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Down to You
**
Rated on a 4-star
scale
Screening venue: Odeon (Liverpool City Centre)
Released in the UK by Film Four on May 19, 2000; certificate 12; 92 minutes;
country of origin USA; aspect ratio 1.85:1
Directed by Kris Isaacson; produced by
Jason Kilot, Joana Vicente.
Written by Kris Isaacson.
Photographed by Robert Yeoman; edited by Stephen A.
Rotter.
CAST.....
Freddie Prinze Jr..... Al Connelly
Julia Stiles..... Imogen
Selma Blair..... Cyrus
Shawn Hatosy..... Eddie Hicks
Zak Orth..... Monk Jablonski
Henry Winkler..... Ray
The characters in "Down to You" are
stupid, all right, but at least they're more convincingly alive than
most young folks in American movies. These are college-age kids in a cutesy
romantic comedy who screw, drink, smoke tobacco and pot, are familiar with
music that came out before the invention of the CD, and have detailed discussions
about pornography. None of this is presented as risque, as it was in "American
Pie" -- it's seen as normal.
That's refreshing. The rest of the movie is pretty
lame. Freddie Prinze Jr, from last summer's teen romance "She's All That",
plays the guy, Al. Julia Stiles, from last summer's teen romance "10 Things
I Hate About You", plays the girl, Imogen. They fall in love, break up, and
fall in love again. The end.
The vices of the characters and texture of the
atmosphere make "Down to You" watchable -- I know that kids from the USA
aren't as hard-edged as youngsters from this side of the pond, but surely
they can't be the bland, non-alcoholic virgins that most teen flicks make
them out to be. The downside of the movie is the way it frames its story
in retrospect, with embarrassing direct-to-camera interview-style dissections
of what's going on onscreen, and a voice-over narration that treats a typical
Hollywood love story as something Really Important. Woody Allen can get away
with that, because his screenplays offer witty insights and entertaining
self-obsession. Here it's gimmicky and annoying.
What I will remember about seeing the film
is that the group of young girls in front of me thought I was Freddie Prinze
Jr. Every time a close-up of the star filled the screen, one of them would
turn around, make eye contact with me, then shoot round again, whispering
"It's him, it's him!" to another. When his name appeared in the end credits,
a couple of them said it to themselves, as if making a mental note. I dimmed
the lights when I got home, and checked my reflection in the mirror, and
yeah, I can sort of see a resemblance. Similar cheekbones, similar hair (on
that day), et cetera. But I don't look like him all that much, really, and
I hope the girls didn't see me in the light. I wouldn't want to spoil their
illusion.
COPYRIGHT© 2000 Ian
Waldron-Mantgani
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