Oh, yes, as if the movies men love speak so well of them.
Speaking as someone who never really liked fairy tales–the damsel in need of rescue thing bores the hell out of me–I enjoyed the movie, but didn’t feel the need to read much into it. It was a movie. That’s it.
I don’t think that most women do. But some reasons that it isn’t as unpopular as it deserves to be:
There is a certain group of women of a certain age who really, really, really like Richard Gere. Really. A lot. (I don’t see it, but they do.)
If you don’t think about it closely, the shopping scene is kind of fun. (If you do think about it closely, it means that people should only treat other people well in case they’ve got money - but from a superficial level, it’s fun.)
It had an excellent soundtrack, if you like 80s/90s pop.
Right–she wonders why he never builds anything and he ends up changing because of her, and working with Ralph Bellamy to build ships. She helps him get over his resentment toward his father.
And it’s just romantic–I love to watch people fall in love no matter what the circumstances.
She was hooking because she made better money at that than parking cars at wrestling. She took the money he paid her and was going to go back to school with it. She doesn’t have a chance to mention whether she really will because he shows up and sweeps her away, but I like to think there will be room for her to do more.
And she doesn’t settle for being his mistress–she wants “the whole package” and leaves him rather than be kept.
Woooo!! Don’t tell Carrie and Mr. Big that!
or watch Richard Gere follow the Dali Lama around the world and then do those oh-so-Zen like movies with those oh-so-Zen like messages like, “Hey! It’s fun to be a prostitute!” I
can’t wait to spread my legs across Hollywood Blvd.
Because then maybe some rich, handsome billionaire
in a Jag will come driving up and take me shopping on
Rodeo Drive and that’s what a woman’s all about
anyway, right? Sucking and shopping and sucking and
shopping and sucking and shopping but hey, who am I
to argue because it’s the feel good movie of the
summer, it’s the feel good movie of the year, it’s the
feel good movie of the Nineties, it’s the feel good
movie of the Millennium, and you know what? If it
puts a spring in your step and a song in your heart,
well… whatever makes you happy,
Bongwater ( Ann Magnuson ), from “Folk Song”
I hope that’s fair use - it’s a long song. About sums up my opinion, anyway.
Just wanted to add that even though I’m not a fan of her now, there’s a reason why the film launched Julia Roberts into megastardom - because she really was luminous in it. She’s beautiful yet down-to-earth, she gives off a youthful vivaciousness, and she had great chemistry with Gere. It really was the perfect role for her, and I’m not sure any other actress could have pulled it off with the same degree of success.
The Word According to Garp: one of my favorite books and movies.
Why do I like Pretty Woman? At this moment, getting to have all of the sex that I want and getting paid for it sounds pretty damned good! Oh, wait…I also end up with Richard Gere? What’s not to love?
I think that’s closer to what the film is about than just Cinderella. The fact is, they were both emotionally distant/shut off. She refused to kiss people on the mouth because she set emotional limits, but she didn’t actually have any emotional connection with anybody. The no-kissing thing was meaningless. She was still fucking without intimacy. And he was just as distant, just as cold, just as focused on the bottom line. Just because they worked in different venues didn’t mean they weren’t two peas in a pod. Fortunately for them, instead of using each other until there was nothing left, they actually formed a deeper connection that changed the way they viewed the world.
I don’t like the movie that much. It’s no great art. But I think the movie does itself a dis-service when it directly compares Viv to “Cinder-fucking-ella” and invites the audience to do the same. There could have been/should have been more at play there.
For me, its a makeover movie - and I have a soft spot for makeover movies. There isn’t really that much difference between Garry Marshall’s Pretty Woman and Garry Marshall making The Princess Diaries.
I watch it for the part with the snotty salesclerk who gets her comeuppance. "You work on commision, right? BIG mistake. "
You have all the sex your pimp wants and she gets paid for it. If you’re a good worker, she’ll give you a fair cut.
I never liked that part. The big revenge: “HA! Guess what? I just got me a rich sugar daddy who gave me all this money. Big mistake in you not forseeing that! Huge!”
I also didn’t like how Richard Gere was willing to break his (presumably long) relationship with George Costanza over a week-long call girl.
I never saw Pretty Woman and don’t really feel like seeing it, but I do kind of get why a girl might like the fantasy of being a prostitute. I kind of did, but my idea of prostitute was more like 18th century streetwalker…or girl being forced into servicing priests in a far away chateau. Or something out of a Mary Gaitskill short story. Not so much being rescued by rich guy Richard Gere.
I hated the movie. Of course, I hate Richard Gere and rather hope he gets trapped in a horrible rift in the space-time continuum, so that could explain it.
It woulda been a better movie if they had cast Ru-Paul as Viv.
And then Ron Paul in place of Gere!
I’m good at this casting stuff.
I’m a woman and I’ve never even seen Pretty Woman. I feel I must have seen some bits of it on TV, but I was never interested despite the fact that it was a favorite rental of my best friend as a teenager. It’s my impression that its popularity is a combination of the Cinderella factor and the fabulous clothes/shopping. A lot of women, like my friend, first saw this movie while teens and probably did not ponder its message or cinematic merits too deeply.
When it comes to chick flicks of yesteryear, I think Dirty Dancing is actually more beloved than Pretty Woman. At least it was among the girls I was in college with.
You do realize that this movie is nearly 20 years old, right?
Just popping in to say that I’m a 24 year old female and I thought the film was a boring, silly, vacuous, soppy, meaningless representation of the Cinderella complex so many of my gender seem to possess. I hate it.
But, I was always a tomboy.
Agreed. But ick, I hate that movie, too.
You didn’t like how Richard Gere was willing to break his relationship with a man who hit a woman and then jumped on top of her, held her down, and tried to sexually attack her? Gee, what was he thinking?