Customer Reviews

Little Black Book [VHS]

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

little Black Book

This is a Romantic Comedy with a dramatic surprise twist at the end. As the title suggests, this is where curiosity to find out what is in "his" little black book (electronic palm device) leads to jealousy, disappointment, a broken heart and then the truth which sets Brittany free to achieve her life goal. What more can I say. Buy it and have some fun. It's a light hearted comedy with a twist and a theme that should make you stop and think. Possibly you will examine your own life too.

This is Brittany's best role to date. An the movie doesn't disappoint you with a typical ending. Which is refreshing. Holly Hunter is an absolute standout in this movie. If you looking for quality entertainment. Grab some popcorn and see this movie.

As a general rule, I try to avoid anything with Holly Hunter in it - but Brittany Murphy is just so darn cute, and Kathy Baker always turns in a great performance, so I decided to give Little Black Book a go. It was a good decision. The film was different and very entertaining, in a weird sort of way, and even Holly Hunter wasn't that bad. I guess you could call this a romantic comedy, although it certainly doesn't fit the mold perfectly. It's also a satire, using one of those awful daytime talk shows our society is now cursed with as the fulcrum for everything that takes place.

Brittany Murphy is Stacy Holt, a young woman cruising up the escalator of happiness - at first. She just got a job as an associate producer for The Kippie Kann Show, and she thinks she has finally found Mr. Right and his first name is Derek (Ron Livingston). Then Derek goes out of town for a couple of weeks, and Stacy's co-worker Barb (Holly Hunter) gets her wondering about good old Derek's past. She discovers all kinds of pictures on his PDA and seeks out and interviews three of his former girlfriends, making them think she is pre-interviewing them for a segment about them (all are quite successful in their own sorts of ways) on The Kippie Kann Show. A comedy of error ensues. As you might suspect, there's a really big twist to the whole story, one that doesn't exactly come at you from the blind side, but I'm not going to ruin it for anybody.

Some people say Holly Hunter steals the show; she's good, but Brittany Murphy carries the whole movie as far as I'm concerned (I loved Kathy Bates as Kippie Kann, but hers was something of a secondary character). I'm not saying Brittany Murphy is the only actress who could have played Stacy Holt, but this movie would have bombed with many another actress. Stacy had to be refreshingly young, naïve, and - well - bouncy in an adorable kind of way, and she also had to turn that sort of emotional vulnerability on its head and trawl the depths of human drama. To steal a line from Carly Simon, whose music is featured prominently throughout the entire film, it would seem that nobody does it better than Brittany Murphy.

In addition, I always try to give credit to our four-legged actors who turn in great performances and get no credit whatsoever. The dog that plays Bob was just great, and I can't say how happy I am to see a large dog playing a role that calls for no slobbering whatsoever. This dog turns in one of the best large dog performances I've seen in quite a while.

Having watched the movie, I must say I didn't find myself wondering what I would do in the kind of situation Stacy gets herself into, though; this isn't really one of those films that make you go hmmm, in my opinion. It's just a delightfully funny movie that comes with a free dish of human drama on the side. I don't understand those who find this film depressing; certainly, it has its moments, but the ending, while different from what you might expect, is actually rather light and upbeat. Basically, Little Black Book is a comedy with more depth than you might expect, and I for one quite enjoyed it. Call me crazy, but I'm giving it five stars.

Little Black Book starring Brittany Murphy, Holly Hunter, and Ron Livingston is not you typical romantic comedy. I love this film, it shows you how cruel, calcualted, and confused people are in life. Murphy dazzles as Stacy, a wanna-be type assoicate who dreams of working with her mentor/idol Diane Sawyer one day. Stacy takes a job at a daytime talk show and befriends a seemingly sweet producer played by Hunter. Great acting all around, well-written, and keeps you interested in a very unreal situation, I highly recommend this fun and unorthodox romantic comedy.

I'm not going to put a lot into this review because I don't think this movie is worth it. I admit I wasn't expecting a fantastic movie, and I really only watched it because I heard that Gavin Rossdale had a small part in the movie. (I thought he was so yummy back in the 90s when he was the lead singer of Bush!) Anyway, even his brief appearance didn't make the movie any better, in my opinion.

I didn't care at ALL about the main character, Stacy. She must be very naïve to not have known her boyfriend was still in contact with not one, two, but ALL three of his ex-girlfriends. Especially considering she was practically living with him!

Even after Barb went behind Stacy's back to do the show, "Little Black Book," I still didn't care. She had a chance to do something, anything, to get back at Barb and she didn't even take it! The only person I did feel sorry for in this movie was Joyce, and that was because of how Stacy betrayed her. By the way, what ever happened with Joyce? Did she and Derek get back together?

