I was thinking about a play that (I presume) all of you know the plot of that undergoes a change from romantic comedy to something else - Romeo and Juliet. (Well, O.K., it’s not a film in itself, but it’s been filmed many times.) Some people think that Shakespeare invented the romantic comedy. Romeo and Juliet begins as a romantic comedy. (Indeed, a lot of people talk as if it was just a romantic comedy. People sometimes describe a couple as being like “Romeo and Juliet,” not meaning a pair who will die tragically but just two people in love.)
A young couple meet and instantly fall in love. Their families don’t like each other, but that’s O.K. because they can run away together. And then everything goes wrong. Romeo’s attempt to ignore the insults of Tybalt from Juliet’s family just makes Mercutio from his family mad. Mercutio and Tybalt duel and Romeo’s inept attempt to stop the duel gets Mercutio killed. Romeo blows up and kills Tybald, which gets Romeo exiled. Juliet’s plan to fake her death goes wrong, and Paris, who wants to marry Juliet, is killed. Romeo and Juliet both die by suicide. Furthermore, they don’t commit suicide together in a tragic/romantic pact. They die because they misunderstand what the other has done and commit suicide separately.
Well, part of the reason Vanilla didn’t do so well is that the inks were still wet on Abre Tus Ojos, which had been a huge blockbuster. Basically, the people outside the US who wanted to watch it had seen it with Eduardo Noriega (excuse me, I have to wipe the drool off).
Noriega is one of those actors whose good looks are sort of a curse: he’s finally getting old enough to get cast for being a good actor and not just for the poster worthiness but it’s taken a while.
The Shape of Things, with Rachel Weisz. I don’t want to give too much away (though I don’t necessarily recommend it, I didn’t think it was great), but this movie is not what it seems.
Oh, yeah…man. Most of the others mentioned here (that I’ve seen) are little more than a shift in tone, but this one…it was like I was watching an entirely different movie that bore almost no relation to the first 2/3rds. I’m still not sure I understand what the hell I saw.
How about Down By Law? Tom Waits & John Lurie play oh-so-cool lowlifes in New Orleans. Oh-so-cool but not very bright–they are both framed & go to jail.
Then Roberto Benigni becomes a cellmate. Leading to a rather silly escape & surreal adventures in the bayous.
Something Wild has already been mentioned. It starts out as a not-for-the-kiddies screwball comedy. Then turns very dark indeed–the minute that Ray Liotta shows up.
That’s so coincidental, we watched that two nights ago, and when the movie ended, I wasn’t even sure what I had just watched. I was not expecting that at all.
“The Birthday Girl” started out as an interesting, quirky romantic comedy. Nicole Kidman is a Russian male order bride who goes to England to marry a lonely English bank manager who doesn’t find any of the local girls attractive – possibly because he’s into bondage. He keeps his bondage interests secret from Kidman’s character at first, but she finds his stash of bondage porn and confronts him by dumping a stack of them on the kitchen table while he’s eating. He’s not crazy about her because she smokes and she doesn’t speak English, which contradicts what the website he ordered her from said about her.
We have an interesting story going here … will these two manage to work out their problems? If so, how? Then Kidman’s thug boyfriends from Russia come along and it turns into a stupid by-the-numbers bank robbery flick. Totally ruined the movie.
I nominate the Korean film Sex Is Zero. The first 2/3 is sex-romp comedy. Raunchy and funny. Think Porky’s or American Pie. The last half hour or so turns melodramatic serious and is pretty much a downer.
Agreed as to Psycho; that was the first movie I thought of.
If you didn’t know what was coming, The Fellowship of the Ring might throw you for a loop. Awwww, how cute, the Hobbits are throwing a big birthday party! What fun. The Shire sure looks nice, too. Wait… there’s a Ring? And they have to take it where? And two of the group are gonna die? Whoa!
