Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Julianne Moore, Parker Posey, Michael Sheen, Frances Fisher, Nora Dunn
Director: Peter Howitt
Producers: Julie Durk, David T. Friendly, Beau St. Clair, Marc Turtletaub
Screenplay: Aline Brosh McKenna and Robert Harling
Cinematography: Adrian Biddle
Music: Ed Shearmur
U.S. Distributor: New Line Cinema
At first glance, Laws of Attraction looks a lot like the Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn classic, Adam's Rib. The longer you stare, however, the more the similarities blur and fade. Despite sharing a like premise, Laws of Attraction is markedly inferior to the 1949 film - so inferior, in fact, that it doesn't merit mention in the same sentence, and I am doing George Cukor's classic an injustice by committing that act. Laws of Attraction is a standard-issue romantic comedy that's missing a key ingredient: the attraction.
Daniel Rafferty (Pierce Brosnan) and Audrey Miller (Julianne Moore) are competing divorce attorneys who often act as foils for each other in court. Although they don't recognize it as such, the sparring is foreplay. One night, a dinner meeting turns into a drinking binge, and they awaken eight hours later in bed next to each other with only a fuzzy recollection of what happened. In the wake of this incident, their rivalry grows more heated, with sexual overtones evident in many of their exchanges. This culminates in another night of overindulgence. (One incident might be excusable, but two…) Only this time, when morning comes, they are sporting wedding bands on their ring fingers.
Despite an opportunity to do something invigorating, Laws of Attraction fails to live up to its potential because the screenplay never varies from the expected formula, the dialogue lacks snap, and there's a gulf between the leads when it comes to character development. Daniel gains a semblance of three-dimensionality, due in large part to Pierce Brosnan's relaxed and winning performance. This is more "Remington Steele" than 007, and it represents a welcome change for the actor who has become synonymous with the world's best-known superspy. On the other hand, Audrey never becomes anything more substantial than a cartoon. She's a smartly-dressed ditz, and we find ourselves wondering how it could be possible that she's never lost a case. That she is described as being top of her class as Yale Law is evidence that no one in the production has (a) ever visited an Ivy League college, and (b) an idea what it means to be #1 in such a prestigious institution. Audrey is shallow and dumb, and Julianne Moore is horribly miscast (perhaps because Moore cannot play "shallow and dumb"). She also represents a 180-degree turnaround from Hepburn's tough-talking, hard-fighting Amanda Bonner. One has a sense that the plain-speaking actress, were she alive to see this movie, would be horrified.
As for chemistry, that oh-so-critical element of the generic romantic comedy, there is none. It's impossible to develop a convincing love affair when one half of the couple is so sketchily drawn. These two mix as poorly as unshaken oil and water, and director Peter Howitt is unable to provide the necessary agitation. Daniel is suave, charming, and disarmingly honest, while Audrey is shrill, needy, and given to pratfalls.
Sometimes movies like this are saved, at least to a degree, by the secondary characters. Laws of Attraction scores one out of three in this category. Frances Fisher, who plays Audrey's mother, is delightful - I wouldn't have minded if the movie had spent a lot more time with her. On the other hand, Parker Posey and Michael Sheen are annoying as a clothes designer and rock star going through a divorce. Their nasty division of property (which includes a castle in Ireland, and provides an opportunity for a lot of time-wasting travel across the Atlantic) is supposed to provide a spark in Daniel and Audrey's dueling, but fails to do so.
With Sliding Doors, Peter Howitt proved his ability to mix comedy and romance. Unfortunately, at least for this one film, that skill appears to have deserted him. Taken on its own merits, Laws of Attraction isn't a terrible film, but there's nothing that's memorable or extraordinary - indeed, quite the opposite is true. Formulaic romantic comedies can provide a degree of pleasure when there's a spark between the two leads. However, where Laws of Attraction is concerned, all but the most ardent of Brosnan's admirers will find this to be an uninspired round in the cinematic battle of the sexes.
© 2004 James Berardinelli