Book/DVD Guzzler Recommends:

These are reviews of Movies, Books and sometimes Music Albums. They might seem ridiculously positive, but these are works that I think everyone should read/see/listen to.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Title: Imagine Me & You (2006)
Director: Ol Parker
Actors: Lena Headey, Piper Perabo, Matthew Goode, Anthony S. Head, Celia Imrie, Sue Johnston and others.
Run Time: 93 mins.

Friday, I watched this incredibly cute movie. Two romantic (“lesbian”) comedies in 1 week! Cool, huh?

I read a lot about this one on http://www.afterellen.com/. They said it was a great movie. Other reviews were positive as well. Now, I never let movie critics rule my life, so I decided to watch it and form my own opinion on it. My opinion, how very boring, is positive as well.

Initially, I watched it, because A) It’s a British comedy. B) Anthony Stewart Head is in it. C) It’s a non-depressing lesbian movie. A rare case indeed. I watched it again and again and now I watch it for a different reason: Lena Headey. But I’ll get to that later.

First, the plot: Rachel, played by Piper Perabo, is getting married to her long-time boyfriend Heck. On her wedding day she meets Luce, the woman who ‘did her flowers’. Rachel immediately befriends Luce and it is clear that the two of them have a certain chemistry together. They click right away. For instance, when Rachel’s wedding ring drops in the punch, Luce is there to help her. A cute little scene ensues. Luce is also immediately liked by some of Rachel and Heck’s friends and Rachel’s little sister H.

Three weeks later, Rachel goes to Luce’s flower shop and invites her to come over for dinner. She wants to set Luce up with Heck’s best friend Coop, but Heck soon finds out that Luce is gay. Rachel doesn’t know this and neither does Coop. When Heck tells Coop, he gives the typical male reaction: he finds it sexy and tries to get her to sleep with him. Which doesn’t work of course.

Then one of the best scenes of the movie happens: When Heck and Rachel are doing groceries, Rachel stills playing matchmaker. When Heck tries to tell her Luce is gay, she suddenly appears with Edie, a friend of hers. A silly little scene ensues and then the four split up again. Heck tells Rachel and when they bump into them again he asks Edie: Are you gay? To which she replies with definitely the best line in the movie: I’m ecstatic! But soon explains that she and Luce are not an item.

Rachel starts to become more and more interested in Luce and the two of them go out, because Heck apparently ‘has a work thing’. They go to a football match and Luce teaches her how to shout insults louder and states that number 9 is a wanker, really really loud. Finally, Rachel realizes she is in love with Luce and what happens then is for you to see…

Like Kissing Jessica Stein this movie never makes a big deal out of being gay. When Luce tells Heck he accepts it immediately and so do other people. The only one who makes a little bit of a fuss is Rachel’s mother. There are no stereotypical lesbian jokes, except for one, brought to us by Ned, a character portrayed by Anthony S. Head, but he doesn’t really mean it. He just uses it to get to his wife, Rachel’s mom, a bit.

The chemistry between the two actresses is phenomenal. They really connect with each other and have a certain fearlessness needed to make a good love-story. And admittedly it is hard not to fall slightly in love with Lena Headey. She is an amazing actress and I am stunned I have never noticed her before. I am definitely going to check out more of her work. At times she reminded me of Keira Knightley. Not only looks-wise (they look alike in certain angles), but also speech-wise and mannerism-wise. And, of course, the British charm. I’m a sucker for it. The rest of the casting is great too. Anthony Head is amazing as the clueless father, who in the end says a very smart thing. It was nice to see him as something other than Giles. And the little girl, who plays H, is fantastic for such a young actress! The chemistry between Lena and her was great too, in a totally different way of course. Don't even go there!

The movie is filled with these silly and cute scenes and it is a very feel-good sort of movie. Think Bend It Like Beckham if the lesbian storyline had been put through and minus the football and Indian family storyline. I have recently got this one on DVD. It is much better than Piper’s other lesbian movie: Lost and Delirious. And the fact that it is a British independent film only adds to the coolness. I give this movie a 9/10

Now If you’ll excuse I have to prepare for the L Word, which is on tonight.

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