BORN ROMANTIC
Reviewed by Harvey Karten United Artists/BBC Films Director: David Kane Writer: David Kane Cast: Craig Ferguson, Ian Hart, Jane Horrocks, Adrian Lester, Catherine McCormack, Jimi Mistry, David Morrissey, Olivia Williams Screened at: Dolby Screening Rm NYC 9/4/01
What a delight to come across a small British film for which I had no particular expectations only to find that "Born Romantic" is the most delightful movie revolving a dance hall since "Shall We Dance," Masayuki Suo's beautifully told film of middle-aged businessman who secretly years to break out of the rigid conformity of his daily life. "Born Romantic" is a date movie, yes, but that cliche has been tossed around so much that movie-goers expect the usual pabulum when they take their girl friends or best guys to the cinema. And I suppose "Born Romantic" could be called a sitcom as well, or as one critic declares, "another of David Kane's rom coms (since writer-director Kane is the bloke responsible for "This Year's Love," which was a big hit in Britain. But forget about the usual meanings of these overused terms. The actors who play the lonely Londoners are so lovable, the emotions so worn-on-sleeves, the writing so lightly comic and yet engagingly poignant that Kane's contribution is a splendid antidote to some of the big, tasteless epics produced by Hollywood this year--most recently Peter Hyams' gruesome and charmless "Musketeer."
Featuring just one moderately loathsome character--Ian Hart in the role of a woman-hating misogynist--the story is one that should have people in the audience with any sign of humanity rooting energeticcally for the success of Kane's forlorn Londoners. The story opens with some hot dancing to equally hot salsa music in a London salsa club, which caters to both professional hoofers dancing for the sheer joy of swinging to the Latin beat and beginners who take lessons and who for the most part are not afraid to take to the floor for some respite from their solitary lives. Three guys, each different in temperament from the others, seek out three women, also different from one another but sharing a common desolation that is the luckless aspect of the urban zoo. The men are jerks, each in his own way; the women teetering between a rejection of the entire male gender and a recognition of their need for their company.
The three pairs are all on an off-again, on-again teeter-totter with each other, getting together only to fall apart at the first goof, giving them all the more motivation to restore their connections. Most captivating--perhaps because the woman is closest to what I'd consider my type--is the association between Frankie (Craig Ferguson) and Eleanor (the remarkable Olivia Williams--whom we Americans saw last in "The Sixth Sense"). Frankie has natural good looks and is always dressed in a jacket and tie, but he is evidently without much money and still living under a hostile roof with his ex-wife when he meets the fearful but seemingly confident and elegant Eleanor. Eleanor is uncompromising, brushing Frankie off from the time he first hits on her by exclaiming that he's not her type because he does not have "a symmetrical face." Lovable in a Damon Runyon sort of way, Eddie (Jimi Mistry) makes his living by mugging people, using chloroform as his weapon of choice. He is forced to choose whether to continue hitting his vics at ATMs or doing what's needed to impress his weird woman of choice, Jocelyn (Catherine McCormack)--whose major relationships are with dead people. Rounding out the festivities, Fergus (David Morrissey) realizes that he made a mistake in ditching Mo (Jane Horrocks--from "Little Voice") days before taking nuptial vows and works at getting back in her good graces despite learning that Mo has filled her lonely nights with up to sixty men, mostly one-night stands.
Adrian Lester is impressive as an Everyman, a cab driver who sees all and is not afraid to intervene, saying out right that knowing about the lives of his passengers is indeed his business. Like a silent Greek chorus commenting on the human comedy he sees around him, Jimmy has himself avoided women, considering himself married to his wife of five years though she had passed to the other side a pair of years ago.
By its very title, David Kane appears to say that we're all born romantic, i.e. that none of us is an island and that despite our defenses, there is simply no future in being alone--even when surrounded by millions of fellow urbanites. Unlike the pretentious opener to this year's New York Film Festival, "Va Savoir"--which makes its viewer wait until the very end of a two and one-half movie to deliver a smile--"Born Romantic" is a beam and a grin and a lark from start to finish.
Rated R. Running time: 96 minutes. (C) 2001 by Harvey Karten, film_critic@compuserve.com
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