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Comments Posted 06.25.09 | PERMALINK | PRINT

Alexandra Lange

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do


We already have a no Spielberg policy in our house. It was the one-two punch of Minority Report and A.I., the former nonsensical, the latter queasily sentimental, both about 45 minutes too long, that caused the ban to come into effect. I think that I now need to effect my own Rom Com ban. Many funny women have noted how unfunny, how misogynistic, and how lazy romantic comedy has become. I noted it in passing in my sheepish review of He’s Just Not That Into You. But Confessions of a Shopaholic is the straw that broke the desperately-yearning-for-a-nice-squishy-evening-of-banter-and-fashion camel’s back. Isla Fisher had no discernable personality or sense. Hugh Dancy’s attraction to her was sudden, unfounded, and unbelievable. I hated almost all of her clothes, except the purple ruffly dress she wears for her comeuppance. There were zero funny lines. The plot didn’t even make sense. All the scenes in magazines couldn’t have been more unrealistic if they tried. I could go on, but I won’t. I am happy for Sandra Bullock, a real star and apparently a really nice person, that The Proposal was the #1 movie in America last weekend, but I will not rent it on DVD. I will not order it on Pay-Per-View. I will not. I will not.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alexandra Lange is an architecture and design critic, and author of Writing about Architecture: Mastering the Language of Buildings and Cities. (Princeton Architectural Press, 2012). Her work has appeared in The Architect's Newspaper, Architectural Record, Dwell, Metropolis, Print, New York Magazine and The New York Times.
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DESIGN OBSERVER JOBS









BOOKS BY Alexandra Lange

Writing About Architecture: Mastering the Language of Buildings and Cities
Princeton Architectural Press, 2012

Design Research
Chronicle Books, 2010

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