Movie review: The Escort

content/reviews/movies/the-escort.md

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+title = "The Escort (2015)"
+date = 2021-02-03
+
+[taxonomies]
+tags = ["movies", "reviews", "comedy", "movies:2021"]
++++
+
+[Wikipedia Summary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Escort_(2015_film)):
+
+Journalist Mitch is a sex addict. When he is fired, he applies for a job with a
+magazine. The editor promises to hire him if he writes a more interesting
+article than his competitors. He decides to write about Natalie, a
+Stanford-educated escort he met by chance.
+
+<!-- more -->
+
+{{ stars(stars=2) }}
+
+Honestly, I'm not even sure this should be a 2-star movie. I mean, look at the
+plot: It's some guy and a escort and they start going together. Do you have a
+feeling this would end up like [Pretty
+Woman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Woman)? Heck, this is even mentioned
+in the movie, by Natalie/Victoria, asking if Mitch thinks this would end up like
+the (other) movie.
+
+Well, it does, and the quip in the movie doesn't do anything to soften the
+slouch of clichés in the movie: Surely the guy who doesn't get attached to
+anyone will get attached to the girl; surely the girl will rethink her
+profession and only then will consider going into a relationship; surely
+something will change in the girls life to make her get out of her job; surely
+the attraction between them would make the guy rethink his addiction; surely
+after that his relationship to those around him will get a 180 degree turn to
+the best.
+
+But the thing is... I have a crush on Lyndsy Fonseca. Not just she's pretty, her
+acting doesn't look like acting. OK, it's not Donald Sutherland level of acting
+but heck, the way she speaks feels like some real person, in whatever situation
+she's in, speaking. It's not from this movie, but even in Kick-Ass it was pretty
+damn good. There is a scene when Mitch tells, among other things, that Natalie
+is pretty and she quips back "Oh, you think I'm pretty?" in a juvenile/childish
+way that feels incredible natural. And that's why it is not just a single star.
+
+Michael Doneger, Fonseca's pair, on the other hand, it is pretty hard
+case. Personally -- and I'm saying this as a movie-watcher, not a movie-critic,
+something that I'm not -- I can't see his acting being that good, but also the
+lines feed to him -- which, apparently, were also written by him -- seem forced
+and not that much natural. Sure the chemistry with Fonseca work, but the
+character itself is not that good.
+
+In the end, I guess the movie could distance itself from "Pretty Woman" by
+simply not going that road: Make Mitch still be a sex addict; make Natalie still
+be an escort; let their friendship/relationship not get into what the characters
+are. I mean, there is something in a scene where the two are discussing clinics
+for STDs and their posters. Let it continue from there. They could even keep the
+relationship while keeping their problems/jobs. Make
+something... different. Challenge the status quo that a relationship can't work
+if one side is a sex addict and the other a hooker.
+
+It's not a boring movie, it's just... bland.