Liebe und andere Katastrophen

"Love and Other Catastrophes" is co-written and co-produced by a Jewish Australian woman, makes some jokes on Woody Allen, and doesn't repeat any of his stereotypes.

There's an interesting Jewish character or two - including a guy named Ari who is a lothario and a guy considering a circumcision due to the demands of his Jewish girlfriend.

It fits nicely in the genre of twentysomething roommates seeking love, i.e. "Singles," "Kicking and Screaming," etc.

The lesbian couple is treated completely naturally and romantically and is really the most interesting couple. None of the guys even assume the lesbian's straight best friend is gay, as I think would happen in most American films.

The film student satires are a bit heavy handed, but on a whole it's a cute, funny first-time movie casually made.

I only recognized two songs out of the whole soundtrack as it was filled with Australian rock 'n' roll I've never heard before.

(originally written 4/2/1997)

This film is for anyone who's in (or was in) university and fallen 'victim' to a bureaucratic bungle. As the title says, the film focuses on "love and other catastrophes", the "catastrophes" being many problems young people face such as the one above-mentioned, moving out of home finding a place to live, fitting into a new environment, making new friends and finding your own identity. The "love" aspect is about finding your one true love and whether or not he/she exists, and if they do not exist, do you settle for someone who does not fit all your "criteria"? I give this film 8/10. I would have preferred it to be longer, even though the ending was quite good. All the characters are likeable and unique, Frances O'Connor does a great job at playing Mia. I highly recommend this film to anyone especially those in the 18-25ish age group.

This low-budget comedy was the debut of Emma Kate Groghan and it remains one of the freshest Australian romantic comedies in recent years. Given the limitations of the budget, one would have expected it to fall flat at times; the opposite is true. The cast do a very good job with the offbeat script, most notably Frances Connor and Radha Mitchell. Set in a Melbourne University, Connor takes center stage in a tale of unrequited love and missed glances. The comedic element is often tempered with dark touches which makes a change from the usual limitations of romantic comedies. The end might be a tad obvious but it gels in well with the genuine feel-good nature of the film.

'Love and Other Catastrophes' lends a hand in portraying the true to life problems that go along with either falling or staying in love. For example; you force yourself upon a certain person for an extended period of time, while forcing yourself to love them, only to find out that you were merely settling for someone you didn't love to simply fill a void in your life. Then a person comes out of the blue you never would have expected and in turn you fall in love with them. This moves also proves the old adage that you don't know what you have until it's gone. Whilst doing so in a roundabout way, it is your basic love story with a sharp sense of humor and a twist of that 90's character edge that we have all grown to love. Truly one of the better movies of the decade.

The only reason I lasted past the first 5 minutes of this movie (on cable last night) was the 3-star rating from the digital cable guide. I almost changed the channel, but decided to give it another 5 minutes, and I'm glad I did. It is quite slow-moving though, especially in the beginning.

A nice little movie, but the acting is definitely the best thing about it. It could have been so much better with a catchier opening and better dialogue throughout... but still it's worth watching.

The best scenes are Michael (Matt Day) talking to himself in the mirror, and his subsequent discomfort at the party... classic!