Money rules the world

Rating: 5/10 (6 January 2020)

"Pretty Woman" is a 1990 romance directed by Garry Marshall starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts. Romantic comedies can be entertaining if they offer enough originality and are able to distance themselves from all the clichés and stereotypes that make the genre so infamously embarrassing. There's always the same pattern that's used in almost all of them and that's why it's so hard to find seriously entertaining romances. In this case, it doesn't make an exception. First of all, I personally don't think that Richard Gere is a great actor, because probably no character has bothered me less before. He might be charming for some and even handsome (even as a straight male I don't think he is), but what bothered me the most was that he barely gave his character any depth. There was no emotion and he literally had the same face over the whole run time and has not even succeeded once to convince me once. To be honest, it was surely terrible. The score would be a lot worse if it wasn't for his counterpart, the lovely Julia Roberts. The best aspect about this somewhat forgettable flick is her ingenious portrayal of Vivian Ward and her contagious happiness. It's not only that, she had so many dimensions to her character and it developed almost perfectly in the end. She almost makes it up for what her on screen partner failed to convey. Next to this, the screenplay mostly lacks both the perfect pace and the ability to convince me that the leading actors are in love. It's full of clichés and kitsch and doesn't offer any interesting turns. It consequently stays on the same, tiring level and even a supporting role of the great Ralph Bellamy can't compensate this mess. Their on screen romance is extremely unconvincing and I actually didn't believe him that she is more than a hooker to her. With the soundtrack it's a two-edged sword, at times it fits perfectly with the tone and then it's completely misused and hard to watch. The film combines excellence and terribleness and the latter prevails. In the end, it did nothing that shocked me, it was predictable from the beginning and it's sad to see that it didn't even try to give trouble to create something that no one would expect. But this would probably destroy the beloved happy end, doesn't it? All in all, this flick is a mess that obviously suffers from the curse of its genre and doesn't entertain a bit, except for a great Julia Roberts who probably played the role of her life. Aside from this, there's nothing original in it that I would consider worth a rewatch. Not for all the roses in the world. And what's even the moral of the story? People only treat you with respect when you're rich and have money? I don't think that's the correct message to convey the audience, especially young women...