since the Kippi Kann debacle and they have her interview, and get, a job as associate producer for Diane Sawyer (and THAT is her happy ending).
Anyway, I found the movie quite enjoyable and give it a thumbs up.
