Down with Love

For the song, see Down with Love (song). For the Taiwanese TV series, see Down with Love (TV series).

Down with Love
Theatrical release poster
Directed byPeyton Reed
Screenplay by
  • Eve Ahlert
  • Dennis Drake
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyJeff Cronenweth
Edited byLarry Bock
Music byMarc Shaiman
Production
companies
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • May 9, 2003 (2003-05-09) (New York City)
  • May 16, 2003 (2003-05-16) (United States)
  • December 25, 2003 (2003-12-25) (Germany)
Running time
102 minutes
Countries
LanguageEnglish
Budget$35 million[2]
Box office$39.5 million[3]

Down with Love is a 2003 romantic comedy film directed by Peyton Reed. It stars Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor and is a pastiche of the early-1960s American "no-sex sex comedies",[4] such as Pillow Talk and Lover Come Back (both starring Rock Hudson, Doris Day, and Tony Randall) and the "myriad spawn"[5] of derivative films that followed; Time film critic Richard Corliss wrote that Down with Love "is so clogged with specific references to a half-dozen Rock-and-Doris-type comedies that it serves as definitive distillation of the genre."[4] Randall himself plays a small role in Down with Love, "bestowing his sly, patriarchal blessing"[6] on the film, which also stars David Hyde Pierce (in the neurotic best friend role often played by Randall or Gig Young), Sarah Paulson, Rachel Dratch, Jeri Ryan, and Jack Plotnick, who spoofs the kind of role Chet Stratton played in Lover Come Back.

Typical of the genre, the film tells the story of a woman who advocates female independence in combat with a lothario; the plot reflects the attitudes and behaviour of the early pre-sexual revolution 1960s but has an anachronistic conclusion driven by more modern, post-feminist ideas and attitudes. Though the film received a mixed critical response at the time of release and underperformed at the box office, it has since undergone a critical reappraisal and grown a cult following for its subversion of rom-com conventions.[7]

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Down with Love (2003)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on January 17, 2021. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  2. ^ Lyman, Rick (May 11, 2003). "SUMMER MOVIES; Looking For the Look Of 'Love'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 7, 2018. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  3. ^ "Down with Love". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved October 3, 2010.
  4. ^ a b Corliss, Richard (May 19, 2003). "That Old Feeling, Doris Day, Rock All Night". Time. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved October 29, 2017.
  5. ^ Corliss, Richard (May 11, 2003). "I Hear America Smirking". Time. Archived from the original on April 16, 2019. Retrieved October 29, 2017.
  6. ^ Scott, A. O. (May 9, 2003). "Film Review; Trading Barbs, Like Doris And Rock". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 29, 2017. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Loayza was invoked but never defined (see the help page).