As tasty and airy as an expertly whipped chocolate soufflé, it's never better as when Peyton Reed submits to the garish ridiculousness of it all: the matching checkered costumes, the ridiculously colorful and curvy deco sets, the Austin Powersish double entendres, and cross-cutting the Chairman's cocky, robust "Fly Me to the Moon" rendition with Astrud's wispy, ethereal one*. Does for Hudson/Day movies what Far From Heaven did for Sirk, difference being the original Sirk movies were also amazing, whereas Down with Love pays homage to the cinematic mediocrity of Pillow Talk et al. The absurd farce felt like something out of an Astaire/Rogers musical, except in lieu of ecstatic choreography and dancing you've got the awesome Ewan McGregor and a decent Renée Zellweger trading zingers and comely looks. Effervescent and fun, but this would've made for an excellent French musical, methinks.
*From The Shadow of Your Smile, a beautiful nocturnal album which is getting a lot of play in my car lately.
