Customer Reviews

Down to You [VHS]

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

... and I ended up being pleasantly surprised.

Back when this film was first released, I was forced into seeing it with a female family member. I expected the worst. It had Freddie Prinze, Jr. in it. The commercials for it seemed to imply that it was geared towards the teen set. I really wasn't expecting to like this film. Boy, was I surprised!

This film ended up becoming one of my favorite romantic comedies. The story itself, about the evolving of Alfred and Imogen's relationship, was so well written and unpredictable. It wasn't one of those films where you could predict each plot twist twenty minutes before it happened.

The cast is above par for movies of this genre. Stiles and Prinze do a good job in their lead roles. Selma Blair and the actor who played Alfred's "artsy-fartsy" porn actor friend were also entertaining. Film and TV legend Henry Winkler added a lot of gusto to the film in the supporting role of Alfred's Emeril-esque dad as well.

Guys, if you want a good date movie to watch with your girlfriend that won't leave you squirming, this is the one to get. I highly recommend it!

"Down to You" is a romantic comedy that insists on substituting style for substance at key moments in the proceedings. It wants to take a cute approach to a serious relationship, as Al (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) and Imogen (Julia Stiles) do a retroactive post mortem on their relationship. The problem, as they both confide to the audience, is that they were too young when they met each other, implying that if only the timing was right the relationship would be right. The tagline for this film was "A new comedy about giving first love a second chance," which goes beyond the boundaries of either description or foreshadowing enough to warrant losing a star on the rating on that basis alone.

Al and Imogen meet at a bar and click immediately, which seems to be more of a surprise to him than to her. She has sworn off dating so can enjoy her college experience, but she is not about to let a rule make her pass on Al who she considers to be cute. He has some strange dorm friends (Selma Blair, Shawn Hatosy, Zak Orth and Rosario Dawson) who want him to swear off on Imogen, but he manages to ignore them most of the time. Meanwhile, the damage caused by his famous chef father (Henry Winkler in a nice turn, with Lucy Arnaz as his wife) does not seem to be too bad since he has the family cooking gene, but we have to wait a long time in this movie for him to grow up enough to be almost good enough for her.

Director-writer Kris Isacsson has two personable performers but never really does right by them. She is the more serious of the pair (it will be a long time before Stiles is ever the flighty one in a romantic comedy; it takes a Jason Bourne to get her to back down in a film), and he never really succeeds in bridging the gap to the point where we believe these two have a real chance. Al is just not in her league. The problem is that ultimately this is not a cute film about a serious relationship but a cute film about a cute relationship, and that can be fraught with danger, especially when songs get used to cover up the problems. When the character of Monk in this film becomes the voice of reason, you know the train has left the tracks.

Now, you could call this a girls type of movie. 'Chick flick' for the lack of a better term. I was draged to go see it with my grilfriend. By the way the studio's know we get draged to see these type of films and cash in on the both of us. Anyhow, this movie was 'real'. When you watch it, you say ya, that's what we went through and that's how we fell in love and that's how we felt and that is how confusing things can get and thouse are the things that happen to people. Really captures love and relationships of 90s.

In my opinion, I have to say that this teen comedy was, well,DIFFERENT than the rest. But I mean that in a very very good way. Why? The story is not the type of teen movie that you can just predict every moment in the story. It was edgier and bubblier than any other High School-type teen comedy. The story takes place in college, which I find more entertaining than an average High School movie. The first half hour of the movie was kind of strange to me.I mean, a roommate that is a porno movie director and a dad who is a famous cook( played by Henry Winkler) is not your usual dialogue in this kind of movie. Which made me love this even more! I am crazy about romantic comedies and this is BY FAR(so far) the best one I have seen. After you get introduced to the Very Different characters, you find that this movie is incredibly well-written and really sweet and entertaining. i also happened to laugh a lot more than a typical teen comedy. Julia Stiles is my fave actress and Freddie is probably one of the most talented, HOTTEST men on this planet(this was the reason, in the first place, why i watched this movie).Even my boyfriend loved it(and believe me, thats pretty amazing). It has a great soundtrack, too. To summarize my opinion: A funny, sexy, romantic,and edgy must-see movie for almost anyone.(i cant stop watching it) If you like Freddie, I also recommend Boys and Girls.

"Down To You" is a romantic comedy-drama unlike any other, combining the two kings of romatic comedies Freddie Prinze Jr. and Julia Stiles. After I saw "10 Things I Hate About You", and got it on DVD, it was at that point I thought Julia Stiles could not get any better. But she did. Julia delivers a bang up performance that will bring you to tears in certain scenes, as near the end she exercizes her remarkable ability to make herself cry. And Freddie Prinze Jr. delivers a performance typical of his other movies that girls find irresistible.

The whole point is, this is another example of a drama being sold as a comedy, because this most certainly is a drama. Sure, some things were funny, but this truly is a drama that you will never forget.

Watch this movie!

Down to You didn't last long in the movie theaters, and I was surprised to see it on the shelves at the video stores. The main reason why I saw it was because of Julie Stiles, who I thought was good in 10 Things I Hate About You. I didn't want to see it at first, because I can't stand Freddie Prinze Jr! I thought I'd give it a shot because Julie was in it, and I enjoy watching high school type movies. This wasn't your typical high school movie though. It was more towards the late teens/early twenties crowd. Julie plays Imogen, a Freshman at the local college that's studying to be an Artist. Freddie plays Al, also a student at the college, that wants to be a world famous chef, like his father (played by Henry Winkler). Al's father has his own cooking show on TV (just think Emeril Lagasse). His father has plans for him and Al to have their own father-son show, but Al wants to work his way from the bottom up. The main focus of the movie was concentrated on Imogen and Al's relationship of course. The movie has some great characters in it, like Al's father, his best friend that's in the porn industry, and a wanna be Jim Morrison. I thought the story was good, and the directing as well. I liked how both Al and Imogen were both telling the story. The only part that I didn't like about the movie was when Imogen ruined their relationship by......well not to spoil it for you, but you should watch it. This is a good date movie, and should make your date cry!

This is one of the best movies out there, its a hard movie to top. Julia Stiles puts in a really good performance, (as always)and Freddie Prinze Jr. is a great costar for her, they make a great team. If you want a really good movie with great chemistry, then this is the movie for you.

It was set out to be aimed at 13 year old girls but somehow it got a wider audience. Most teen movies take place when the stars are in high school but this taked place when they are in college. This movie shows that not all relationships are fairy tales. The theme is giving first love a second chance and while it does give audiences a dose of reality it does seem to give a little too much information sometimes. Julia Stiles is smart in her career choice because while she does movies aimed at teens her films are somehow more serious but at the same time fun. This film deals with heavy issues but it doesn't let you know that it's getting you to think about certain things like teen pregnancy, drug overdose....and so on and so forth. If you are a fan of Julia Stiles or Freddie Prinze, Jr. then I recommend this movie. It's not your typical run-of-the-mill teen flick. But beware guys, this is a chick flick!

This movie was horrible! I admit that I am a typical Hollywood fan and am not above watching light, teen, romantic comedies (eg-Drive me Crazy, 10 Things I Hate About You). I loved Julia Stiles in 10 Things I Hate About You, but her character in "Down to You" was absolutely pathetic. This had to be one of the worst movies I've ever seen. The only funny part was when Freddie Prinze Jr's character drank the shampoo, and that was supposed to be a 'tragic' part of the movie. I would not recommend this movie to anyone- save someone with absolutely no theatrical standards. If I had been watching this in the theatre, I would have walked out!

I wasn't forced into seeing this movie while it was in the theater, I actually went willingly. I can't decide if that or the actual watching of the movie was more painful... I hated this movie. It was boring, unfunny, and immature. I thought the acting was second-rate(at best) and the plot could have used a LOT of help. But overall the most annoying thing about the whole affair was how utterly unrealistic the whole thing was. For one, they have unprotected sex about 300 times! Did she really think that she could do that WITHOUT getting pregnant? Give me a break. And who drinks a bottle of shampoo to get over a lost love? That's not romantic, that's just plain sick. In short, if you want to watch a good romantic comedy with Freddie Prinze Jr in it, rent She's All That. If you want to see Julia Stiles, rent 10 things I Hate About You. But don't waste your time or money on this movie.