Plot: What’s it about?
The 1990’s were great, but the popularity of the romantic comedy is something that grew and grew into something that I almost can’t stand anymore. I blame Rob Reiner and Garry Marshall! Only sort of though. With the success of When Harry Met Sally and Pretty Woman it gave every sappy director an opportunity to try and make us all go “Awwwww”. It also kept Meg Ryan in a constant stream of work as well! Now I’m as much a romantic as the next guy, I suppose, but it’s the overkill that Hollywood keeps feeding us that boils my blood. I did manage to suspend my disbelief for a few hours and watch this little film that stars one of the most beautiful women (in my opinion), Jeanne Tripplehorn. Most noted for her roles in The Firm and Basic Instinct, Tripplehorn has gone on to a semi-successful career. Starring opposite Dylan McDermott, Sarah Jessica Parker and Jennifer Aniston; she manages to hold her own. So we know the formula for the romantic comedy, but is ‘Til there was You really worth watching? Let’s find out…
Gwen Ross (Jeanne Tripplehorn) agrees to pen the autobiography of former child star Francesca (Sarah Jessica Parker), who headlined a Brady Bunch-styled sitcom embraced by the baby-boomer generation. Of course, the movie sets it up that she and Nick (Dylan McDermott) met as children and are supposed to meet again and become true lovers. There’s no real logical reason for this aside from the fact that the movie sets it up as such. Nick, being the good-looking architect he is, meets Francesca and has her uder the delusion that he has never seen her old TV series when in truth, he’s a big fan of it. Coincidentally, he makes plans (as an architect) to destroy and rebuild a classic apartment building complex that Francesca owns, which Gwen lives in — naturally. The only other element here is Jennnifer Aniston’s Debbie, who does manage to do a little with her part here. Playing the best friend of Gwen, she’s nice to see doing some actual acting as opposed to her usual ‘Friends’ schtick.
I suppose I can compare this movie to others like it. Films like the recent Serendipity and Sleepless in Seattle share the same sort of plot line (i.e. star crossed lovers that are meant to meet, but just keep missing one another by a matter of minutes or seconds). While Sleepless was the most financially successful of the trio, it does star one Tom Hanks, who was just beginning his streak of commercial hits. In the end, ‘Til there was You might be remembered as just another middle of the road romantic comedy. It had potential and a fairly decent cast, if you can handle Dylan McDermott’s “cat ate the canary” cocky smirk the entire film. We get it Dylan…you’re good-looking. Anyway, there are those who will find a good movie here, and others will have felt like they’ve seen it before. I had no major problem with it, but with little supplemental features and a relatively high price tag…it’s hard to justify a purchase.
Video: How does it look?
Once again Paramount has produced a fairly good-looking transfer that doesn’t quite meet expectations. The film is about four or five years old, so it’s reasonable to assume that the print would be in good shape. And for the most part it is. Colors are warm and inviting and there is a fair amount of grain thoughout, which is a bit distracting but easily overlooked. The print is free of most any blemishes and the black levels are very solid. A tad of edge enhancement is evident, but again…it’s not a distraction. Overall, I was a bit let down by how this looks, but it’s the best this movie has ever looked.
Audio: How does it sound?
Like most modern romantic comedies, the sound is really not an issue here. Though a Dolby Digital 5.1 track is used, it’s not entirely effective. The dialogue is very clear and most of the action of the movie radiates out of the center channel. The ambiance of the soundtrack (what little there is) doens’t ever drown out the dialogue and most of the action is limited to the front three channels. Essentially, it’s a good-sounding Pro-Logic mix. Don’t expect too much, because you won’t get too much!
Supplements: What are the extras?
The original theatrical trailer is included in anamorphic widescreen.
