Send up of 60s rom coms

This is a post-modern, post-feminist take on the sexism that once pervaded romantic fiction and film.

Those old Doris Day/Rock Hudson romantic comedies of the sixties - like Pillow Talk and Lover Come Back, are most probably ripe for exploitation and satire. Down With Love attempts all that and more. Former Maine librarian Barbara Novak, Renee Zellweger has come to New York to promote her book Down With Love, a feminist treatise about woman gaining power corporately, sexually and emotionally. Her editor, Sarah Paulson, knows that getting on the cover of Know Magazine with a byline by notorious bachelor Catcher Block, Ewan McGregor is the key to success. But Catch thinks in cliches - he changes women as often as he changes shirts and he thinks Maine? Librarian? No way! But Barbara manages to swing a stint on the Ed Sullivan Show and all of a sudden the tide turns, her book becomes a bestseller. Catch needs to defuse this interference with his sex life as more and more women become converted by Barbara\'s ideas. He pretends to be a southern astronaut to deliberately woo her. The design of this over the top, but clever film is an entertainment in itself: the pinks, the hats, the gloves, the hairstyles, the apartments are a screaming reminder of what once was. In film anyway. This is a post-modern, post-feminist take on the sexism that once pervaded romantic fiction and film. Centre stage is the dynamic Zellweger, such a versatile actress - she\'s terrific. Ewan McGregor fills the shoes of Rock Hudson slightly less convincingly. But with a witty script by Eve Ahlert and Dennis Drake, and Peyton Reed\'s direction - he made the cheerleading film Bring It On before this - and some super performances - notably by Sarah Paulson, and David Hyde Pierce as the magazine\'s editor and Catch\'s friend, and with an affectionate cameo by Tony Randall, Down With Love really succeeds.Comments by David StrattonThe early Doris Day/Rock Hudson comedies were fun, but the formula became stodgy later on, when Day was partnered with James Garner instead of Hudson, and Down With Love looks as if it comes from the latter era. There\'s a real sense of strain in this very arch affair, and neither Zellweger or McGregor seem comfortable. The supporting players are closer to the mark.