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A Pyromaniac's Love Story More at IMDbPro »
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| Index | 11 reviews in total |
3 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
More Romance Than Comedy, 9 December 2005
Author:
aimless-46 from Kentucky
The title is the funniest thing about "A Pyromaniac's Love Story", this
so-called romantic "comedy" has a lot more romance than comedy. The
movie starts out as another tale of unrequited love as Sergio (John
Leguizamo) explains in voice-over that he has long been in love with
Hattie (Sadie Frost), the waitress daughter of a diner owner who thinks
of him as just a friend.
Although Sergio and Hattie are the movie's core romantic couple, there
are two minor romances going on at the same time. The gimmick of "A
Pyromaniac's Love Story" is a series of mix-ups involving all three
couples. The confusion could be easily cleared up if the persons in
each couple bothered to communicate with each other. This might be very
funny if the script was well written and clever, but instead it is one
of those movie situations which is only credible if you believe that
all the characters are morons. So you have a decent love story with
good messages about communicating and taking risks to declare your
love, buried under a lot of poorly written slop.
"A Pyromaniac's Love Story" tries to be offbeat and whimsical in the
style of "Benny and Joon" and although the two scores are almost
identical it is never able to achieve the same effect. In part this is
because William Baldwin's over-the-top performance is joltingly out of
place in relation to how understated everything else is, and Sergio has
more screen time with him than with Hattie. A poor choice because Sadie
Frost is the strongest member of the cast and has good chemistry with
Leguizamo.
If you are looking for a way to make this movie interesting, I suggest
that you watch it along with "Bram Stoker's Dracula" which was made 2
years earlier. In that film Frost (who is British) gave a great
over-the-top performance as Lucy, a flirty and glamorous London
socialite. Yet she is absolutely authentic as an earthy American
waitress in "A Pyromaniac's Love Story" (accent, mannerisms, look). You
would never guess that it could be the same actress. Frost is one of
those talents who you wish had been given more opportunities.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
1 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
best love story for guys ever, 9 July 2007
Author:
admmak from Chile
This is the best not-chick-flick-love-story ever made... This is
definitely a movie for guys to enjoy and get emotional... YEAH, GUYS,
not emos, not gaymen... STRAIGHT GUYS. It is funny as it is romantic,
IN A GUY'S WAY TO SEE LOVE. It is such a good movie, I registered only
to rate it. Everyone should see this movie, it's an intelligent plot,
the sets are simple, the actors really showed their best and you're
gonna like it.
Suggestion for GUYS: Wanna get some profit??? WATCH THIS MOVIE WITH
YOUR GIRLFRIEND. Suggestion for GIRLS: Wanna see your boyfriend all
emotional, laughing and giving you hugs every 10 minutes??? MAKE HIM
WATCH IT WITH YOU, he's gonna love it.
2 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Didn`t Set My Heart Alight, 3 July 2004
Author:
Theo Robertson from Isle Of Bute, Scotland
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
!!!! MILD SPOILERS !!!!
The premise goes like this : A store gets burnt down and assistant Sergio is
asked by the father of the man who started the fire to take the wrap to
which Sergio agrees .
So far so good , but there`s a fair lapse of logic involved Sergio agrees to
do this for the sum of 25,000 dollars but why ? Come on guys if you were a
good looking white boy would you run the risk of getting a long spell in a
tough jail ( A very real possibilty for arson ) for the sake of 25 grand ? I
know I wouldn`t , and seeing as you`d have a criminal record no employer
would want to touch you with a barge pole so is $25,000 dollars all that
much for a life of workfare and welfare cheques ? There`s also something
else that seems to have gone without notice from the premise , since Mister
Lumpke has told Sergio that his son did the fire he seems unware of the
possibility that he may know too much . Wouldn`t alarm bells be ringing in
your mind about someone wanting to keep you quite if they told you something
?
I guess we`re not suppossed to think about such details since A
PYROMANIAC`S LOVE STORY isn`t suppossed to be an intelligent thriller , it`s
a light hearted romantic comedy/ chick flick that`s probably best
apprieciated as a girls night in . Looking through this comments page it is
obvious that the movie has its defenders but as a cynical male I wasn`t too
impressed and William Baldwin does go way over the top
3 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Not as bad as the title would lead you to think, 9 July 2002
Author:
v-square from Narberth, PA USA
I caught the film as a lark while looking for movies under 100 minutes. This is a nice little contemporary fairy tale about love. There is an artificial quality to the performances which I think is intentional, but that's offset humor in the script and an artful score. If you liked "Moonstruck" check this out.
