Head Over Heels (2001)

reviewed by
Laura Clifford


HEAD OVER HEELS
---------------

When naive art restorer Amanda (Monica Potter, "Patch Adams") finds her new boyfriend in bed with a model, she starts looking for a new apartment in the Big Apple and, after a brief stay with friend Lisa (China Chow, "The Big Hit"), finds a fabulous one. The hitch? She must share it with four models. Amanda, still smarting from her bad relationship, also falls "Head Over Heels" for Jim (Freddie Prinze Jr.), a guy she 'meets cute' in her new building's lobby (she's sexually attacked by his Great Dane, Hamlet).

Amanda's four new roomies claim to have banded together because they're the only four non-smoking models in NYC, but they're really a cliched United Nations of hair color. Holly (Tomiko Fraser) represents the African American, Candi (Sarah O'Hare) is a ditzy blond Aussie, Jade (Shalom Harlow, "In and Out") is the brunette and Roxanna (Ivana Milicevic, "Enemy of the State"), a flame haired Russian. They immediately make it their cause to make over the already stunning Amanda and get her connected with Jim, the fashion executive whose apartment can be spied on from their living room. Meanwhile, Amanda's coworkers (the flip side of her roomies comprised of three batty old women and her lesbian friend Lisa) also push her towards romance.

As soon as attraction between the two stars is established, the film takes an absurd twist into "Rear Window" territory when Amanda (and none of her roommates) believes she sees Jim murder a model. The police (wisely) blow off the girls as bubbleheads, so they begin to tail Jim. Disgustingly unfunny bathroom humor, in a desperate attempt to connect with the successful gross out humor of "There's Something About Mary" and "Meet the Parents," ensues.

This script - (Screenplay and Story By Ron Burch & David Kidd; Story By Ed Decter and John Strauss, "There's Something About Mary") is the sorriest piece of work that's been greenlit in over a year of weak Hollywood product. The smallest details are ripped off from Amanda's profession to an aquarium scene that recalls "Manhattan" to a climatic Amanda utterance that originated in "Sid and Nancy!" Director Mark Waters ("The House of Yes") keeps focus on his relatively small cast in what must be the deadest Fashion Week in NYC history.

I have a rule that no film receives an F rating if it has anything at all going for it. While the cast is bland with a capital 'B,' O'Hare and Milicevic bring some personality to the lame proceedings. Technically the film is adequate.

"Head Over Heels" has its head firmly planted someplace other than over its heels.

D-

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