Roxanne is my favourite romantic comedy, and this is mostly down to the razor sharp script by lead star Steve Martin.
Everyone knows it's an adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac, so I won't go into that here, but instead focus on what a great film it is in its own right.
Roxanne has a wonderful sleepy town vibe. A place where everyone knows everyone else, and people just exist in this middle-class bubble. Everyone has a house (even single people with one income), everyone has a job, and even owning a store seems trivial.
The star of the show is of course Steve Martin. The character of Charlie is highly acomplished, well read, witty, brave, capable, and massivly intelligent, His drawback comes from his gargantuan nose, which is the one thing that makes him insecure.
It's a simple tale of overcoming something so significant to you, but doesn't really matter to others, and Roxanne does a great job of making us love Charlie and his team of goons.
There's no villain here. Even Charlie's rival Chris isn't a bad guy, and they are friends throughout the film.
Daryl Hannah doesn't really have much to do except be the object of desire for Charlie and Chris, but her character is intelligent and accomplished which is a good match for the intellectual Charlie. This offers an excellent reason why she would see past any physicality and be attracted to passion from a sharp mind.
The film is set at a nice pace, and there's no real lulls - quite a feat for a movie with almost no action.
My biggest criticism of this film is the fact that Martin does not know the difference between irony and sarcasm, and no one on the production bothered to correct him. When the naked Roxanne refuses a coat while standing in the freezing cold (and she genuinely needs one) - that's sarcasm!
Irony would be that she is naked in the cold but does not need a coat. However, it is clearly the first case scenario, and as such is a wrong use of the word.
Still, if that is the biggest complaint I can muster about this film then that's good going.
You don't see many films like this any more. It's not super dialogue heavy, or any kind of massive character study. Rather, it takes a simple concept, puts it in a nice setting, and has a lot of fun with it.
Highly recommended.
Everyone knows it's an adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac, so I won't go into that here, but instead focus on what a great film it is in its own right.
Roxanne has a wonderful sleepy town vibe. A place where everyone knows everyone else, and people just exist in this middle-class bubble. Everyone has a house (even single people with one income), everyone has a job, and even owning a store seems trivial.
The star of the show is of course Steve Martin. The character of Charlie is highly acomplished, well read, witty, brave, capable, and massivly intelligent, His drawback comes from his gargantuan nose, which is the one thing that makes him insecure.
It's a simple tale of overcoming something so significant to you, but doesn't really matter to others, and Roxanne does a great job of making us love Charlie and his team of goons.
There's no villain here. Even Charlie's rival Chris isn't a bad guy, and they are friends throughout the film.
Daryl Hannah doesn't really have much to do except be the object of desire for Charlie and Chris, but her character is intelligent and accomplished which is a good match for the intellectual Charlie. This offers an excellent reason why she would see past any physicality and be attracted to passion from a sharp mind.
The film is set at a nice pace, and there's no real lulls - quite a feat for a movie with almost no action.
My biggest criticism of this film is the fact that Martin does not know the difference between irony and sarcasm, and no one on the production bothered to correct him. When the naked Roxanne refuses a coat while standing in the freezing cold (and she genuinely needs one) - that's sarcasm!
Irony would be that she is naked in the cold but does not need a coat. However, it is clearly the first case scenario, and as such is a wrong use of the word.
Still, if that is the biggest complaint I can muster about this film then that's good going.
You don't see many films like this any more. It's not super dialogue heavy, or any kind of massive character study. Rather, it takes a simple concept, puts it in a nice setting, and has a lot of fun with it.
Highly recommended.