Pretty Woman

Pretty Woman is easily one of the most recognized romantic comedies of all film history. It was widely successful at the box office (grossing $463.4 million against its $14 million budget), was known as the third highest grossing movie of 1990 (only being behind films like E.T, Star Wars and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), sold the highest number of tickets in the US ever for a rom-com, and while not doing very well from a critic standpoint, still earned itself a few awards nominations (with Julia Roberts’ Oscar nomination pushing her stardom status). Whether someone is a fan of the genre or not, the film was one of the main properties that sparked the resurgence of the romantic comedy at the time (with the other being When Harry Met Sally) leading to several other outings for the genre with wavering reception. But taking all that out, how does this film hold up by itself? Set in the streets of Hollywood Boulevard, high-powered businessman Edward (played by Richard Gere) finds himself lost and requires the help of prostitute Vivian (played by Julia Roberts) to find his way back home after leaving a meeting from his business that specializes in dismantling struggling businesses and selling their assets for profit. Staying together at a hotel, Edward proposes that she stay with him over the week as a companion, giving her a tempting offer of over $3000 to do so. With her wild unfiltered persona clashing with his environment and his cold-hearted business being slowly broken down by her presence, the two find that they may have something to offer the other outside of juts the pleasure of each other’s company (and from one perspective, wealth) and in turn, it could maybe lead to something a little more special. Much like most rom coms, the film favours a cheesier over-the-top level of fluff that does not always match with the type of story it set up, which could be seen as far more uncomfortable if the romance goggles were taken off. As a film overall, the movie features some decent actors and an inkling of a good concept, but is still matched with little romance, no real laughs, and an awkward direction.

The film, despite being a staple of what a romantic comedy tries to follow, almost had nothing to do with romance or comedy. Originally the film was going to be dark cautionary tale about class and prostitution within Los Angeles, where the relationship between the two leads would have been more controversial with elements like drug addiction being included and would have ended with them split up by the end. With the original title of 3000 and being written by J. F. Lawton (who was struggling at the time before this film’s success), it was then president of Walt Disney Studios, Jeffrey Katzenberg, who insisted the film take on a more modern-day fairy-tale love story aspect, which is what it transformed into once it was distributed by Touchstone. Inspired by films like Wall Street, The Last Detail, and more obvious the Broadway musical, My Fair Lady, this change from dark and controversial to light and harmless can still be felt within the film even if it tries to cover it up. The set up for the romance is still pretty uncomfortable and there is still a hint of that separation and prejudice towards prostitution within the movie, yet it is not addressed as strongly as it could’ve been, so it comes across more like a genre trying to tackle something out of its league (which is a little funny in insight). The saddest part is that the weakest aspect of the film is  its romance as its barely focused on in a believable or interesting way and is so focused on being fantastical and like comfort food and wish-fulfillment rather than something to take seriously that it removes any chances for scenes or developments that would help them grow as a couple, leaving a lot of standard romance clichés that take away from what could have been an interesting story. It’s hard to predict whether or not that idea would’ve flow either, but it would’ve at least stood out from amongst the crowd whereas this one from the dialogue, direction and even performances, feel very traditional of the genre. The director Gary Marshall has becoming pretty infamous nowadays for creating less than impressive films that proceed to annoy rather than entertain, and even past films that he directed like Young Doctors in Love, The Flamingo Kid, Nothing in Common, Overboard, and Beaches usually received mixed reception, so he was never a surefire success. While there isn’t anything strikingly annoying within this film, there’s a slight aimless direction that feels like it wanted to squeeze in the rom-com elements into this darker story and the two don’t blend very well together.