2 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Arsonists, 9 December 2005
Author:
jotix100 from New York
Not having any idea what this film was about, but based on the fact
that John Leguizamo was appearing in it, we decided to watch it. Well,
it turned out not to be the wisest decision. In fact, as another
commentary in this forum puts it, we felt embarrassed for the actors
that participated in this movie.
While the film is by no means horrible, it doesn't make sense at all.
The over the top performance by William Baldwin doesn't help the
situation either. John Leguizamo is a multi-talented actor who deserved
better. The basic problem it seems to be the film was a project that
started with good intentions in making a little comedy and the people
in charge ran out of ideas along the way. The result is an uneven film.
2 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
A fun, simple comedy with many interesting twists., 20 February 2004
Author:
GoMangoMan from Calgary, Alberta, Canada
I can't believe the low score this movie has. With only a bit more than
200
votes, i guess not very many people have seen it.
I would give this a 10 out of 10 in the category of the romantic
comedy.
The casting is superb. Armin Mueller-Stahl is awesome as always. Joan
Plowright, John Leguizamo, Sadie Frost. Each is simply perfect for their
characters, and the characters are so varied and interesting. The music is
lively and sets the stage nicely for the crazy twists the story
takes.
3 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Absolutly one of my favorite films, 14 April 2004
Author:
ryu-11 from Philly, USA
This movie is exeptionally entertaining. It doesn't try to be anything more than it is, which is some thing in the romantic comedy vein. And don't take that to mean the movie is your typical Sandra Bullock chick flick. As a guy i am entirely enthralled by this flick. This is largely because of the cast. Billy Baldwin is definitly my favorite in this one. He's great at portraying a complete flake against John Leguizamo's straight man. The plot works great for me, with Baldwins odd behavior providing much of the thrust. I love the great Old New York feel the film has, which largely comes from the bakery and Sergio. In short i really love everything about this movie. Go watch it. Its on TV often enough, and a DVD recently popped up.
0 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Didn't keep me watching, 4 February 2007
Author:
barbecuedbanana from United Kingdom
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Started watching this but didn't believe in any of the characters. In particular the relationship between the bakery assistant and the waitress just didn't work for me at all. The scenes between the bakery owner and the assistant were nice but the rest was just very slow. It was a very superficial movie and it gave me the feeling that I was watching play rather than a film. The characters were very 'stagey' and the storyline was a lot like a stage farce. By the time the pyromaniac waylaid the assistant I was bored and didn't care what happened next and so I switched off. Glad I didn't pay to see it. Didn't laugh or even smile once. There seems to be a strange tendency for Americans to classify their films as 'comedy' when they are funny peculiar rather than funny ha ha. I have finally learned to avoid what Americans term dark comedies which usually turn out to be gruesome weird and unfunny. Now it looks like I will have to be a bit more discerning when they call a film romantic comedy as well. Maybe comedy means something different when applied to a film rather than a series in America. I don't understand why America can produce amazingly funny comedies like Two and a half men, Will and Grace, King of Queens but can't seem to produce really funny films without resorting to toilet humour. This film wasn't gross or anything. But it wasn't anything at all just one big yawn...
4 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
Embarrassed for the cast, 7 August 2000
Author:
rsoonsa (rsoonsa@bandbbooks.com) from Mountain Mesa, California
This was an attempt toward a romantic comedy, and one which did not work. Although the film was cast in an interesting manner, the dismal script betrayed the best efforts of all. The director's fey mannerisms may have succeeded if he had adopted a point of view. It was embarrassing to watch William Baldwin and, in particular, Armin Muller-Stahl.
2 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
An awesome romantic fairy tale!, 16 October 2002
Author:
hereiam35 from North Carolina
This movie is meant to be a bit of fluff, not to be taken too seriously. But it more than adequately describes the emotions and crazy things done in the name of love. No, it won't win an academy award, but it wasn't meant to. If you want a great piece of entertainment that is perfect for a nice quiet date, that is sure to bring a smile to your face and a great feeling to your heart, I strongly recommend this movie!
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