Basic cable entertainment and little else

Rating: 5/10 (27 October 2015)

Garry Marshall's Pretty Woman is the kind of film that etches itself in the zeitgeist and the contemporary facet of acclaimed romantic comedies for reasons that almost entirely allude me. This is a film that tries to capture the essence of human interest by focusing on a character in an uglier situation than most of her colleagues, who all seemed to get peppier, cuter romantic comedies with more uplifting narratives and occupations. Pretty Woman is a film that is tries to capture a brewing romance in a more difficult situation, but it's too busy searching for the next wickedly transformative, convenient circumstance for its characters and attempting to tie such a difficult situation together so sentimentally to really function as a compelling or original story.
It isn't, however, without any merit. Thankfully, despite a rather lackluster narrative that is predictable to a fault, we do get some lively performances that remind us why romantic comedies can occasionally be charming. The most commendable and involved performance of the hour is from Julia Roberts, who plays Vivian Ward, a Hollywood hooker who works the streets with her close friend, rounding up clients and avoiding mistreatment from ruthless pimps in order to try and make whatever money she can in the moment. While she's working late one night, Edward Lewis (Richard Gere), a wealthy businessman, is driving around town lost and in search of Beverly Hills. A simple stop for directions from Vivian turns into him picking her up and having her spend the night at his beautiful apartment suite, where he, in turn, expresses disillusionment over his current place in life following a divorce. With that, we also learn Vivian's rough-go of life and how her existence is now predicated on self-reliance and the resistance to trust anyone.
This is a match made in film Heaven; it's questionable if this kind of circumstance would occur on the streets of Hollywood, or anywhere in the United States, but per the rules and logic of Hollywood romantic comedies, plausibility doesn't need to be a contributing factor to the story. This film exists for those who have never lived a day in the life of Vivian to claim how difficult being a stripper must be, and to regard Vivian and Edward's relationship as one that, despite the likelihood of it being doomed in real life, inspires grins and laughs along their way of trying to remain loyal and emotionally honest to one another.
As stated, Roberts commands most of her scenes in this film, not only because she is knockout beautiful in both a loud, red dress or more conservative duds, but also because of her ability to be comedic, sarcastic, dramatic, and emotionally convincing, sometimes throughout one whole scene. Gere is a more plain presence, largely because his character is more bent on squarish principles rather than making a splash, as Roberts' Vivian does with many of her scenes. Their chemistry is about as believable as this unbelievable setup could allow for, and thanks to screenwriter J. F. Lawton's recognition of this story's dark roots, turning it into a darker version of Cinderella in some sense, there's at least an added layer of human interest in the film.
While Pretty Woman is certainly harmless and easily classifiable as a feel-good movie, it's a film with little merit outside of its leading female performance and a few solid one-liners. The premise, despite being largely predicated off of foreseeable moments of wit, heartbreak, misunderstandings, and miscommunications, feels the need to extend itself shortly past the two hour mark. For a film that doesn't feature enough scenes involving raw emotions being exchanged between Vivian and Edward, nor any real kind of conversations that predicate themselves upon traditional conversation patterns, it sure feels the need to exhaust its plot in a way that alludes to the idea that it does. This is fine, basic-cable entertainment, something it has turned into over the last decade, but simply little more than that.
Starring: Richard Gere and Julia Roberts. Directed by: Garry Marshall.