The amount of casting choices for the two leads was pretty staggering, as the idea of returning back to an old formula like a rom com would’ve been an easy way to get your name out there and while it was never a hugely successful idea, it was an easy option to take for a paycheck. Options for Gere’s role included Al Pacino, Christopher Reeves, Daniel Day-Lewis, Kevin Kline, Burt Reynolds, and Denzel Washington, while the role for Roberts included Karen Allen, Molly Ringwald, Winona Ryder, Jennifer Connelly, Emily Lloyd, Meg Ryan, Mary Steenburgen, Diane Lane, Michelle Pfeiffer, Daryl Hannah, Valeria Golino, and Jennifer Jason Leigh. While these choices are very diverse, they maybe could have added a bit more to these roles that the current actors did not do. On the one hand, Julia Roberts is honestly perfectly fine as the character of Vivian. While a different actress could have maybe done more with the role and felt more authentic as Roberts’ demeanour can feel a little too commercialized to the point of feeling phoney, she reads her lines fine, is at least pleasant to be around, and is easily the better half of this movie with a story focus and character arc that you actively do want to see grow and conclude in a positive way. It doesn’t dive heavy into the struggles and stereotypes prostitutes had to deal with around that time and this more laid-back casual atmosphere now makes its inclusion feel at best poorly done and at worst borderline offensive, but it’s not a deal breaker and from a basic ”Cinderella” trope, it is nice to see that transition. With that said, Richard Gere is incredibly boring in this film and fails as both a romantic partner and just as an actor in general. While he was picked solely for his image as his figure seems appropriate for the role, he leaves so little of an impression that any other actor could have brought something far more interesting to the table. With no personality, charm, or even that stand-out a performance, it’s easy to forget him as an actor and doesn’t bring enough of his own spin or unique personality to showcase why he would be good for the part. Some of the side actors in the film are pretty fun; while people like Jason Alexander are criminally wasted and is stuck with a pretty one note character (that again feels like a balance between a generic antagonist from a stupid rom-com and a full-on serial offender from the original script , people like Hector Elizondo as the hotel manager and Laura San Giacomo as Robert’s best friend as fun performances to watch and bring that likeable sense of playful into the genre without it feeling distracting or forced.

With the drastic change in script and direction for the film, a lot of the elements of the film that should come off as romantic aren’t as clean as they make it out to be because they sweep some of the more interesting elements under the rug. The concept of a man taking a prostitute off the street and moulding her into a better person while she unknowingly turns him into a better person feels like a great idea that would great as an update to the My Fair Lady concept while also being a nice commentary on the dangers of prostitution, having the male lead being someone who is introduced to the dangers as the female lead is the one who experiences it and shows it off. But because this was turned into a simplistic Disney-style romance with this form of story still connected to it, there can be random moments of playful banter and goofy moments followed up by an attempted rape scene, it just doesn’t meld as nicely as it should. Since the movie had a budget of about $14 million, the variety of locations they could shot at were pretty big, leading to some nice environments both on the higher scale with the packed dirty streets of Hollywood to the rich fancy hotels of Beverly Hills, doing a good job showing off the personality of both and again utilizing the element of the lost script as best they can. This also led to a ton of great looking outfits that Roberts was allowed to wear for the film constructed by costume designer Marilyn Vance, which have become pretty infamous for her as well as the movie’s fans. Her clothing change from rugged and dirty to pristine and clean is a bit on-the-nose, but the transition is nice and both sides do not feel too out of her realm of plausibility. The romance feels rushed in and only features within the last third of the film in a major way (mainly due to the film not originally ending that way). This leaves the actors with no real chemistry and the resolution feeling pretty unearned. Instead of being funny, the movie is more charming as no real lines or instances are that comical and even some jokes are just repeated, but with Roberts being charming enough as the lead and the side actors being pretty likeable, it works fine enough without being annoying.

For how much was built up around it, Pretty Woman isn’t nearly as bad as people would expect it to be and offers up a few nice things that could have been more interesting, but unfortunately like most rom coms, whatever serviceable elements they feature in them are more than likely overshadowed by a ton of simplistic and stupid material. It thankfully nowhere near as poor as some of Marshall’s other work and it still features an interesting if confused concept, some nice actors, and some pretty cool locations and set pieces. If it went all the way with one of the ideas it originally had and made the romance legitimate instead of a rushed happy ending, maybe this could have been a nice update to the formula, but as is, it’s a pretty underwhelming romance but still a decent movie overall. Nowhere near as catchy and awesome as the Roy Orbison song, but not as bad as you would expect. Check it out and see for yourself.