Las novias de mi novio

I saw this on DVD a couple of days ago and was pleasantly surprised. I have to say, Brittany Murphy is a good actress and she certainly holds her own in comedy situations. Though this is a comedy, she plays the character as the (semi) straight-man role and it makes the film, because it lets the other characters around her (like Holly Hunter, Kevin Sussman and Stephen Tobolowsky in particular) shine in some of the funnier parts. The use of the Carly Simon music throughout was a nice touch too, instead of the formulaic soundtrack of bubble-gum stuff a lot of other films use. The ending is especially good and makes this whole film worth checking out if you give it a chance. It starts a little slow but once the pace picks up, you'll be pleased you gave it a shot. Rent it when you want a different sort of romance tale.

This gem didn't do well at the box office because audiences couldn't make the connection between meanness and romantic comedy. Don't you mind that; think of this as another in the genre of movies that start out being simple stories and turn into movies about movies, not by digging deeper in the layer but by bringing the original movie into "reality."

This one really impressed me with the cleverness of its construction; it unfolded in completely novel and unexpected ways. The thing is anchored in the movie by Holly Hunter and in the show within by Holly's character. Holly has done this kind of folded acting before — "Timecode" comes to mind. She does it rudely; that's just her style.

If you want to make an engaging movie these days, you have to engineer a means to get the audience into the story. The easiest way to do that is to create an audience as part of the story, then trick the movie audience to fold into the story's audience.

Whether you like the "message" or not, I recommend this as a crack piece of screen writing. In nearly all movies, the story isn't important anyway. Only the means for telling the story matters. This is a clean form. See it.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

"Little Black Book" examines the foibles of one young woman (Murphy) who decides to "research" her significant other's prior romantic life as an adjunct to a TV reality talk show (think Jerry Springer) and learns some unexpected lessons in life in the process. A lively, fun, and occasionally poignant little bit of chick flick fluff, this movie suffered at the hands of critics, public, and chicks perhaps because people like a little romance with their romantic comedies and "LBB" has none to offer. An unexpectedly busy little story to nowhere which takes the chick flick milieu off course and into a sort of genre-bending neverland, this film seems to be trying to conjure some vague moral which never quite crystallizes. Nevertheless, Murphy and Hunter make capable bookends shoring up a pleasant assortment of side characters while the story slowly erodes their best efforts. Recommended for fans of the players but don't expect the usual satisfying romcom fare. Expect a Palm Pilot commercial instead. (C+)

It is very easy for a film like Little Black Book to be quickly labeled as just another "Chick Flick" starring a 20-something actress that looks pretty. But after actually taking a chance on a genre I usually run away from, I have to say this was a pleasant experience.

Brittany Murphy (Clueless) stars as the journalist-driven career girl taking on an associate producer job at a Oprah-type talk show. One of her fellow producers, played by the very-hot-for-her-age Holly Hunter gives her the usual talk of the business of how things are run. During a ideas meeting with the Executive Producer (played by the hilarious character actor, Stephen Tobolowsky, whom I met last month) the idea is pitched about snooping into a boyfriend's little black book or in this 21st century, a Palm Pilot.

The film manages to avoid the usual chick-flick clichés and gives us a central- character with a back-story and more than one-dimension (take that Mandy Moore). From the great soundtrack by Carly Simon (whom makes a cameo), to the always positive force of Diane Sawyer(?), this movie has heart and a wicked sense of humor when it comes to exposing talk shows for their secrets, lies, and pure entertainment souls.

So, here is a sci-fi/action/thriller genre fan, who will try a little harder to give chick-flicks a little more of the silver screen.

FIN

All romantic comedies follow a standard formula: Boy meets girl. Boy gets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy gets girl back. As the audience, we're supposed to enjoy the How of the formula. And often times that formula is very entertaining. Along comes this refreshing, unpredictable "Little Black Book" that does not follow the familiar formula, yet is a romantic comedy -- and a very well made one, I think -- the cumulative vote so far is less than 5. Makes no sense to me. Here's what you get with "Little Black Book." An intelligent script well directed. Brittany Murphy is impressive in a very seamless performance. Julianne Nicholson practically steals the show. Plus Josie Maran steams the whole thing up. What else do you want? 7 out of 10