A Pyromaniac's Love Story

This was one of my favorite 90's flicks. It was right there with Singles. It was quirky and weird, yet also had the rom com feel to it. I loved Billy Baldwin back then in this because he just looked like he had bed head through the whole movie, and if you were young in the 90's, that was the "hot guy" look. I've always been a fan of John Luguizamo, so his starring in this just added to my love of the film. It's funny how it has low IMDB ratings by todays standards, because my friend group all loved this movie because it had that same kind of odd/weird vibe that a lot of the cool 90's films had.

I recently thought of this film due to the hype of the fire in the tv show This Is Us. I was on set of this movie during filming many times and it was very eye opening to see how the fire segments were filmed. In the movie it really looked like building were on fire but the real fire was actually quite a far distance away but merged into what really appeared as fire coming out of the windows etc. But ... I digress.

The movie was soooo very bad and most of the actors knew it and just went about full filling their contract to do it. One actor who tried to get out of his contract but couldnt was able to get his name taken off the movie and even though he is there in a few key scenes .... he is not mentioned anywhere. A few years later when someone brought the film up he said he was never in the movie .... the other person was arguing with him "he was in it" .... Richard Crenna stood firm and said he was not in that movie. I was off to the side and just laughed. His name in no where associated with this movie.

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.

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.

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.