Ugh, there were other things that went unresolved but I can't think of them at the moment. I just don't think this movie knew what it was about and what to do with what it had. When it ended, all I could do was say, "What?" It could have been good, had it stayed with one story line.

When my wife rented this movie I thought, 'Oh great, another chick-flick'! Boy was I wrong. Brittany Murphy carries the film quite well. Holly Hunter provides a great supporting roll while Ron Livingston's very small role was nothing more than a necessary prop to the plot. Sometimes digging for the truth can lead you down a tormented path. I found the movie interesting, moving and surprising! Recommended!!

When I heard of this movie, I decided to past it up and a chick flick and told myself not to watch it, but of course, I gave in when I heard Brittany Murphy (Uptown Girls; Girl, Interrupted) is the main actress in this movie. And boy, I should have watched it earlier! I ove the race and unexpected twists with corny comebacks! An emotional tugger movie!

Stacy Holt (Brittany Murphy), was an associate producer for a reality show and obsessed in knowing the details of Derek, her boyfriend; relationship with his ex'es in the past. The opportunity arise when she found his Palm Pilot which has every detail of his past relationships with the other girls and in turn opening can of worms. In this quest of digging the past, Stacy had Barb to help her to come up with ways to approach the other girls, who are all successful in their own careers - model, gynologist, chef - making her felt more insecure than she was in the beginning. Of course the joke was on her when she actually befriended one of them. but it didn't stop there. The twisted end would make you sit in the ends of your chairs in suspense!

Ok another great movie!

Stacy Holt has been in and out of bad relationships, constantly. So has her mother, and they always turned to Carly Simon. But now, Stacy thinks she has found her true calling. The One. Derek. Stacy works on a daytime talk show, which now the topic is Little Black Books, which she then starts to wonder, what about her beloved Derek? She has gotten a hold of his Palm Pilot, and now that she has the password, she breaks into it and finds that Derek has 3 former girlfriends! One is a gynocoligist, and to spy on her she had to book herself an appointment! And a model Lulu. Well, Stacy figures out that Derek still talks to LULU! Well, she gets Lulu an interview, pretending she is going to be on the show, also with the doctor. And now, she has gotten herself into trouble with the help of Barb, her co worker. Who at the end, tells all the lies Stacy hid from Derek. And then Stacy gets furious at Barb, and we see the sad picture of Stacy sitting in the yellow beetle bug with rain pouring down, crying that we saw in the beginning. Then life turns out to get better, 3 months or so later, she goes to her favorite coffee place, where her old high school crush is the owner. She tells him everything, but it turns out his wife is pregnant, so she ends up with nobody, but the producer of a TV show.

This movie is fantastic!

A lot of you that wrote reviews thought that it was a bad movie. I personally think that Murphy did a great job as an actress and really showed herself in character. With the huge twist in the ending, the movie seemed different than most. This movie also showed that someone who can have such a huge setback can also recover and follow your dreams. Murphey prooved that you should never quit. I, along with some friends, really enjoyed this movie. It taught us something about ourselves, that we can accomplish ANYTHING, if we just believe.

****

I just watched "Little Black Book". It was both entertaining and thought provoking in that it makes the viewer think about morality---what would I do if in the same situation as the main character in this movie?

If you had suspicions about your partner, AND had a job that required you to come up with creative and titillating ideas (talk show associate producer) AND were obsessively curious about your partner's past---what would you do? Would you violate their privacy, given the incredible pressure to do so, or would you remain ignorant, trust, and come up with an alternate idea for your show? The show here is a sleezy Jerry-Springer-esque show, just to increase the pressure for the main character, played by Brittany Murphy.

The movie was entertaining because of a good performance by Brittany Murphy, and good roles played by the familiar and talented Holly Hunter and Kathy Bates.

This is not soley or even mainly a young person's movie, as one might think from the title and DVD cover. It is in some ways, the modern equivalent of a "morality play", and therefore has more to offer than the average DVD rental or purchase.

I liked it because it made me think. And because it was about personal strength, not just a typical romance. And about truth.

The idea person who would enjoy this is probably a middle-aged woman (Carly Simon plays a small but pivotal role in the plot) or anyone who wants to think about her/his role, lifestyle, and morality in modern times. However, I think men and young people would enjoy it too. It would be especially beneficial and fun for people of mixed generations to view and discuss their diverse perspectives, which will probably differ by gender, on the choices made by the characters in this movie.

You probably can't go wrong by buying or renting "Little Black Book"; however, I absolutely do not view this movie as appropriate for young people---the moral issues are advanced, plus the sleezy talk shows that the main character works for are realistically portrayed but too tawdry for children to view.

****