The premise - sweet-natured, goofy guy gradually wins over cynical, sophisticated girl - has been around a long time, but if you get the right people involved and you're working with a patient, thoughtful script, it's foolproof. You can't go wrong. "Still Breathing" is a perfect example of this.
A cool breeze of delicate moments, tender surprises and disarming understatement, it achieves a magic that clunkers like "Simply Irresistable" can only dream about. It understands that romantic comedies are all about the hesitations, the silences, the searching looks - NOT contrived situations and screwball antics.
It also realizes that the actors who are paired have to BELIEVE in the material, in each other, and aren't just there because their agents thought it would be a good career move. Brendan Fraser and Joanna Going trust the script completely, they surrender to it. You can tell by the offhand, unforced way Fraser says his lines - knowing there's really no way he can foul them up. And Going; who looks like Winona Ryder, Teri Hatcher and Alyssa Milano (depending on the angle) shows the emotional turbulence of going from someone who is very sure of herself to suddenly not being very sure about anything at all. She's lost her innocence, then found it again but it's been so long she's lost it that she has a hard time recognizing it. It's also great to see veteran actress Celeste Holm infusing the film with her sparkle and intelligence.
A real pleasant surprise, you just find yourself melting into its gentle rhythms and not wanting it to end.
