Little Black Book

This gem didn't do well at the box office because audiences couldn't make the connection between meanness and romantic comedy. Don't you mind that; think of this as another in the genre of movies that start out being simple stories and turn into movies about movies, not by digging deeper in the layer but by bringing the original movie into "reality."

This one really impressed me with the cleverness of its construction; it unfolded in completely novel and unexpected ways. The thing is anchored in the movie by Holly Hunter and in the show within by Holly's character. Holly has done this kind of folded acting before — "Timecode" comes to mind. She does it rudely; that's just her style.

If you want to make an engaging movie these days, you have to engineer a means to get the audience into the story. The easiest way to do that is to create an audience as part of the story, then trick the movie audience to fold into the story's audience.

Whether you like the "message" or not, I recommend this as a crack piece of screen writing. In nearly all movies, the story isn't important anyway. Only the means for telling the story matters. This is a clean form. See it.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

All romantic comedies follow a standard formula: Boy meets girl. Boy gets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy gets girl back. As the audience, we're supposed to enjoy the How of the formula. And often times that formula is very entertaining. Along comes this refreshing, unpredictable "Little Black Book" that does not follow the familiar formula, yet is a romantic comedy -- and a very well made one, I think -- the cumulative vote so far is less than 5. Makes no sense to me. Here's what you get with "Little Black Book." An intelligent script well directed. Brittany Murphy is impressive in a very seamless performance. Julianne Nicholson practically steals the show. Plus Josie Maran steams the whole thing up. What else do you want? 7 out of 10

It's unfortunate that this movie will be overshadowed by bigger box office draws this summer because it is far better than anyone anticipates. Kathy Bates turns in a good performance as an aging talk show host; Holly Hunter as the talk show host producer who is getting to a certain age where she must either move up the ladder or or at least leave an impression. The villainous side of her chooses the latter and our story begins as she takes new associate producer Brittany Murphy under her wing and persuades her to delve into her boyfriend's PDA to find out about his ex-loves. As the old adage goes...be careful what you look for you just might find it. Okay, Brittany Murphy is no Meryl Streep, but she ain't bad to look at and the ending is a real treat. We liked it.

I found myself really enjoying this film, laughing out loud, at the jokes and situations. Sure, there are a lot of things that 'couldn't really happen' but....what if they did... Look for instance at The Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, The Marx Brothers. You would never really expect to see anyone in the situations these comics find themselves in, but still there we are enjoying their antics!

If you are looking for a fact based movie, this isn't the one to see...but if you want to have fun, go for it! I hope that you enjoy it as I have!

"Little Black Book" examines the foibles of one young woman (Murphy) who decides to "research" her significant other's prior romantic life as an adjunct to a TV reality talk show (think Jerry Springer) and learns some unexpected lessons in life in the process. A lively, fun, and occasionally poignant little bit of chick flick fluff, this movie suffered at the hands of critics, public, and chicks perhaps because people like a little romance with their romantic comedies and "LBB" has none to offer. An unexpectedly busy little story to nowhere which takes the chick flick milieu off course and into a sort of genre-bending neverland, this film seems to be trying to conjure some vague moral which never quite crystallizes. Nevertheless, Murphy and Hunter make capable bookends shoring up a pleasant assortment of side characters while the story slowly erodes their best efforts. Recommended for fans of the players but don't expect the usual satisfying romcom fare. Expect a Palm Pilot commercial instead. (C+)