30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Delightful, touching and often funny, March 28, 2002
"The Leading Man" opened to acclaim at the Toronto Film Festival in September 1996. It's appeal was lost on whoever was there shopping for films to buy for distribution. A year later it showed up in a few cinemas in the UK. In March of this year, it had a limited release in America, a year and a half after it premiere in Toronto.
I'm sorry that whoever financed it lost a bundle, because it's a really neat little film. I think people didn't get the fact that it's a comedy because its wit is so dry. Because of this, I suspect no one knew how to market it. The people I've met in marketing departments are surprisingly unoriginal.
I found it to be utterly delightful. I would not have thought much about it when it went to video, if I hadn't been intrigued by the fact that Bon Jovi was listed as its star.
"The Leading Man" is so obscure in origin that, even though it is obviously set in London, much of it may have been shot in Australia. That country's film commission is given credit at the end of the movie, and its director has done almost all his films there.
Don't be put off by the fact you never heard of it either. It's well crafted, acted and photographed It's also a lot of fun.
Lambert Wilson plays a hugely successful British playwright. The film opens with his eleventh play going into rehearsals. He truly loves his wife, played by Anna Galiena, but is having an affair with a young actress played by Thandie Newton. It's safe to say this man is having a major mid-life crisis. Of course, he casts the young actress in the new play to assure that he will be near her all day. A cliche is avoided here because the actress happens to be first rate. She's no bimbo!
Enter Jon Bon Jovi, playing a young star who's last film was a smash hit. He is the costar of the new play. He is self assured, to say the least. His talent on screen and on stage extends to the bedroom. While he'll be the first to tell you how wonderful he is, Bon Jovi plays him not as a man who runs around bragging about himself, but as one who is unafraid to speak the truth. In Bon Jovi's capable hands, the character comes off as rather lovable.
At first the actor comes off as someone who has a scary dark side. As the film progresses, it turns out that it's more a matter of acting things so that those around him get what they really need in life. For example, Galiena [Elana] dwells on how Wilson [Felix] is ruining her life because he can't keep his zipper up. Bon Jovi [Robin] suggests to the philandering husband that the best way to get her to see reason is for him to seduce her.
What ensues is a delightful - and often funny - look at how people deal with relationships. Robin is also attracted to the young actress, while she seems infatuated with him. It also shows in a humorous way how things are not always what they appear to be.
I am delighted to have discovered this little gem, and I hope that you will check it out.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
BEST JOVI MOVIE EVER!!!!, December 2, 2003
By A Customer
if you are looking at this movie for the same reason i did (bon jovi) then you are looking at the right movie!
i've seen pretty much EVERY movie he's ever been in and this by far is the best. some of the other reviews said the same thing,that if you think bon jovi is the greatest you won't be disappointed!
here are a couple of reasons why this movie should be at the top of your bon jovi list:
*scenes with his shirt off
*he is the leading man
*seduces the leading ladies
*twisted ending
if you need more reasons than those you'll just have to check it out for yourself.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mid-Life Crisis and the 15-Year Itch, July 12, 2001
To find humor in another failed show biz marriage, truth in the mythic casting couch, and honor among gentlemen is the gist of "The Leading Man." While hired to seduce the wife of the play's author, Felix Webb, Jon Bon Jovi as studly actor Robin Grange nearly charms the panties off the wife and mistress, not to mention eager groupies, the play's supporting female cast, and the casting coordinator. Smooth and deliberate, Grange as Bon Jovi portrays him has a mercenary backstage approach to career advancement in the theater that make his backstage manipulations of women live up to the play's title, The Hit Man.
Thandie Newton as Hillary Rule, the play's ingenue is a believable, gullible, forgiving other woman, and mistress-in-training. Elegant Anna Galiena, the wronged wife makes out like a bandit snagging Robin and recycling her unfaithful straying husband (Lambert Wilson) to the younger woman. For once, the older beautiful woman gets the younger delicious man. The supporting cast of David Warner, Patricia Hodge, and Diana Quick are wonderful, snide, and gossipy observers to the kiss and bed rehersals, the theater parties, and off-stage performances.
This film should receive more attention than it likely will, and when discovered, its audiences will return for encore after encore of solid acting and humor that it offers.
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