Down with Love

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Down With Love ★★½ 2003 (PG-13)

This uneven but amusing homage/ satire to the Rock Hudson/Doris Day sex comedies of the early '60s gets the look and feel right, but loses something in the attitude by superimposing modern sensibilities and perspective over the whole thing. Proto-feminist author Barbara Novak (Zellweger) writes a book proclaiming that women should claim their equality in the workplace by acting like men when it comes to sex. This puts a crimp in the style of Babe magnet/cad Catcher Block (McGregor), a magazine writer who conspires to expose her as an old-fashioned girl at heart. McGregor and Zellweger do a good job channelling Hudson and Day, and the production design and costumes perfectly capture the movie version of 1962 Manhattan that never existed in real life. Pierce is perfect in the old Tony Randall role. 94m/C VHS, DVD . US Renee Zellweg-er, Ewan McGregor, David Hyde Pierce, Sarah Paulson, Tony Randall, Jack Plotnick, Rachel Dratch, John Aylward, Jeri Ryan, Melissa George, Florence Stanley, Laura Kightlinger; D: Peyton Reed; W: Dennis Drake, Eve Ahlert; C: Jeff Cro-nenweth; M: Marc Shaiman.