Deglamorizing fashion’s glamor girls - STARBYTES by Butch Francisco

The 1954 movie Rear Window is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s greatest works. It is about a magazine photographer (James Stewart) who – after injuring a leg – ends up in a wheelchair in his apartment. To entertain himself, he watches – with the aid of a telephoto lens – all the activities of his neighbors right from his window. Eventually, he becomes convinced that his neighbor (Raymond Burr) has murdered his wife and has her body cut up in pieces.

The currently showing Head Over Heels (it’s a big hit here in Metro Manila) draws inspiration from Rear Window. But instead of going all-out suspense, it turns comedy every chance it gets.

Set in Manhattan, Head Over Heels stars Monica Potter as a painting conservator at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. When she breaks off with her heel of a boyfriend, she finds herself sharing an apartment with four gorgeous models – portrayed by real-life mannequins Sarah O’Hare, Shalom Harlow, Tomiko Fraser and Ivana Milicevic.

It is in her new apartment building where she meets her Prince Charming – a dashing young man (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) who introduces himself to everyone as a fashion executive. Like James Stewart in the Hitchcock thriller, Monica (along with her roommates) also spies on Prinze from her apartment window – until one day, she sees him bludgeon to death a female companion. She immediately reports the incident to the police and this is where the comical suspense show begins.

If Alfred Hitchcock were still alive, I’m not sure how he’d react if he saw Head Over Heels. Would he feel flattered or insulted with this comical take-off from his film? Well, given his wry humor, maybe he’d just get amused with Head Over Heels’ homage to Rear Window.

American film critics, however, are not laughing at Head Over Heels’ comic scenes. Most of them have panned this film to death.

In contrast, local reviewers have been kinder to this movie. Colleague Mario Bautista found it funny and said so in his column in a popular tabloid. He just cautioned everyone not to take this movie seriously.

Head Over Heels is indeed hilarious in most parts. It has a lot of one-liners that could send you laughing down the aisle.

The humor, however, does not necessarily come from lead stars Monica Potter and Freddie Prinze, Jr. Freddie, in fact, does not contribute much to this film in terms of comedy. But it can’t be denied that he is Prinze Charming to most young girls and this, I suppose, was one of the reasons why this movie became a big box-office hit.

Monica Potter (of Patch Adams fame) does her part in making Head Over Heels a comedic success. But while you watch her go through her scenes in the movie, somehow she strikes you as a bargain-basement version of Julia Roberts. I don’t know if this is intentional on her part – to be a copycat of the Oscar Award-winning actress, that is. But she even sounds like Julia Roberts – don’t you think?

Anyway, here in Head Over Heels, there are scenes where she is completely upstaged by her supermodel co-stars – particularly Sarah O’Hare.

What makes the comic scenes of the fashion models work is the fact that these goddesses of the runway can laugh at themselves and at their profession. In this film, these glamorous ladies are pictured as conceited and self-centered creatures that bask in the adulation of less-blessed mortals. But most of them (if not all) are hopeless air-brains – so there’s really not much to envy about them.

And to finally knock them down from their pedestal, these supermodels – in one scene – even get bathed in a fountain of (ugh!) feces straight from the toilet bowl.

If there’s one thing I resent about this movie, it is the fact that it goes overboard with its toilet humor. But I have to admit that there was one – with the models witnessing Prinze’ act of defecating – that was quite hilarious. Revolting, but funny.

There are also other parts in Head Over Heels that are hopelessly formulaic – scenes that have been done many times over in hundreds of other romantic comedies.

Head Over Heels – for sure – is lightweight. But it does not pretend to be anything other than that.

The movie is just fun and entertaining. But it’s not a great comedy. Maybe you’ll fall in love with it. But definitely not head over heels.