Plot: What’s it about?
Director Peter Howitt made one of my favorite movies in recent years – the much overlooked “Sliding Doors”. In it, Gwyneth Paltrow’s character of Helen branched off into two different realities stemming from a single incident (did she make the train or not)? I though this was a very intriguing concept for a movie and it played out very well for me. Though the supernatural element in it isn’t main stream for a romantic comedy, I still enjoyed it. Flash forward seven years and Howitt is again behind the camera of another romantic comedy. This time around, it’s set in the United States and focuses on lawyers who, as we can gather by the title, are going to be attracted to one another. Ok, I’ll bite…but what’s the catch (if any)? And therein lies the problem with the movie. Now I’m not going to knock the film that much. After all I rather enjoyed it and it played out very well for a movie in its genre (which has a knack of playing out well…naturally). The problem is that the movie was too predictable (and too short, but that’s nit-picking).
Audrey Woods (Julianne Moore) is a Yale graduate, the first in her class. She’s a lawyer at a prestigious New York law firm and a divorce lawyer at that. She’s good at what she does. In her latest case, the opposing council has been replaced by Daniel Rafferty (Pierce Brosnan), an outstanding lawyer who has never lost a case. The two go about the same job two different ways: hers is being neat and organized and his being more of a “fly by the seat of your pants” type. Daniel ends up winning the case because a key piece of evidence has been divulged by Audrey when the two were out drinking (and subsequently ended up sleeping together). Ironically enough, the two end up working on another case (as opposing councils no less) with rocker Thorne Jamison (Michael Sheen) and his wife Selena (Parker Posey). The couple is quarreling about a castle in Ireland and the two lawyers go to check it out. Sure enough, the two get drunk again and this time end up being married. Will these two figure out if they’re right for each other or will they stop going out drinking together? In any case, it’s a good romantic comedy and if you’re a fan of Brosnan (with his natural charm and arrogance) or Moore, it should play well. On a side note, the cover to this DVD looks suspiciously familiar to another romantic comedy…”Two Weeks Notice”…or maybe it’s just me.
Video: How does it look?
New Line did something that most other studios aren’t doing these days – they actually included the widescreen and full-frame versions of the movie on one disc! Imagine that! Needless to say, I watched the widescreen version (only comparing it to its inferior counterpart for reference purposes) and was fairly impressed. Granted the movie is just shy of 90 minutes and there’s hardly any supplements on the disc, but the 2.35:1 anamorphic image looked to be very clean and free of any errors. I caught a few instances in which a bit of grain popped up on the screen (during nighttime shots), but aside from that the picture had a very fluid, film-like look to it. Flesh tones (even Brosnan’s unusually tan complexion) looked natural. The detail was immaculate as well and I saw no evidence of shimmering or edge enhancement. By contrast, the full-frame version looked good as well, but doesn’t compare to the anamorphic version. A great-looking transfer is provided no matter which version you choose.
Audio: How does it sound?
The included Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack provides a fairly solid audio throughout. Dialogue is the main focus of this movie (not the content of it, mind you) and it sounds particularly clean and natural coming out of the center channel. There are some surround effects, such as during the “drinking contest” in the Irish Pub, but they’re few and far between. For the most part, the action is limited to the front stage. There’s not a whole lot more than audio could do to enhance the movie. It’s limited to the genre (romantic comedy) and when’s the last time that you remember being blown away by (audio-wise) by something like this?
Supplements: What are the extras?
Evidently New Line has put most of their efforts into more major titles like “The Lord of the Rings”. “Laws of Attraction” didn’t do particularly well at the box office and apparently they didn’t think that including a plethora of supplements wouldn’t be financially beneficial for the DVD. The short version: there are six deleted scenes shown in anamorphic widescreen and two trailers included on this single disc release.
