My 200 Favorite Movies: Reviews of Pretty Woman and Love, Actually

Photo Credit: Smooth Radio

Don't forget to check out the first three installments of my series:

Three Best Picture nominees: L.A. Confidential, Mystic River and Hannah and Her Sisters

Three Oscar winners: No Country for Old Men, Kramer vs. Kramer and The Wrestler

Three "Sleepers": Bernie, The Drop and Lucky Number Slevin

Now it's time for a couple rom-coms...

PRETTY WOMAN (1990)

Let's just get this right out into the open: I'm not going to shy away from romantic comedies or "chick flicks" simply because they aren't generally considered manly or masculine. A good movie is a good movie; there's no need to discriminate or dismiss any particular genres. 

That said, Pretty Woman is certainly considered one of the all-time classics of its genre. Carried by the breakout performance of Julia Roberts' illustrious career, Pretty Woman is a textbook example of a "hooker with a heart of gold" story. Roberts literally plays a hooker with a heart of gold named Vivian Ward, who wins the affection of a ruthless businessman named Edward Lewis, portrayed with suavity and confidence by Richard Gere. 

Perhaps the most memorable scene of the movie is when Edward sends Vivian on a downtown shopping spree, just days after Vivian had been insulted by uppity store clerks. Vivian comes out on top the second time around. The chemistry between Roberts and Gere is real and magnetic. 

** Frascella's Score: 8 out of 10 ** 

LOVE, ACTUALLY (2003)

Holiday movies are generally sappy, saccharine crap. They tend to take the easy way out in a lazy attempt to give the audience what they want: Predictable love stories, overly joyful characters and happy endings. 

Hmm, I've kind of painted myself into a corner, here. It's not that director Richard Curtis isn't going for happy endings in Love, Actually, it's just that his multiple storylines work and the payoffs aren't painfully cheesy. 

I find myself rooting for the characters in this massive ensemble piece featuring Hugh Grant, the late Alan Rickman, Bill Nighy, Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Keira Knightley, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Laura Linney, Billy Bob Thornton -- basically every European actor who ever appeared in a Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings or Pirates of the Caribbean movie. 

I am entertained and satisfied by virtually all of the storylines, and the dramatic climaxes for The Prime Minister (Grant), Jamie the writer (Firth) and Daniel's (Neeson) son, Sam (Thomas Brodie-Sangster, later of Game of Thrones) actually work for me. 

Also, not everyone gets a happy ending. Things are bittersweet for Harry (Rickman), Karen (Thompson) and lovelorn Mark (Andrew Lincoln of The Walking Dead), whose crush, Juliet (Knightley), marries his best friend, Peter (Ejiofor). 

Ensemble love stories can go terribly wrong -- see Garry Marshall's Valentine's Day or New Year's Eve -- but this one doesn't. Love, Actually has a lot of moving parts, but they move pretty well.

** Frascella's Score: 8.5 out of 10 **

MY UP-TO-DATE ARCHIVE OF ALL REVIEWS AND SCORES

(The Top 200 series will continue, but the list below includes ALL of my past reviews and scores.)

1. Up in the Air (9.5/10)
2. Steve Jobs (9.5/10)
3. No Country for Old Men (9.5/10)
4. The Wrestler (9.5/10)
5. The Drop (9.5/10)
6. Kramer vs. Kramer (9.5/10)
7. Margin Call (9/10)
8. Hannah and Her Sisters (9/10)
9. Mystic River (9/10)
10. L.A. Confidential (9/10)
11. Lady Bird (9/10)
12. Stay (9/10)
13. Gone Girl (9/10)
14. Nocturnal Animals (9/10)
15. 45 Years (9/10)
16. The Edge of Seventeen (9/10)
17. Bernie (9/10)
18. Lucky Number Slevin (9/10)
19. Tape (9/10)
20. A Perfect Murder (9/10)

21. War Dogs (8.5/10)
22. The Founder (8.5/10)
23. In Bruges (8.5/10)

24. Split (8.5/10)

25. Bad Moms (8.5/10)

26. Basquiat (8.5/10)
27. Love, Actually (8.5/10)

28. Moonlight (8/10)
29. Pretty Woman (8/10)
30. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (7.5/10)

31. The Revenant (7.5/10)
32. The Good Shepherd (7.5/10)

33. The Shallows (7.5/10)
34. Focus (7.5/10) 

35. The Night Before (7.5/10)
36. The Walk (7/10)

37. 10 Cloverfield Lane (7/10)
38. Loving (7/10) - No review available
39. A Most Violent Year (6.5/10) - No review available
40. The Shape of Water (6/10) - discussed in this review
41. The Boy (6/10) - No review available
42. Muhammad Ali: Say My Name (6/10) - No review available

43. Joy (5.5/10)
44. Taking Lives (5.5/10)

45. La La Land (5.5/10)
46. The Visit (5/10) - discussed in this review
47. 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (5/10)
48. Make Love Great Again (5/10) - No review available
49. Molly's Game (5/10)
50. Set It Up (5/10)
51. Get a Job (5/10) - No review available
52. The Interpreter (5/10) - No review available
53. Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars (5/10) - No review available
54. Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (4.5/10) - No review available
55. Brooklyn (4.5/10) - discussed in this review, and this review
56. Ocean's 8 (4/10)
57. Everything Must Go (4/10) - No review available
58. Why Him? (3.5/10) - No review available
59. The Program (3/10)
60. Pitch Perfect 3 (2/10)
61. Shut In (2/10) - No review available
62. Premonition (2/10) - No review available

63. Rings (1.5/10)
64. Mother's Day (1.5/10)
65. I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer (0/10) - No review available