Well, colour me happy! There's a sofa in here for two! (Pretty Woman (DVD))

Member Name: Larachristina

Product:	Pretty Woman (DVD)
Date:	23/03/09 (163 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lovely plot, brilliant acting, wonderful dialogue.

Disadvantages: -

The last time (before tonight) I watched "Pretty woman", I was too young to know what a prostitute was.
I remember being completely baffled by the prettily coloured sweeties that Julia Roberts offers Richard Gere in the first half hour of the movie.
Imagine my surprise tonight when I realised they were condoms! What a minx!


Plot.
~~~~
When Vivian meets Edward for the first time, its in rather unusual circumstances.
Vivian is a prostitute, peddling her wares on Hollywood boulevard. When Edward (a very high powered business man) drives up in his fancy powerful car, that he is utterly unable to drive, asking for directions, Vivian is more than happy to oblige-for a price.
When she has successfully directed him to his hotel, Edward realises that he isn't quite ready to let her go yet, and invites her up to his room.
When the lines between work and play become blurred, Vivian and Edward both reevaluate their lives.


What I thought.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Whilst it has been a long time since I last saw this film, its always been one of my favorites. OK, fair enough, i was slightly too young to know what was going on, but what girl (regardless of age) can resist an extended shopping spree scene?
The reason this film appealed to me as a kid, is because essentially its a fairytale. A proper rags to riches, poor girl does good, fairytale.

Although simplistic, the plot is wonderful. Its a classic story, with a little twist. Its not very often, especially not back when this film was made (1990), that a prostitute becomes a figure of sympathy.
This is due mostly to Julia Roberts beautiful portrayal of Vivien. I had completely forgotten how breathtakingly gorgeous Julia Roberts is. She brings such an innocent fawn like quality to the role, making it utterly impossible to see her career choice as anything seedy. She instead comes across as a good girl, without a lot of choices.

Richard Gere is dashing and convincing as uptight Edward. Sometimes its easy to be angry at the character. His social standing and learned morals sometimes cause him to be patronising and snooty....but this eventually breaks down. Both characters grow and evolve, as a result of time spent with each other.

I love a good character development. I like seeing characters learn from experience, and change as a result of it, and this film doesn't disappoint in that respect.

The chemistry between Gere and Roberts is absolutely electric. I really believed that they were attracted to each other, and this is shown both in the lusty scenes (a piano scene that I had to turn away from when I was a kiddie), and the tender moments, when the characters are just talking. Sharing.

The dialogue and script is witty, fast paced, and so deeply etched in my brain that i found myself speaking along with the characters as I watched tonight.
There is something magical about someone remembering a script that they had not heard for over ten years, line for line.
The writers get everything perfect. There is the lovely contrast between Vivians innocence, and her more jaded *work* inspired lingo.
The one line that i will never forget, and I'm sure its the one line that sticks with other people also, is the beautiful moment where Vivian walks back into the snooty clothes store, that she had previously been thrown out of, by snooty sales assistants.
She waltzes in, laden with shopping bags, asking the sales assistant if she works on commission. When the assistant replies *yes*, Vivian lifts her bags, purses her lips, and states,
"Big mistake. Big. Huge. I have to go shopping now".

wonderful.

This really is a film that has everything. It has humour, and joy, and sadness and frustration, and ultimately love. Because obviously, that's what its all about. Love can spring up in the most unlikely of places....such as Hollywood Boulevard!


In conclusion.
~~~~~~~~~
This film has a fantastic plot, brilliant quote-able dialogue, really tight intense performances, and above all, a really joyful cheesy schmaltzy love story.
Julia Roberts really lights up the screen, and Richard Gere is smouldering and charming. A fantastic coupling, with all the ingredients for an amazingly brilliant chick flick.
I enjoyed just as much tonight, at 24, as I did when I was a kid. More so actually....now that i know what condoms are.


Bits and bobs.
~~~~~~~~~~
Director-Gary Marshall.
Writer-J F Lawton.
Release date-1990.
Film certificate-15


Where to buy.
~~~~~~~~~
You can buy the 15th anniversary special edition dvd, for the amazing price of £2.98, here,

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pretty-Woman-15th-Anniver sary-

Special/dp/B000ARFNNM/ref=sr_1_1?

ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1237851453&sr=8-1

(link is split in 3 to keep it under 80 characters. Just paste it back together).

Summary: One of the best feel-good movies around.