Rating of
3/4
Very funny and witty.
TheWolf - wrote on 08/03/07
Steve Martin is at his best here, equal to his wonderful performance in "Roxanne". Victoria Tennant is the perfect choice as the off-beat, tuba-playing British journalist Martin's character falls for. Sarah Jessica Parker is absolutely priceless as SanDeE* (that's her spelling, not a typo), the young would-be spokesmodel/bimbette who "likes to point". Even Rick Moranis as the comedic Cockney grave digger is wonderful, despite his having one of the least believable accents since Dick van Dyck as the chimneysweep Bert in "Mary Poppins".
Steve Martin at his funniest and most clever. This is a very effective, very funny fable that says quite a bit about the magical power of love...at least as it relates to the movies. Every critical response I remember reading about this movie focused way too much on the Los Angeles aspects of the film. Yes, L.A. is in the title and it is important to the narrative, but really all of the L.A. stuff is only there for detail and background. The STORY is a very charming magical romance that shows how being in love can feel truly magical. Steve Martin gives his finest performance since "Roxanne", and the supporting cast truly supports, especially Richard E. Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker. There are parts of this movie that are just perfect, my favorite being the museum roller-skating sequence. Very funny and very sweet without being sappy.
Honestly I feel that the reason Martin played this movie so well is because he wrote it, he knew what he was going for and once he had it down he didn't have to deviate much from what he had because it was written for his style of humor, and that is what made it work as well as it had.
Great movie over all!
