Julianne Moore sets feminism back several decades in the film Laws of Attraction.
Moore stars as high powered New York City divorce lawyer Audrey Woods, a cardboard cutout of a character, whose calm, cool, and collected exterior is just a facade that hides her overwhelming insecurity and lack of an authentic sense of self.
As the opening credits roll, we hear Audrey’s mother (played with great panache by the delightful Frances Fisher) urging her daughter to “get a man to ask her out,” but churlish Audrey refuses to date. When her mother claims that “eighty percent of women who say they are too busy to have a relationship are really lonely,” Audrey curtly replies “I don’t feel the need to date just to stay on the right side of a survey.” (Ouch!)
As the film progresses, we are never given any insight into why Audrey has sworn off love and marriage (this superficial character is not very well drawn, and in desperate need of subtext.) Audrey’s passivity and lack of self esteem is reflected in her relationship with her mother: she doesn’t seem to exhibit a mind of her own, and can’t make any decisions without Mom at her elbow, acting as a sounding board and security blanket. (In a casting blunder, Moore and Fisher seem much too close in age to convincingly portray mother and daughter; in real life, Fisher is only eight years older than Moore.)
In a telling scene early in the film, Audrey and her mother pretend they are interested in buying an expensive Manhattan townhouse, when they are actually viewing the property because it belongs to the husband of one of Audrey’s clients. Audrey “cases the joint” to see what art and other assets might be available for her client to win in a messy divorce (and we learn there is nothing more important to Audrey than coming out on top and being “a winner.”)
When the realtor asks Audrey “What do you do?” she casually replies “Oh, I’m just along for the ride.” This passive view sums up an uninteresting, one dimensional character. Things go downhill when she learns that her client’s rich husband has hired the new attorney in town. This is enough to send Audrey into a paroxysm of despair; she ends up in a courthouse bathroom stall, mumbling to herself and stuffing junk food into her mouth (Katharine Hepburn in Adam’s Rib, where are you when we need you?)
Sparks start to fly as the tightly bunned, smartly suited Woods goes to court and encounters rival divorce lawyer Daniel Rafferty (the glamorously scruffy Pierce Brosnan.) Unfortunately for Moore and Brosnan, they display a woeful lack of romantic chemistry. The two actors seem terribly mismatched–another major flaw of casting.
One evening the pair “take a meeting” over dinner to discuss the case; they have too much to drink and wind up in bed together. Daniel uses this event to turn the tables on Audrey–he outsmarts her the next morning in court and wins the case. The battle of the sexes begins, and Rafferty and Woods soon find themselves the talk of the town as opposing counsel on several high profile cases.
The messy divorce between free spirited fashion designer Serena (indie queen Parker Posey) and wild and promiscuous rock star Thorne (the amusing Michael Sheen) makes up the bulk of the plot. In contention is the ownership of Serena and Thorne’s castle in Ireland, so Audrey and Daniel jet off to Ireland to talk to the castle’s staff and sort out who should be awarded the property in the divorce.
Even the side trip to Ireland, with its beautiful views of the castle and countryside, can’t breathe any life into this tired film. The Ireland excursion only serves as a plot device, for soon the sparring Audrey and Daniel, unable to discover the true ownership of the couple’s property, find some distraction by getting drunk at an Irish festival. One thing leads to another and you guessed it–the pair fall into bed again, only this time they wake up and discover they are now married to each other.
Audrey is horrified, and presses for an immediate end to their marriage; however, Daniel persuades her that this would be bad for both their careers, so they move in together, maintaining a charade of being husband and wife (while Audrey puts a lock on her bedroom door to keep Daniel out at night.) According to the film’s theatrical trailer, “getting married is a great way to fall in love.” As the characters spend time together, we are supposed to believe that Daniel “humanizes” Audrey: she even gives up sugary junk food, and appears more vulnerable as Daniel’s love thaws her icy exterior.
This is all well and good, if only it was halfway believable. The film’s major flaw: we never grow to care about the main characters, nor do we believe their love story. As the film draws to a close, its nagging questions are resolved. How will Serena and Thorne’s divorce turn out and who will gain ownership of the highly coveted Irish Castle? Will Audrey and Daniel split and go their separate ways, or will they work to save their marriage? (and are they actually legally married after all?)
The major question is: do we even care? At fault here is a weak script credited to screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna that fails to deliver a believable, sympathetic female lead. Audrey’s character lacks a sense of identity and inner direction: she is too easily led by her mother and Daniel, and she constantly appears to be a victim of circumstance (at one point in the film Daniel even declares “you’d be lost without me.”)
Moore is a capable actress, who has done comedy before in the films Evolution and Nine Months, but she is lost here and displays no sense of comic timing. Without any depth to the character and understanding of her deeper motivations, Audrey’s little quirks and her abrasive behavior are annoying, and her character is unlikeable.
Brosnan fares better here: he is amiable and easy on the eyes, loosening up from his James Bond persona and displaying some of the breezy charm he showed playing television detective Remington Steele. Brosnan’s charm can only carry the weak script just so far, though it is to his credit that you almost believe Daniel could fall for the repressed and unpleasant Audrey. (It’s hard to believe that this clunker of a film was created by Brosnan’s Irish DreamTime production company, and he is listed as one of the film’s executive producers.)
One bright spot is Frances Fisher as Audrey’s mother Sara; she brings sass and wit and some old fashioned glamour to the proceedings. Director Peter Howitt, who previously directed the inventive Sliding Doors, shoots this trite film without originality, which doesn’t add any much needed sparkle to the production.
For its special features, the DVD offers deleted scenes with an alternate ending and two theatrical trailers, but no director’s commentary (I found the alternate ending a bit more interesting than the film’s actual ending.)
Years before we had the term “feminism,” Hollywood dreamed up some smart, independent, and fully realized female characters in romantic comedies like The Philadelphia Story, The Thin Man, and Adam’s Rib (what’s that quote from Adam’s Rib?: “Lawyers should never marry other lawyers…”)
In these classic films, Myrna Loy, Katharine Hepburn and other actresses of Hollywood’s Golden Age knew who they were, what they wanted, and how to get it, too. The characters they played showed a sense of identity and a purpose in life: they wanted to have a career and to have adventures, but they also wanted a romantic relationship with an equal partner. How sad that Hollywood today seems to be devolving in its portrayal of women, often giving us one dimensional, uninspiring female characters.
The verdict is in: this plodding film is as dull as flat champagne, and should be sentenced to the recycle bin. For comedy done right, consider the sparkling, sophisticated romantic comedies of Hollywood’s Golden Age, like Adam’s Rib with Hepburn and Tracy, or The Thin Man series starring Myrna Loy and William Powell.
