Love in Paris

First off I LOVED the original 9 1/2 weeks, let me remind you that this film was previously close to 3 hours long and very faithful to the book (at least that is what I have read) apparently test audiences felt it was too disturbing so the director, Adrien Lyne was forced to cut A lot of parts. this is why the film looks disjointed - if you haven't noticed, the editing was pretty bad. I even read the Mickey Rourke had wanted Lyne to stick to his guns and let the film stay faithful to the book.

if you haven't read the book yet.. PICK IT up - its by far the best erotic novel I've ever read, its short and to the point.. apparently it is based on a true story - so it intrigues me even more.

back to my review on this sequel, lets face it folks most sequels are always bad.. its hard to make a great sequel period. when I first heard that there is a sequel to this film I was in shock - I felt that they should leave the story alone. but many of us who have watched the original have often wondered what became of the two protagonist... this sequel takes us there.

the biggest turn off was Angie Everhart's acting... yes she is gorgeous (not as gorgeous as Kim Basinger in my opinion) but looks only go so far - she was merely eye candy, watching her scenes was painful.

Mickey was great as the tortured John. I agree with another reviewer that the filmmakers made a wise choice to start the sequel where the original left off. I'm sure others would have liked john to move on - but that sometimes isn't reality. In theory the story was good, it just wasn't executed that well.

I really felt deeply sad for him and the fact that he could not be with the one woman he loved - even when confronted with gorgeous women - its just not the same chemistry as he had with liz. I like the fact that elizabeth liked the games John played without having to tell him directly - she was almost like a child - which John liked. whereas lea wanted john to play with her sooo bad - it seemed pathetic.

anywho.. the acting on everhearts part made the film bad for me... overall the film wasn't that bad. I think most audiences are use to the typical films which Hollywood feeds us with, this one was different. It was extremely sad and painful - a love story so intense and so amazing, one in which its main protagonist has to move on with his life knowing that he will never be with the love of his life ever again.

The original 9 1/2 weeks was a fun and sexy film that was full of life. Another 9 1/2 Weeks is almost the exact opposite of the first film and that's why so many fans of the first film were so unhappy with this one. This ain't 9 1/2 Weeks. In this one the character of John is so devastated by the loss of Elizabeth (his lover from the first film) that in the opening moments he places a gun to his head. It doesn't get any happier from there. A few scenes later he looks out his window and sees a once beautiful horse being turned into a dead one. That pretty much describes the state of John and of this sequel. It's a dark dirge of a movie with none of the joy of the first film and that's the whole point. We see John with sexual partners, including a prostitute he tries to pretend is Elizabeth, but there's zero chemistry even with the film's lead actress Angie Everhart. Elizabeth departure has left a void in John's soul and few know the dark places of a man's soul like Mickey Rourke. Just take a look at his performance in Angel Heart if you have any doubts. This time Rourke's face has become so battered from boxing that his appearance fits his character's emotional devastation perfectly and this is underscored by the film's black and blue cinematography. Rourke's John truly seems to be a man who has lost everything as he wanders from the art galleries to the dark alleys of Paris like a ghost searching for some glimpse of redemption. It's not a pretty picture and it's not supposed to be. This is film about pain, loss, and regret. It's a joyless purgatory of a film which works best as a canvas for Rourke's haunting performance as the devastated John. This is not 9 1/2 Weeks. This sequel is bleak, dark, and tragic. That's what I like about it.

Ice-cold movie that fails to engage the viewer, despite having loads of glamor, which is what RavenGlamDVDCollector is all about, so if I'm not happy about it, something is seriously wrong. To the reviewer who said that Angie Everhart would have been great had it been a silent movie, hell, you summed it up most eloquently! She looks like a thoroughbred racehorse, but fails to emote any real feeling. True, she is a classy- looking leading lady, but comes across as not even lukewarm. Makes me wary of pursuing her other titles.

At the beginning of the movie there is this scene with a fantastically beautiful girl, only credited as 'beautiful blonde' (Philippa Mathews). However, John Gray isn't satisfied by her, and his attention wanders, he is distracted by a neighing cart-horse that seems to have suffered a stroke outside in the street. The police arrive and they administer a lethal injection to put the poor animal out of its misery. This is a metaphor for this entire movie.

Mickey Rourke isn't as bad as one of the reviewers made him out to be. Twelve years later, of course he'd be far less good-looking. Couldn't care much for the character of John Gray though. Movie cried out for Kim Basinger, who was riding the crest of the wave of L.A. CONFIDENTIAL at the time and couldn't be bothered, lucky for her. Or perhaps Adrian Lynne might have been there had Kim been there? Anyway, a decent spark of real interest might have kickstarted this flimsy plot.

Jeesh, those hateful paintings! So Liz is supposed to have painted that dreck? With Vittorio as the model? Yuck! They're worth a few hundred dollars, and that's for the frames. Jeremiah the Bullfrog on a bad day is a much more pleasing sight. Listen, they obviously obtained the rights to plow with other people's horses, but they sure lead them astray. So Kim wasn't available, so Liz is dead?

Stylish people are, I suppose, quite often merely coldly efficient. There is only a reptile heart there, I suppose. Which is what is wrong here. The fashion show fails to be really exciting, it's all so damned cold, it looks good, but really lacks warmth. Glamor with very little sex appeal, or perhaps, sex appeal with no real sexiness? Nothing playful. These observations have been very educational to me. I have pinpointed a coldness in too-fluently-executed perfection. RavenGLAM has learned of a flaw in beauty. Perhaps over- confidence caused this coldness? Perhaps super-cold people hide behind visual excellence? Hell, HELP! This movie is ruining RavenGLAM!

Best thing of the movie: End credit (!!! No I didn't mean it that way!!!) featuring Julienne Taylor. Why Did You Do It? Hauntingly beautiful. Words doesn't really fit in with the theme of the movie, so it is simply played at the end. But wondrously good, a joy to hear.

Very poor sequel. Unsatisfactory. My rating of three is simply influenced by positively rewarding several glamorous scenes, the beauty, the composition, the photography. I cannot allow myself to give it just a one, which it truly doesn't even deserve. For what has been lost here, is big.

In its defense, it hardly belongs on the Top 100 Worst Movies. There are thousands of titles out there that fit that bill. But if you bestow this accolade as a warning to future fools who dare to tread where angels backed off, then I quite understand, and just nod sagely.

This film truly bored me. Roarke looks terrible, Angie Everhart's character went nowhere. The storyline is incomprehensible.

Let me start with the good points: the movie is on a high quality print, the art direction is lovely, the sets are sumptuous, the exteriors are shot in Paris and the French countryside (how bad can you screw that up)

And that's about it. The entire movie is shot in a corny blue lighting scheme, and most of the sets are also blue. Given the presence of such a beautiful woman, Miss Everhart, and given that she did some rare-for-her topless scenes, some clearer lighting might have been sexier.

Talk about a lack of Chemistry between leads. These two never seem to like each other at any time.

Rourke looks better suited to do a sequel to Angel Heart than 9 1/2 Weeks. He's aging ... gracelessly. He looks like a ventriloquist's dummy that recently had his hair refitted. Despite his physical appearance, Rourke gives it his best shot, and he's pretty effective as a man locked inside himself, tortured by past mistakes and chances never taken. This could have been very effective opposite Kate Blanchett or Emma Thompson or Gwyneth, but just seems to echo unnoticed off Everhart.

Miss Everhart is a presence. Unfortunately, sound developed before color, and there were never any silent color movies, which would have been perfect for her.

She has a magnificent physical aura, at 5'11", with the mane of hair, the supermodel looks, and the ability to fill out a sweater with extraordinary curves. But the girl went to the Royal Kathy Ireland Academy of Dramatic Arts. In terms of depth, she makes Pam Anderson seem like Soren Kirkegaard. She delivers every line with the chirpy intonations of a high school cheerleader. Surely there is more to her than this? What possessed someone to cast her in this role as a successful and powerful career woman?

Well, what else is there to say about a pseudo-arty piece of erotica that isn't erotic? Missing the right leads, and missing any chemistry between them ... what else could redeem the movie? Plot? You want plot? Maybe you should try to re-watch Sleuth instead of renting this movie.