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Sweet November
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
A remake of a 1968 picture that I've never heard of, "Sweet November" reunites "Devil's Advocate" screen couple Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron in a romantic comedy that's part light romance and partially similar to the recent "Autumn in New York". Reeves plays Nelson, an advertising executive who lets his job run his life. He's never not thinking about the next project and few minutes are actually devoted to relaxation or something enjoyable.
After a hilariously over-the-top presentation to a client, he gets fired. For the past few days, he's been finding himself followed by Sara Deever (Charlize Theron), a free-spirited young woman who either could be unusually sweet or completely nuts or a little bit of both. Her offer: be her November - let her make over his life and bring out the joy of life that he's been missing. He's incredibly defensive at first, wondering what she wants from him.
Eventually, he seems to figure that it's just nutty enough to work (plus, he gets to have sex with her, so he's not complaining, either.). Why she does this has been revealed in the trailers and I won't go into details. Theron is quite good in the role and she's believably sweet and light - she seems like she might be that way in real life. Reeves is not as successful as Nelson - his attempts at intense speeches always just seem on the verge of unintentionally funny. Reeves just doesn't seem like the right choice to play such a hardcore executive - although I can understand why he was paired with "Advocate" star Theron again, the two simply don't generate as much chemistry here as they did in that film. I suppose that it's partly because Theron seems to be trying harder at her role than Reeves does with his.
A few other things got in the way of the movie's success: the fact that the first hour drags is one of the more intense problems. The movie's opening hour is quite slow and pacing doesn't get much better during the second hour, when things become rather sappy. "Sweet November" is pretty to look at with it's lovely cinematography of the San Fransisco locations and not entirely heavy with Christopher Young's appropriate score, but it just never connects as a romance and it turns manipulative and depressing towards the second half.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Sweet November" is presented by Warner Brothers in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. This is a fine presentation from Warner Brothers and from many companies, I would be pleased. Yet, in comparison to some of the studio's recent work, this comes up a little bit short. Sharpness and detail are quite good; the picture does have a bit of an intentionally "soft" feel, but the picture still looks well-defined. This isn't one of those movies that goes so "romantically soft" that the picture begins to look hazy.
A few minor flaws do pop up during the film, but nothing that's too distracting. Some slight edge enhancement appears during a few scenes, as do a couple of minor traces of pixelation. On the good side, I noticed no print flaws - the picture seemed completely clean of marks, scratches or even speckles. Colors appeared natural and often beautiful, as the San Fransisco scenery provided plenty of attractive looking backgrounds. A very nice presentation, although with a few bumps.
SOUND: Going into "Sweet November", I wasn't expecting a great deal. The film mainly takes place in interiors and, as a romance, the film doesn't have a great deal of use for the surrounds. What I got was still rather simple, but a little bit over what I was expecting. The majority of the movie still revolves around the conversations between the characters, but the exteriors do open up nicely to reveal some ambient sounds and subtle details. Besides the ambient sounds, the surrounds do occasionally offer the score. One of the few scenes of brief activity was an amusing sequence where a submarine takes out some sailboats in a race. Audio quality seemed fine; dialogue and Chistopher Young's score both came through clearly and naturally, and the few ambient sounds were convincing and realistic. Not remarkable, but nicer than I'd expected.
MENUS:: Basic, non-animated menus livened by the score in the background.
EXTRAS:: 10 minute promotional featurette, trailer, bios.
Final Thoughts: "Sweet November" could have been a nice romance if it was just a romance and didn't take the turn into something more depressing in the second half. It wasn't the least entertaining movie-watching experience that I've had this year, but it wasn't successful or really engaging, either. Warner Brothers presents the movie quite nicely on DVD, with fine audio and video, but only a few minor extras. "Sweet November" may do okay as a date-night rental.
A remake of a 1968 picture that I've never heard of, "Sweet November" reunites "Devil's Advocate" screen couple Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron in a romantic comedy that's part light romance and partially similar to the recent "Autumn in New York". Reeves plays Nelson, an advertising executive who lets his job run his life. He's never not thinking about the next project and few minutes are actually devoted to relaxation or something enjoyable.
After a hilariously over-the-top presentation to a client, he gets fired. For the past few days, he's been finding himself followed by Sara Deever (Charlize Theron), a free-spirited young woman who either could be unusually sweet or completely nuts or a little bit of both. Her offer: be her November - let her make over his life and bring out the joy of life that he's been missing. He's incredibly defensive at first, wondering what she wants from him.
Eventually, he seems to figure that it's just nutty enough to work (plus, he gets to have sex with her, so he's not complaining, either.). Why she does this has been revealed in the trailers and I won't go into details. Theron is quite good in the role and she's believably sweet and light - she seems like she might be that way in real life. Reeves is not as successful as Nelson - his attempts at intense speeches always just seem on the verge of unintentionally funny. Reeves just doesn't seem like the right choice to play such a hardcore executive - although I can understand why he was paired with "Advocate" star Theron again, the two simply don't generate as much chemistry here as they did in that film. I suppose that it's partly because Theron seems to be trying harder at her role than Reeves does with his.
A few other things got in the way of the movie's success: the fact that the first hour drags is one of the more intense problems. The movie's opening hour is quite slow and pacing doesn't get much better during the second hour, when things become rather sappy. "Sweet November" is pretty to look at with it's lovely cinematography of the San Fransisco locations and not entirely heavy with Christopher Young's appropriate score, but it just never connects as a romance and it turns manipulative and depressing towards the second half.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Sweet November" is presented by Warner Brothers in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. This is a fine presentation from Warner Brothers and from many companies, I would be pleased. Yet, in comparison to some of the studio's recent work, this comes up a little bit short. Sharpness and detail are quite good; the picture does have a bit of an intentionally "soft" feel, but the picture still looks well-defined. This isn't one of those movies that goes so "romantically soft" that the picture begins to look hazy.
A few minor flaws do pop up during the film, but nothing that's too distracting. Some slight edge enhancement appears during a few scenes, as do a couple of minor traces of pixelation. On the good side, I noticed no print flaws - the picture seemed completely clean of marks, scratches or even speckles. Colors appeared natural and often beautiful, as the San Fransisco scenery provided plenty of attractive looking backgrounds. A very nice presentation, although with a few bumps.
SOUND: Going into "Sweet November", I wasn't expecting a great deal. The film mainly takes place in interiors and, as a romance, the film doesn't have a great deal of use for the surrounds. What I got was still rather simple, but a little bit over what I was expecting. The majority of the movie still revolves around the conversations between the characters, but the exteriors do open up nicely to reveal some ambient sounds and subtle details. Besides the ambient sounds, the surrounds do occasionally offer the score. One of the few scenes of brief activity was an amusing sequence where a submarine takes out some sailboats in a race. Audio quality seemed fine; dialogue and Chistopher Young's score both came through clearly and naturally, and the few ambient sounds were convincing and realistic. Not remarkable, but nicer than I'd expected.
MENUS:: Basic, non-animated menus livened by the score in the background.
EXTRAS:: 10 minute promotional featurette, trailer, bios.
Final Thoughts: "Sweet November" could have been a nice romance if it was just a romance and didn't take the turn into something more depressing in the second half. It wasn't the least entertaining movie-watching experience that I've had this year, but it wasn't successful or really engaging, either. Warner Brothers presents the movie quite nicely on DVD, with fine audio and video, but only a few minor extras. "Sweet November" may do okay as a date-night rental.
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