diff --git a/content/reviews/movies/the-escort.md b/content/reviews/movies/the-escort.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0f3f912 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/reviews/movies/the-escort.md @@ -0,0 +1,60 @@ ++++ +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. + + + +{{ 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.