Movie Info

RATING:

PG-13 for sexual content and language

RELEASE:

May 2004

TIME:

1 hr. 30 min.

GENRE:

Romantic Comedy

STARRING:

Pierce Brosnan, Julianne Moore, Nora Dunn, Frances Fisher, Parker Posey

DIRECTOR:

Peter Howitt

DISTRIBUTOR:

New Line Cinema

 

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MOVIE REVIEW

Laws of Attraction

By Elliott Ryan
Guest Columnist

What's This?

CBN.com - Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore star in this romantic comedy about romance blossoming between two opposing divorce attorneys. The movie is a light-hearted love story that actually ends up teaching a good moral lesson on marriage. It is a pleasant, though formulaic, ninety minute date movie.

Brosnan and Moore both portray undefeated divorce litigators who are single. At first, they aren’t too fond of each other. They repeatedly find themselves on opposite sides of high profile divorce cases. As is often the case in movies like this, the viewers realize that the main characters are falling in love long before the characters themselves sense their budding romance. So, of course, there is a series of disagreements and misunderstandings that cause the principal characters to dislike each other while viewers wait for the inevitable to happen.

The problem with this movie (and many others that share this basic plot structure) is that the characters are not really given any real reason to fall in love with each other. Suddenly, they just decide to like, and eventually love, each other rather than hating each other. About the only thing that appears to bring these characters together is their fondness for getting drunk together. It seems that if alcohol had not played such a major role in the relationship, Brosnan and Moore’s characters would have never gotten together at all.

But, they do eventually get together. The details are fuzzy to both the characters and viewers but they end up waking up married to each other one morning. It isn’t really spoiling too much of the plot to reveal that information. Anyone who has seen the trailer advertising the movie already knows that the couple wakes up in shock over their late-night, alcohol-induced nuptials. The rest of the film involves them deciding what to do about their unexpected marriage.

With all of this as a background, it might surprise Christian viewers to see that a positive message about saving marriages is advocated by these divorce attorneys by the time the film ends. These two characters, who made a great deal of money profiting from the failing marriages of their clients, are suddenly forced to question their own beliefs about marriage. The conclusion they reach is not completely unlike something you’d hear in a Sunday School lesson on marriage.

Frances Fisher stars as Moore’s mother. While Moore’s character is serious and preoccupied with her career, her mother is much more of a free-spirit who seems preoccupied with reliving her youth by any means necessary. Fisher’s character exists mainly as a confidant for Moore and as a comedic diversion. Parker Posey and Micheal Sheen co-star as clients going through bitter divorce proceedings. Nora Dunn puts in a solid performance as a judge who has to listen to the two main characters bicker during those proceedings.

While the characters do end up teaching viewers a good message about marriage, this movie is not appropriate for the whole family. While there is no nudity, there are several scenes of implied sexual behavior. Repeated references are made to adultery and fornication (after all, a good deal of the movie does take place in a courtroom during divorce proceedings). There is also a small amount of inappropriate language. The positive message about marriage may be enough to counteract the negative examples set at times in the movie. But leave the kids at home.