When I entered the the screening for this movie I expected nothing more than a love comedy aimed at couples probably too busy having fun to watch the movie. When I came out I felt as though I'd sat through an awesome stage performance where dialog is the driving force, the action.
Now perhaps some may snicker at the thought of watching a stage play on film when you could just watch it on a stage. But this I say is where the beauty and advantages of using the film medium come in. Closeups and careful editing are used in this film to help create action within the conversations occurring of the movie.
In What Love Is the camera isn't used to scream that "LOOK, here's Cuba Gooding Jr.... and LOOK here's Gina Gershon." Instead it's used to emphasize the key to this movie, the well-written dialog.
I do realize that I'm probably sounding like a broken record with the dialog this is what keeps it real and easy to relate to. Just think, how much of the communication in your daily life consists of the spoken word.
And again this is probably another aspect of the movie that may be frowned upon. But how often do we get to hear and see the actual thoughts of the opposite sex. The characters in this movie are the characters of our thoughts, and some of them are the voices we try to suppress, and the voices we never hear but only imagine.
I just realized that I forgot to add the bit about the movie being funny, but not in the slapstick sense. You've gotta listen and be attentive to get it. Listening is the key to understanding this movie and perhaps to understanding what love really is.
Couldn't all love use a little more communication, listening and attention?
Now perhaps some may snicker at the thought of watching a stage play on film when you could just watch it on a stage. But this I say is where the beauty and advantages of using the film medium come in. Closeups and careful editing are used in this film to help create action within the conversations occurring of the movie.
In What Love Is the camera isn't used to scream that "LOOK, here's Cuba Gooding Jr.... and LOOK here's Gina Gershon." Instead it's used to emphasize the key to this movie, the well-written dialog.
I do realize that I'm probably sounding like a broken record with the dialog this is what keeps it real and easy to relate to. Just think, how much of the communication in your daily life consists of the spoken word.
And again this is probably another aspect of the movie that may be frowned upon. But how often do we get to hear and see the actual thoughts of the opposite sex. The characters in this movie are the characters of our thoughts, and some of them are the voices we try to suppress, and the voices we never hear but only imagine.
I just realized that I forgot to add the bit about the movie being funny, but not in the slapstick sense. You've gotta listen and be attentive to get it. Listening is the key to understanding this movie and perhaps to understanding what love really is.
Couldn't all love use a little more communication, listening and attention?