First off, this one is really only funny if you’ve watched the cheesy Doris Day/Rock Hudson rom-coms of the late 50s/60s. But even then, it’s a fun look at a writer’s struggles to become famous. In this case, the writer is Barbara Novak (Renee Zellweger), an attractive librarian from Maine who had written a book encouraging women to first obtain from sex until they have met their career goals, then practice “sex-a-la-carte” like men do in order keep them from being trapped in a marriage that will ruin what they worked so hard for. Sarah Paulson is hilarious as Barbara’s determined publishing agent, Vikki Hiller. However, their rise to success is under attack from Catcher Block (Ewan McGregor the gorgeous), “the lady’s man, man’s man, man about town” journalist who is determined to prove that love will always end a woman’s ambitions. With little approval from his friend and boss, Peter McMannus (David Hyde Pierce), Catcher takes on an alternate personality that will cause Barbara to fall in love and discredit her book.
Everyone good on the plot? Good. Let’s jump into the author stuff. The movie opens with Barbara arriving in New York and meeting Vikki. The two instantly become best friends (a running gag is how they dress in similar over the top fashions everywhere they go), but a part of that bonding comes from facing the board at Vikki’s publishing company. The men (led by a Tony Randall cameo) dismiss the book as ridiculous and refuse to put money into marketing. Vikki and Barbara decide to prove them wrong, first by trying to get Catcher Block to write an article about the book for his men’s magazine. When that fails, Vikki manages to get an appearance for Barbara’s book on the Ed Sullivan Show. The editing department must have had fun with this. They had to make it look like Judy Garland was singing “Down with Love” on the Ed Sullivan Show when I’m pretty sure that was from her own TV show.
Oh marketing. People think that if you are published with the big five companies they do all the marketing for you. Ha! Not unless you are already a best seller. Sorry folks. It’s up to the authors. This is why more authors have been switching to independent and small distributors because they have more control over their work and still have to do all the footwork.
One of my favorite scenes is when Vikki takes Barbara to see her book on a shelve in a bookstore. Barbara points out how there is only one copy and if someone buys it, there will be zero copies. Vikki corrects this by pointing out there is one more copy in another bookstore. Barbara looks like she will cry. I feel you, Barbara, I feel you.
After the television hype, Barbara’s book becomes an international bestseller (where the movie manages to put in some Cold War jokes) and even gets parodied in Mad Magazine (you know you’ve made it when someone parodies you). Her book is even banned! Nothing says success like a banned book. The non-fiction scandal creates a social revolution. Woman start wanting to focus on their own lives and make men have to wait on them. Like, you know, equality or something.
SPOILER ALERT:
It turns out Novak is a made-up name of Catcher Block’s former secretary Nancy Brown who wrote the bestseller in order to get his attention. Yet, after writing the book and seeing how it changed the lives of so many women for the better, she decides that she doesn’t want Catch’s love. Meanwhile Catch and Peter are in the dumps because they just want to marry these women and are feeling used. Catcher and Barbara find middle ground where they could both have jobs and be married. Power of books, man!
