Product Details

• Actors: Brittany Murphy, Ron Livingston, Holly Hunter, Kathy Bates, Julianne Nicholson
• Directors: Nick Hurran
• Writers: Elisa Bell, Melissa Carter
• Producers: Craig Perry, Deborah Schindler, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, Herb Gains, Jason Shuman
• Format: Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: French (Unknown), English (Dolby Digital 5.0)
• Subtitles: English, French
• Region: Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
  PLEASE NOTE: Some Region 1 DVDs may contain Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE). Some, but not all, of our international customers have had problems playing these enhanced discs on what are called "region-free" DVD players. For more information on RCE, click here.
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• DVD Release Date: January 4, 2005
• Run Time: 111 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (83 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0006D3HCE
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #31,699 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Little Black Book" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Half screwball romance, half television satire, Little Black Book follows insecure Stacy Holt (Brittany Murphy, Uptown Girls, 8 Mile), who has an idyllic relationship with a great guy named Derek (Ron Livingston, Office Space) and a job as an associate producer for a daytime talk show that fuses Jerry Springer and Ricki Lake. Then a cynical co-worker named Barb (Holly Hunter, Broadcast News) persuades Stacy to delve into Derek's Palm Pilot to learn more about his ex-girlfriends--which sends Stacy into a spiral of ever-increasing paranoid compulsion. Little Black Book takes some unexpected plot twists that some viewers will find inexplicable and others will find weirdly fascinating. The movie's split personality makes it unsuccessful as a whole but compelling in parts. Hunter steals the show, in more ways than one. Also featuring Kathy Bates, (Misery, About Schmidt) and Julianne Nicholson (Seeing Other People). --Bret Fetzer

Product Description

A young woman's life begins to resemble the daytime TV talk show she works for after she is persuaded to snoop through her boyfriend's Palm Pilot and discovers more than she wants to know about his past - and present.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not your typical romantic comedy, March 23, 2005

By	Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brittany's Best, August 16, 2004

By	Rosa "Bookworm" (Detroit,MichiganUSA) - See all my reviews

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.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and thought provoking, February 11, 2005

By	O. Brown "Ms. O. Khannah-Brown" (Twopeas, WA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

****
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.
****