Romantic fans to argue merits of ‘Laws of Attraction’
I don’t know much about real-life “Laws of Attraction,” but the reel-life rule of Hollywood is when you put two beautiful people up on screen, the result had better be a pretty picture. For this PG-rated tale, the eye candy is represented by Julianne Moore (“The Hours”) and Pierce Brosnan (“GoldenEye”), playing two win-at-all-costs divorce lawyers who handle losing the way Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld treats those who criticize his command decisions.
They’re not very nice about it.
That, of course, means they’re made for each other in “Attraction,” a glossy tale that benefits from its attractive stars but comes up short in terms of snappy dialogue and zippy plotting. Even the love scenes seem a bit warmed over, though movie fans in the mood for a non-apologetic hugs-and-kisses tale should embrace it.
As “Laws of Attraction” begins, Audrey Woods (Moore), who claims to get more pleasure from “winning” cases than romantic interludes, is the master of the legal universe in Manhattan’s divorce courts.
The top student in her Yale Law class, the focused Audrey finds herself losing her laser-beam attention to detail once attorney Daniel Rafferty (Brosnan), who always looks like he slept in his suit and never had enough time to tighten his tie, hits the city.
He charms her with his breezy but calculated manner, and the two become an item once they’re on opposite sides of a high-profile divorce case involving a glitzy fashion designer (Parker Posey of “A Mighty Wind”) and her rock-star spouse (Welsh actor Michael Sheen of “Underworld”).
That proceeding requires them to travel overseas to access the value of the rocker’s castle, and while far from home, the two drink too much and appear to take a chance on love, though they aren’t sure exactly what they’ve done.
Unlike “Intolerable Cruelty,” an edgy comedy co-created by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring George Clooney as a vicious divorce attorney and Catherine Zeta-Jones as an ex-wife out for revenge, “Laws of Attraction” tends to be more nice than nasty.
British director Peter Howitt (“Sliding Doors”), who obtains a delicious supporting performance from Frances Fisher (“Titanic”) as Audrey’s youth-obsessed mother, takes a nice and easy approach to the material.
Although one wishes the talented Moore and Bronson had more to do, the two light up the screen and prevent the sugarcoated material from ever becoming too sickeningly sweet.
Postscript: According to Brosnan, the creators of “Laws of Attraction” view it as a tribute to “Adam’s Rib.”
The 1949 sophisticated screwball comedy, directed by George Cukor, teams Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy as married lawyers on the opposite sides of an attempted-murder case.
FILM REVIEW
“Laws of Attraction”
Grade: B- for hard-core romantics; C for anyone else.
Starring: Julianne Moore, Pierce Brosnan, Frances Fisher, Parker Posey and Michael Sheen; screenplay by Aline Brosh McKenna and Robert Harling; produced by David T. Friendly, Marc Turtletaub, Beau St. Clair, Julie Durk and David Bergstein; directed by Peter Howitt.
Running Time: 89 minutes.
Parental Guide: PG-13 rating (sexual elements, drinking scenes, adult themes).