A Hollywood Fairytale

Rating: 10/10 (12 January 2008)

I have seen this film too many times to mention and I have never tired of this charming fairytale. The plot is very simple. A young prostitute is picked up by a wealthy businessman and after spending the night with him she is offered an exorbitant sum of money to spend an entire week living in his hotel suite. She of course accepts and the rest is history.
Julia Roberts launched an incredible career from this film and her sweet and vulnerable portrayal of Vivian Ward makes you warm to her almost from the very beginning. Richard Gere is suitably debonair as the cynical businessman Edward Lewis who is captivated by Vivian's charms. The chemistry here is amazing and was not to be repeated in the disastrous Runaway Bride. This films ending is possibly one of the most memorable in romantic comedy history.
The important thing that critics of this film should bear in mind is that it is not meant to be taken too seriously. It is just a modern fairytale that girls everywhere can relate to on some level. Real prostitutes do not have Vivian's naivety or bubbly nature and of course in reality she would be expected to be much more jaded by her experiences. This film does glamorise the world of prostitution but this is not a serious enough film for this to warrant any real concern. Young girls will not watch this film and yearn to work the streets. They will see through to the real moral of the story which is that a persons life can change for the better no matter how bad things get. This surely cannot be a bad thing for them to learn.