This is a movie I always watch at least a little of when I have the chance, but it must be a long time since I did that. It was one of the movies that I associate with my first footsteps into the world of film and being a film buff and having film-making aspirations and all that. I had a major crush on Sarah Jessica Parker, and, watching it now, I can see where a lot of my bimbo-girlie-ish Leila character in “Angel Leaves” came from (god that script was such a rip-off lol, but I still love it).

Overall, the movie is best watched in the background, but there are several killer moments, from the opening montage of L.A. (the choreographed run to grab the morning paper, etc.), to the big sign on the roadside, to Richard E. Grant’s performance which can only be described as wee-erd (could easily win my vote for the funniest line in history, ‘cos it always brings tears to my eyes laughing: “What’s that clanging sound?” “It’s a nuisance. It’s my damn testicles.”). I love Steve Martin’s writing, and this is up there with Bowfinger, combining the laughs with the pathos, with both causing tears.

L.A. Story has one of the great movie soundtracks, using a lot of Enya better than any movie has (considering how damn cinematic Enya’s music is, it’s a miracle it’s not heard more often), a great bagpipe version of Amazing Grace that builds to a huge climax towards the ending, and “La Mer” (French version of “Beyond the Sea”). All the music fits the scenes perfectly.

A semi-personal fave.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 29th, 2005 at 7:14 pm in 4 hearts, Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.