ADDICTED TO LOVE
SYNOPSIS:
Sam (Matthew Broderick) is a naïve and romantic astronomer
from a small town in the midwest. Maggie (Meg Ryan), a
photographer and collage artist from New York, is a worldly-wise
cynic. Strangers and polar opposites, what they have in common is
an obsession with their respective lovers who have just jilted
them and are now blissfully sharing a romantic apartment in Soho.
Sam will do anything to win back Linda (Kelly Preston), his
childhood sweetheart and only love. Maggie will do anything to
get revenge on Anton (Tcheky Karyo), her charming, accomplished
French lover and ex-fiance. So when Sam and Maggie encounter each
other in New York, each spying on the same ‘love nest’,
each watching the romance unfolding there with envy and rage, an
unlikely alliance is formed. Soon Maggie convinces a reluctant
Sam that the only way to get Linda back is to humiliate Anton and
destroy his life.
"Here is another Hollywood film opening with no fanfare
and no advance media screenings, so one tends to see it with much
trepidation. But the film is an unexpected surprise, especially
as it is labelled a romantic comedy: it has a unique darkness to
it that makes it refreshingly different. No wonder the American
critics and audiences ignored the film. It's not easily
classifiable, in that one has certain clear expectations of what
a romantic comedy is, how the characters should be defined and so
forth. This film, more than aptly directed by Griffin Dunne, goes
against the grain, yet it's a smart comedy with some truly
inventive moments. Like the more popular My Best Friend's
Wedding, Addicted to Love has a new kind of central female
character, the anti-romantic heroine, if you will, who'll stop at
nothing to exact revenge. Meg Ryan hardly fits the bill, but she
equips herself nicely, and has some rather beautiful and
delicious moments here. Broderick is effective as the love-struck
Sam, but Kelly Preston is more the wallpaper actress in this
movie, which is a pity. Though the film is certainly flawed, and
tends to fall apart slightly towards the end, there is genuine
chemistry between Broderick and Ryan, and a sense of offering
something different in this, usually most tiresome of genres.
Something different is not what one expects in mainstream
Hollywood, after all."
Paul Fischer
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ADDICTED TO LOVE (PG)
(US)
CAST: Meg Ryan, Matthew Broderick, Kelly Preston, Tcheky Karyo
DIRECTOR: Griffin Dunne
PRODUCER: Jeffrey Silver & Bobby Newmyer
SCRIPT: Robert Gordon
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Andrew Dunn
EDITOR: Elizabeth Kling
MUSIC: Rachel Portman
PRODUCTION DESIGN: Robin Standefer
RUNNING TIME: 100 mins
AUSTRALIAN DISTRIBUTOR: Roadshow
AUSTRALIAN RELEASE: August 14, 1997
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