Customer Reviews

L.A. Story and Roxanne: Screenplays

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In response to the other review, LA story is one of my very favorite movies. The screenplay is excellent, and the story is beautiful. There is nothing terrible or long-winded about it. Though I must say, I am not from California...

I have been a fan of LA Story from the first viewing. Everything
about the movie is solid, from the superb casting to the subtle
and extremely witty script, and fine performances turned in by everyone. I disagree wholeheartedly with whoever wrote the review and admitted to being thickheaded enough to walk out half way through the movie. But, as we all know, a man with a pointy nose is a little more direct than a subtle slice of Martin insight and hilarious angelean social commentary/satire. Subtlety escapes some and these are the people who are running to
see horrible movies in droves. If you consider yourself funny or an intellect or both, see this movie.

O.k. Steve Martin is a very talented and funny man with a tendency at his best to be inspired and at his worst, sentimental. What you have here are examples of the two extremes. Roxanne, one of his inspired creations and LA Story, a turgid piece of sentimentalism with an occasional spark. I am english, twenty years resident in Spain. Writer and actor. I don't go for the crass sentimentalism of a lot of Hollywood product. (I know that LA Story was well received in the states) You might like it. Steve Martin has made a lot of squirm-inducing films in my opinion and this book shows him as a writer at his best and his worst.

I am a big fan of both these movies - they have such funny and warm centers and Martin's humor is deceptively deep. It took him seven years to write L A Story and the number of in jokes prove the same. For those who don't know, L A Story is loosely (very loosely) based on A Midsummer Night's Dream and even has a scene from Hamlet it in (at the graveyard). Favorite line:
Harris: You know, normally I don't like being around interesting people, because that means I have to be interesting.
Sarah: Does that mean you find me interesting?
Harris: All I know is that I find myself showing off when you're around, which is the idiot's version of being interesting.

Roxanne is a pretty straightforward 20th century version of the classic Cyrano de Bergerac (if you havent seen Depardieu as Cyrano, run out now and rent it - I can wait). My favorite line from it is the scene where he comes up with 20 insults about his nose.

Steve Martin has a way of being funny without being mean. And that means something. The same can be see in his later movies like Bowfinger (even though it was a bit uneven) and LA Story, in particular, sheds some light on his philosophical leanings as well!

One of the movies in this book I had seen and the other I had not. "Roxanne" I remembered as a wonderful movie, and I very much enjoyed being able to pick out my favorite parts and favorite lines in the book. "L.A. Story" is a very amusing satire and I have not seen the movie. At first, reading a screenplay is confusing, but I adjusted quickly and found the reading very enjoyable.

ROXANNE is a wonderful script/film. How could Martin go wrong adapting and putting a spin on one of the great classic plays ("Cyrano De Bergerac")? But L A STORY shows Martin is weak when originating a long narrative. It's really a quite terrible script/film. In fact--while I saw ROXANNE 3 times--I walked out of L A STORY half-way through.