Alex and Emma | | Cast : | Luke Wilson, Kate Hudson, David Paymer, Sophie Marceau | | Director : | Rob Reiner | | Studio : | Warner Home Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | June 20, 2003 | | DVD Released Date : | June 07, 2005 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | June 19, 2005 | | Summary | I didn't think I'd like this movie this much... | Content
 | This film is so romantic and great. It's on my top 10 list of most romantic romance comedy movies. Kate's character is most likeable. Her acting is way better then in her acting in previous other movies I saw her in. If you like romantic comedy movies give this a try, but if I were you, I'd rent it or something before you decide to actually buy it. I'm sorry if this review wasn't helpful. |
| Rating | | | Date | January 21, 2005 | | Summary | SLOW BUT BRILLIANT. | Content
| If you are looking into buying thid DVD, i would certainly recomend that you hire before you buy. It's one of them films where you either do like it or you just can't stand it. Me, i don't normally hire before i buy because i choose most of my films with the actors i like in them but when i saw it, i realized it'ss not all that good for some people. Firsty, a man hires a woman to do a book with him for 30 days or if he dosen't get it finished by then he will be in serious trouble. Anyway she and him think in the end of doing a story basedin the days ages ago, a romantic story. Finally when they have done the book, they fall in love with each other. Great romantic film. |
| Rating | | | Date | January 16, 2005 | | Summary | Romantic Comedy Will Leave You Feeling Good | Content
| If I had to choose just one word to describe this movie, it would be bittersweet. Alex Sheldon, played by Luke Wilson, is a somewhat struggling author. He is young, single, and attractive - but being hounded by the Cuban mob to pay back a loan he foolishly took from them. How anyone can lose $50,000 betting on the dog races is beyond me, but then to find out he also lost an additional $75,000 of his own cash is totally astounding! So the loan sharks want their money, plus interest, totaling $100,000. The only way Alex can procure the cash is to finish his novel.
Suffering from a writer's block on the first sentence, he lies to the loan sharks with baseball bats who have come to give him a friendly reminder. When the lie is discovered, they torch his laptop. Really intelligent criminals we have here... destroy the means of making the money! In desperation Alex requests a stenographer from a company under false pretences, and Emma Dinsmore, portrayed by Kate Hudson, is brought into the picture. Finding the circumstances of her employment to be a complete lie, she is about to leave, but Alex convinces her to stay.
As Alex dictates the novel, Emma adds her two cents constantly, actually helping him with her quirky thoughts and ideas. As the fictional Adam Shipley (Luke Wilson) falls in love with his employer, the beautiful Polina Delacroix (Sophie Marceau), he strings along the "au pair" (Kate Hudson) who is a difficult character for Alex to settle on. At first she is Swedish, then German, and finally, American. The novel takes form and begins to heat up, and so does a growing relationship between writer and stenographer. Spending so much time so tightly connected to one another, it would be difficult not to begin to feel something.
Sadly, the novel and real life begin to echo one another and love may be lost in reality as well as in fiction. The pressure is on, only 30 days to write the novel, from beginning to end. Struggling with personal issues and trying to win over Emma, Alex dances to a fairly predictable plot, however, there are a number of twists that will keep you guessing and wondering.
This script is a brilliant piece of work in my mind. There is so much to be found, both in the blatant and the subtle, one almost has to see it again to catch everything. I found myself laughing a number of times, and almost groaning in sympathy in a few places. As you jump back and forth between the novel's plot and the reality of Alex and Emma, you find yourself caught up in the twists and turns and amazement at how reality mimics fiction, or vice-versa, so closely.
Rob Reiner did a great job of directing, and was perfect in his role as Alex's publisher. The writers all have wonderful senses of humour as this script has proven. This is definitely a romantic comedy that will leave you feeling good!
Review Originally Posted at LinearReflections.com |
| Rating | | | Date | November 28, 2004 | | Summary | It charmed me in spite of itself | Content
| You could say "jejune". You could say "banal". I suppose you could even say "insipid". But despite that, I remain charmed by this film. It's a silly, little, romantic comedy that's been done many times before, yet it works again. I've watched it more than once which for me is a true test. I like to fall asleep with it playing, not because it's inherently dull; rather, because the feelings it provokes are soft, and warm, and pleasant. I can drift off knowing that all ends well; and really, sometimes that's all I need. |
| Rating | | | Date | November 26, 2004 | | Summary | Kate Hudson is the cute all-American girl-next door type | Content
| albeit with an attitude. She's stuck in a way too predictible formula comedy. All that is left is the particulars. A novelist, Alex is under fire, literally to produce a novel quickly to get the money to pay off loan sharks who want to kill him. He hires steno, Emma & she moves almost literally into his life as he begins to crank out a novel; with her critical comments along the way. It is soon obvious that the novel is paralleling their going relationship. Yes, of course, they are falling in love.
The movie flashes between the present day & the 1920's Gatsby-like setting of the novel. The problem is they are all too aware that this is happening. That they know that this is causes the movie to lose much of the charm it could have had if the two stories proceeded with Emma & Alex blithely ignorant of what was happening. Art imitates life. Or is it life imitates art? I could squeeze 21/2 stars. |
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