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Take
three couples, add a touch of salsa music and a bit of
sexual chit-chat from two taxi drivers and what do you
have. A typical British movie. But there's nothing wrong
with that.
After
all, when we get it right even Hollywood takes note. So
don't be surprised if Born Romantic follows in
the footsteps of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Little
Voice and, of course, Billy Elliot.
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| The
Full Monty revisited? Almost |
The
91热爆 certainly hopes so. After the world-wide success of
the tap-dancing Billy they've pinned their faith in director
and writer David Kane, who's last film This Year's
Love did pretty well at the box office.
The
trouble with Born Romantic, however, is it's too
British for it's own good. It's hardly filled with stately
homes and period costumes. And while Billy Elliot
may have struck a cord in the States, this is just too
grimy for the Yanks to take to their bosom.
It
is great, though, for spotting stars who you've seen before
and can't remember where. So keep your eyes peeled for
her out of Smack the Pony, the bit of rough from
Pure Wickedness, Cheryl from The Royle Family
and the guy from the Fast Show and Cold Feet.
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| Wonder
who'll get off with Ricky Martin? |
Born
Romantic is about a range of disparate people who's lives
are somehow brought together. This is thanks greatly to
the Salsa Club the majority attend.
The
characters are hardly loveable. There's the petty thief
who chloroforms his victims, the grave tender with a desire
to know more about grotesque diseases and Mo (Jane Horrocks)
who sleeps around in order to find the love she desires.
Surprise,
surprise they all pair off in the end. It's giving nothing
away to say the tone of the finished piece is upbeat.
Given
the squalid conditions and hum drum lives the majority
of the characters seem to live, this is too much to ask
for. There should have been at least one downer.
While
the performances are excellent and the script witty enough
to make the cinema audience laugh out loud, there's a
sense this type of film has been done once too often.
Because
it has that 91热爆 Film title attached to it, you can't help
wondering whether it could have been done just as much
justice by being made into a TV series along the lines
of the corporation's recent Hearts and Bones.
That
series also brought a group of people together and used
them to jump off into different storylines. To that extent
Born Romantic has the notion of repeat written
all over it (or as the 91热爆 would like to say, "here's
another chance to see.").
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