Year:
2004
Studio:
Columbia Pictures/Revolution Studios
Feature:
3/5
When I went to see Little Black Book
I expected a romantic comedy: girl meets boy, girl starts delving into
boy's past, boy finds out and there's a moment of crisis, they make up
and realize they are meant to be together. That's not this movie and
probably why I was somewhat disappointed by the end of the movie.
This is the story of Stacy (Brittany Murphy). She is a young
professional who dearly wants to be a news personality like her idol,
who I don't remember. But right now Stacy is working her way up,
starting with a Production Assistant job at the local Kippie Kann talk
show, starring Kippie herself (Kathy Bates). There Stacy makes friends
with another PA, Barb (Holly Hunter), and the rest of the crew.
Stacy has a boyfriend, Derek (Ron Livingston), who works as an agent of
the New Jersey Devils. When Stacy discovers that Derek used to date
super model Lulu (Josie Maran) who Derek had never mentioned anything
about, she starts wondering about his other girlfriends. And then Derek
leaves the city on business and forgets his Palm PDA.
With the help of her office friends, Stacy starts checking up on the
old girlfriends. It's easy when you can pose as an assistant
researching a talk show segment. Stacy finds out that Derek apparently
keeps a lot from her and even does things with his former girlfriends
that she didn't know he was doing.
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It all comes to a head when Stacy
is featured on the annual live show. Her whole story of checking up on
the old girlfriends is on national television (syndicated) along with
the former girlfriends and Derek himself. It's the moment of truth and
one that's been building up throughout the movie. Stacy realizes that
she is not the one for Derek and she walks away.
Brittany Murphy plays a very psychotic girlfriend. Funny, cute, perhaps
a bit "touched by God", she is at times sympathetic and at other times
rather villanous. Holly Hunter plays the old soul. Barb has been
through a divorce and has lots of life experience. In the end though,
Barb does something unforgivable which left a bad aftertaste.
Really, that's the whole problem with this movie. It ends badly. Not
badly as in it was badly executed. It was well executed, just an ending
that most people won't be expecting. Some movies leave you feeling good
about youself and about the world. This is not one of those movies.
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