The Rom Com Catalog

Tag: Robert Downey Jr.

  • ‘The Pick-up Artist’ (1987) Review

    ‘The Pick-up Artist’ (1987) Review

    Jack Jericho is a teacher who spends his free time trying to pick up women with various pickup lines. Randy is a museum tour guide trying to get her father out of a mobster’s debt. After Randy beats Jack at his own game, he finds himself smitten with her and inevitably caught up in her complicated life.

    I’ve never seen The Pick-up Artist before, but I kept coming across it on some streaming service. Molly Ringwald is quintessential 1980s, and Robert Downey Jr., back when he still had that baby face and a gap between his teeth, seemed like the pairing I would enjoy watching in a romantic comedy. Sadly, I didn’t feel a lot of chemistry between their characters. Jack is a smooth-talking womanizer, but he’s also witty and smart, determined to help Randy and her father.

    Randy… I’m not sure what Randy is. She doesn’t seem to believe in love or at least committed relationships, which is fine. But she also insists on fixing her dad’s problems without help, yet she has no idea how. So maybe this is just a movie about how a helpless, stubborn woman accepts Jack’s affections after he saves the day. It is a rom-com in the 80s, though, so that may be par for the course.

    Anyway, I enjoyed bits and pieces of this movie. Robert Downey Jr. is a cutie. And The Pick-up Artist has Harvey Keitel, Dennis Hopper, Danny Aiello, and Bob Gunton! There are also blink-and-you-miss-them scenes with Christine Baranski, Vanessa Williams, and Lorraine Bracco—an extraordinary cast with a mediocre script and story.

    Despite the whole mob debt angle, it didn’t feel like much was going on. I wish I had more to say about The Pick-up Artist, but it was wholly forgettable. I can only rave about the cast and Robert Downey Jr.’s tooth gap (RIP). If you’re looking for a cute 1980s rom-com, this ain’t it.

    Watched: 05/26/2023
    Notable Song: The Pick-up Artist by Keith John

    Rating:

  • ‘Only You’ (1994) Review

    ‘Only You’ (1994) Review

    Only You Synopsis: As a teen, Faith was told that her destiny is a man named Damon Bradley. Years later – Faith is about to marry another man – a Damon Bradley calls to wish them all the best. Faith blows off the wedding and follows Damon to Italy.

    After playing with an Ouija board with her brother, Faith is convinced her destiny is a man named Damon Bradley. This is reiterated later at a carnival where a fortune teller mentions the same name. Years later, Faith is engaged to be married but receives a call from a friend of her fiancé, who is about to board a plane for Italy, but tells her his name is Damon Bradley.

    Convinced that the phone call is her fate, Faith and her sister-in-law, Kate, board a plane to Venice to track down Damon. When she finds him (or so she thinks), she and “Damon” spend a whirlwind night falling in love. But, of course, it’s not that easy, and Faith ultimately has to decide if she believes in some pre-ordained fate or her heart.

    I loved the premise of Only You. I’m a sucker for most things that fall underneath the movie umbrella of “fate”. Even if you don’t believe it exists, I still think it’s fun to watch in terms of a movie or television show, especially if it brings something fresh to the table. Only You isn’t exactly an original take on destiny, but its simplicity benefits it, I think.

    Marisa Tomei is perfectly adorable as Faith, a woman who seems content to be marrying her boyfriend… until she gets a phone call from Damon Bradley, then she runs off to the airport in her wedding dress(!) to find him. Her poor fiancé is barely a blip on Faith’s radar anymore as she tries to track down the man she’s confident is the man she’s supposed to marry. In the hands of another actress, Faith could have very easily been an unlikeable lead, but Tomei is just charming enough that I find myself rooting for her instead. I guess it didn’t hurt that her fiancé was a bit of a dull dud.

    And Robert Downey Jr.! With those big puppy dog eyes… he’s a good-looking man, but back in 1994? Wowza. He was exactly what you would expect him to be in a movie like this, but that’s not a bad thing at all. His Damon/Peter is adorably lovesick and goes out of his way to try and prove to Faith that destiny shouldn’t be just a faceless name. I thought he and Tomei had great chemistry together, and I think you still see sparks of it in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War when they share a few moments on screen together.

    Bonnie Hunt is always excellent, and there is a small side plot of her character, Kate, dealing with her unhappy marriage to Faith’s brother, Larry. It’s certainly not as in-depth as the Faith/Peter (Damon) storyline, but it gives the movie a nice dose of realism. On the one hand, Faith is a hopeless romantic who believes in fate. On the other hand, Kate is the woman who has been married for years to the man she believes to be her soulmate, and it’s anything but unicorns and destiny. I won’t spoil the movie for you, but I enjoyed Kate’s subplot and was happy with how it was resolved.

    The script for Only You is whimsical and light, and this honestly felt like an “old school” romantic comedy. It’s utterly devoid of the cynical, unlucky-in-love traits that plague a lot of rom-coms these days, and it brings together two people who just want to believe that love is written in the stars. Now, combine that fluff with the insanely beautiful scenery of Italy, and you have a magical romantic comedy that is perfect for a rainy day or cozy night. Only You requires some suspension of disbelief, but if you can do that, I think you will probably enjoy this one.


    Watched: 08/04/2021
    Notable Song: Once in a Lifetime by Michael Bolton

    Rating: