Customer Reviews

Kate and Leopold (Bonus Edition) [VHS]

5 star:		(125)
4 star:		(93)
3 star:		(57)
2 star:		(30)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

This is not Meg Ryan's best film, but it is yet another highly enjoyable romantic comedy in the career of one of the most successful light comedy actresses of the past decade. But this could be a breakout film for Hugh Jackman, who is easily one of the most likable and charismatic new actors on the scene today. Easily the best thing about X-MEN was Jackman's portrayal of Wolverine. He has also appeared in SWORDFISH and SOMEONE LIKE YOU, but after seeing this film, he is clearly a very versatile and talented actor, who deserves a lot of chances in a lot of different kinds of films.

The film is enhanced by an excellent supporting cast. Both Liev Schreiber as Meg Ryan's ex-boyfriend and Breckin Meyer as her brother are extremely appealing. But the film either falls or stands on the performances of Ryan and Jackman. This is not, as I mentioned earlier, her best role, but even Meg Ryan at less than her very best is still quite good, and Hugh Jackman is enormously enjoyable. Natasha Lyonne, who I love a lot, was pretty much wasted in her role as Ryan's secretary.

The movie will invariably be compared to other time travel movies. It is a genre that has been more successful in the past than one might imagine, thanks to the BACK TO FUTURE series and the superb TIME AFTER TIME. There are a couple of gigantic holes in the plot (one involves when a particular photograph could have been taken), but overall the film isn't hard to take as sci-fi. I will say that the scenes set in 19th century New York are my favorite parts of the movie. The initial scene takes place at a ceremony in which Washington Roeblings, the engineer who built the Brooklyn Bridge and son of the man who designed it, is dedicating (I think) the completion of the second tower of the bridge. The look and feel is remarkable. Looking at the masts of the ships in the water, I kept thinking of Walt Whitman's poem "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry," which ferry the bridge superseded. Most of the imagery was surely computer generated, but the whole scene was nevertheless remarkable to look at.

All in all, this movie was a lot of fun. It won't be the greatest movie you have ever seen, but it certainly won't be the worst, and I think the vast majority of viewers will be convinced that they will have had a lot of fun. And a message to Hollywood: get Hugh Jackman in more movies!

Hands down, this romantic comedy is a Hugh Jackman vehicle, as he totally steals the show from Meg Ryan. Jackman plays the role of the Duke of Albany, Leopold Mountbatten, an English nobleman visiting his uncle in New York in 1876. At his uncle's behest, Leopold is to find a rich socialite to marry, so that he may replenish the family's depleted coffers.

While at a ball in his uncle's New York house, awash with rich and eager heiresses, he notices a stranger who had earlier caught his attention. He follows the stranger and finds himself in the year 2001, as he falls through a portal in time. Landing in the apartment of Stuart Besser (Liev Schreiber), the stranger whom he had followed, he soon meets Kate McKay (Meg Ryan), Stuart's former girlfriend of four years and a modern day everywoman. Let the games begin.

What follows is nothing earth shattering. In fact, it is pretty predictable. Leopold and Kate fall in love, though the big question is why, as there is nothing to suggest why they should. Meg Ryan does her usual Meg Ryan thing, though she is starting to get a bit little long in the tooth to be playing the brash, cutesy ingenue. She is, in fact, getting to be quite tiresome in these sorts of roles, as she plays them all exactly the same, making them virtually indistinguishable one from the other. She needs to extend her range, before her adoring public stops adoring her.

Jackman, however, does a star turn with his gently effective and ingratiating portrayal of Leopold. He is simply sensational. Charming, handsome, and warm, with a light British accent that rings true, he is totally believable as a chivalrous gent from another time. Jackman totally upstages Ryan without meaning to do so. It is a good thing that he does. Were he not to have done so, the film would most likely have totally tanked. Clearly, Hugh Jackman is big time, leading man material.

Liev Schreiber is unappealing as the film's erstwhile time traveler and Kate's ex-lover, Stuart Besser, who, it turns out, is the great, great grandson of the Duke. Moreover, it is not believable that Stuart and Kate would ever have dated, much less have been lovers for four years, as there is no chemistry between them. Still, it is more believable than the relationship which blossoms between Leopold and Kate. The happy ending also makes Stuart's and Kate's former relationship somewhat distasteful, if not downright incestuous, in retrospect.

The rest of the supporting cast is fine with an excellent performance by Breckin Meyer in the role of Charlie McKay, Kate's somewhat goofy, but lovable, cute, younger brother. Bradley Whitford of West Wing fame also gives a winning performance as J.J. Camden, Kate's smarmy boss, who ultimately has second thoughts about what constitutes professional behavior and lets the cream rise to the top, so to speak.

All in all, this is a moderately entertaining film, all but forgettable, but for the memorable performance of Hugh Jackman.

What a charming pair Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman make! This romantic comedy is about the Duke of Albany, and while hosting a party in 1876 he notices someone that doesn't belong at his party. When he follows him, he literally like "Alice" falls into the rabbit hole and travels through time to the year 2001. Stuart Besser found this hole thru time making time travel possible, and he takes it upon himself to introduce the Duke to the future while trying to find a way to get him back where he belongs. When Leopold meets former Besser girlfriend Kate, they can't help but fall in love.

Yes, this is a completely predictable movie, but so what! It is the ultimate in romance, and we all need to dream a little bit.

Guys, read the title. Women will enjoy this movie, because it is romantic, and has Meg Ryan (The Queen of the chick flick), and is downright "cute" in its entirety. Thrown in for good measure is newcomer Aussie Hugh Jackman (X-men's Wolverine and a top contender for James Bond after Pierce Brosnan retires) as romantic lead Leopold, a real life duke from the 18th Century.

This movie will keep guys interested too. Though romance is the key element here, there are doses of comedy, physical comedy, and science fiction. Leopold is from another time, brought here (ironically) by Kate's ex-boyfriend, who happens to be a genius inventor. Their is no time machine here to bog down the story. Time travel is broken down as a simple theory and is beautifully handled here.

Supporting cast including Myer Breckman (Rat Race) as Kate's hilarious actor-brother who thinks Leopold is a method actor who just won't break character, Leiv Schreiber (Phantoms/Scream 2-3)as Meg's ex-boyfriend, and film veteran Phil Bosco in a deliciously understated cameo as Leopold's trusted servant Otis, all turn in strong performances.

A great couples film with mass appeal.

Keep your eye on Hugh Jackman. This guy really is the next Mel Gibson.

Anyone who has enjoyed reading fairy tales as a kid or who misses "the good old days" will love this movie. It stars the amazing Hugh Jackman as Leopold, the Duke of Albany, and inventor of the elevator. Hugh Jackman does a smashing job... dashing his way into the hearts of his female viewers and invoking serious jealousy in the hearts of men.

Seriously though, the character of Leopold has something to teach of respect and integrity... not to mention, does a pretty good job of blueprinting the mind of a genius. The movie does an excellent job of contrasting the rat race of everyday life in modern day New York with the turn of the century Victorian New England. Lack of development of the main female character (played respectably by Meg Ryan) as well as too much action in the beginning of the movie and a short ending are really it's only shortcomings. (Oh and I must add, what was costume thinking in regards to Kate?!)

If it's been too long since you've said, "awwww", laughed until your side hurts, or if you've forgotten the virtues of mankind and la dolce vita, you need to see this movie! A little history, a little romance, and a great heaping dollop of laughter make this a great one to see (and buy)!

A sweet, simple love story with a time travel twist.
Meg Ryan does a serviceable job in this flick, though not nearly as good as some of her other past films like You've Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle, or I.Q., but I'd guess that was more due to the script and direction.

Hugh Jackman was awesome, playing a nobleman from early America. It's a great contrast to the Wolverine role he played in X-men. While in X-men, he was a somewhat coarse and wild, yet principled "wildman, " here he plays a totally genteel, polished gentleman whose straightforward honesty and candor make the girls who meet him just wriggle with romantic ecstasy, while inspiring nobler sentiments in the men.

There's only one short scene where time travel is really batted around. The rest of the film is a fun, not overdone exploration of how a gentleman from the past would respond to our contemporary world. And, without ruining the ending, it makes us nostalgic for the simple courtesies and chivalries of the past. At one point though, when feeling this, I also realized that it left out the harsh realities-- that back in time, there were a good proportion of cretinously sexist, racist, ignorant, wealthy pigs. Jackman is playing an idealized male romantic hero, as one might find in a Harlequin romance.

I also really enjoyed the role played by Liev Schreiber, the besieged (ala One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by psychiatry discoverer of the time warp which made this story possible.

There are a number of magical moments in the story-- and it's magic which melts the heart and pulls those heartstrings for which we pay the eight bucks to see the movie on the big screen.

This is light fare, and sometimes, the light-fare genre just hits the spot. Great music helps on this soundtrack.

One thing though. His uniform, as shown in the trailer and throughout the film, appears to be mroe fitting to the end of the 1700s, not the 1800s. But they repeatedly say he has traveled from the late 1800s. Then, at one point, they say he's 200 years old, which would match his outfit. It looks like the writers got confused on the script. Oh well. It really doesn't hurt the story an iota.

Ah! The casting is the thing that makes this delightful romantic comedy work so well! Meg Ryan is at the top of her comedic form as is relative newcomer Hugh Jackman in this tale of star-crossed lovers from different epochs falling deliciously head over heels for each other despite all the differences supposedly separating them. For anyone waxing nostalgic about the lost values and manners from the past, the series of situations and gags involving exactly those characteristics in a wistful recollection of how charming and wonderful such luxuries as manners can be.

Alas, fellow travelers of the time continuum; we happen to live in a time almost totally bereft of any personal knowledge of the human comfort and shelter such social practices can bring to both ourselves and to others, of the ways in which a disciplined code of consideration of others and a corollary code of conduct act to smooth the social waters we must trudge through in our daily quest to make our livings, meaningfully interact with others, and find some semblance of meaning and purpose in so doing. Thus, Jackman's character acts to reaquaint Ryan's with the delicious luxury of time-honored cultural practices and dutiful manners, and she falls as much for the lost treasures of being treated with courtesy and consideration as for the man treating her with such unusual (for our time) deference.

The script is lively and entertaining, and the building of the romance quite believable and engaging, as well. The use of the difference in expectations and the differences in each of the principal's world view for comedic effect is also a lot of fun, and the intelligence and wittiness of the dialogue is unusual, to say the least. This is a well acted and well-thought-out thought piece disguised as a romantic comedy, and it works very well indeed. Two thumbs way up for this one! Enjoy!

This was one of the best romantic comedies that I've seen in a long. Ladies, if you're looking for a movie to curl up and stay at home with, well this is it. The movie is predictable in the sense that the boy meets girl, boy gets girl, boy loses girl, girl gets her man on the end. However, from the beginning to the end its a really good movie. I was not disappointed when I left the movie theater. I can hardly wait until its released on video on June 11.

Kate and Leopold is one of those adult fairy tales set in modern times. At least partially so! Director James Mangold chooses to focus not on the story of time travel, as discovered by a
nondescript New Yorker bachelor who travels through a "portal" (Liev Schreiber, apt and amiable), but rather on the romantic events of the Duke he brings back with him to the future.

That Duke, Leopold, as played by Hugh Jackman, has traveled some 130 years in time, from late 19th century New York, where he lived as a titled British transplant, searching for love and wealth...and finding neither. Naturally, in the most serendipitous of ways, he meets Kate (Meg Ryan), a marketing research exec, fiercely career-oriented, but as vulnerable underneath as Meg Ryan was in "Sleepless in Seattle" and "You've Got Mail". Unfortunately, her hairdo leaves something to be desired, and her choice in clothing is mannish and severe, but Ryan's charm makes Jackman's crush believable.

Your surprised that Tom Hanks has been supplanted by Hugh Jackman. Hugh Jackman? Nah...wasn't he a hairy super-hero in X-Men? You'd think he was playing against type until you see his performance here. He's marvelous. Believable, confident, playing this role as Ben Affleck never could, Jackman gets the largest round of applause for making this movie a commercial and DVD success. He's immersed himself in 19th century manners, etiquette and deportment, but is still vulnerable and kind. The movie plays for laughs somewhat, on his introduction to timeless Americana such as ketchup, Tater Tots, and scooping up the dog doo after you walk your monster dog in Manhattan.

If the real market research experts are watching, Affleck, etal., may never win another romantic lead again!

So, of course, there is the crisis, the separation, and eventually the film finds a way to end happily. Bradley Whitford of The West Wing is terrific as JJ, Kate's supercilious and vain boss, and I love Brecklin Meyer as Kate's brother...he's thick enough not to realize that Jackman isn't just acting his historical role, yet bright enough to realize that he has just as much ability to be charming as Leopold, once he figures out how to lose the attitude.

I liked the film a lot!

I loved this movie! I rented this movie last week and was very pleased. I am a Meg Ryan fan and definitely became a fan of Hugh Jackman! I went right out and bought the DVD that weekend. I watched the Original version and the Director's Cut. The Director's Cut is definitely better. It adds more history to Kate's character and helps the story flow more smoothly. The character of Leopold, Duke of Albany is excellently played by Hugh Jackman. Meg Ryan was her same cutsy self with a layered mop hairdo. However, this wasn't one of her best movies. Liev Schreiber and Breckin Meyers were also excellent in their roles. Breckin was really funny when his character "Charlie" was "in the zone" with his favorite girl and his replaying of Leopold's conversation about the Louvre. I think that is when Leopold realizes that he is falling for Kate. I love the scene where Leopold is sitting next to Kate in the restaurant and corrects J.J. on the location of his English home, the opera's characters and his view of J.J.'s trying to seduce Kate. My favorite scenes were Leopold's rescuing of Kate at Central Park; the rooftop dinner and dancing; the following morning when he made breakfast and the dishwasher lesson; the finding of his uncle's house; the evening listening to the soundtrack of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and his tucking in and snuggling with Kate. Did you notice when Leopold called Kate "Your Grace"? I particulary like the part where Kate realized that she really loved Leopold and was willing to take that "leap of faith" off the Brooklyn Bridge to be with Leopold, because it meant that she was willing to leave her family and career to find love and happiness with somebody that treated her with love and respect. Who in their right mind would turn away from that? (I certainly didn't when I moved from CA to NJ to be with the man I loved.) I wish that when Kate and Leopold were dancing after Leopold announced his bride, the script could have gone further with the culture shocks that Kate would have experienced in the late 1800's. Then of course, that's the perfect excuse for a sequel! Overall, this movie was lovely and it became one of my favorite movies. I am sure that I will watch this many times over. This movie makes you want to travel time to find your own duke!