Pretty Woman
1 Oscar Nominations·National Film Registry
Rent/Purchase
Vivian is a carefree, streetwise diamond in the rough when she meets sophisticated billionaire Edward in a chance encounter that turns into a week-long business arrangement. But Vivian's energetic spirit challenges Edward's no-nonsense approach to life, and soon they are teaching each other – and falling in love!
What critics thought
DivisivePretty Woman landed with mixed reviews in 1990, with critics split roughly along the lines of whether its romantic charm could paper over its troubling premise. Audiences adored it far more than critics did, and even some of those original detractors have softened over the decades — the film's cultural staying power outlasting its initial reception by a wide margin.
“In the insidious Pretty Woman, all women who aren't explicitly identified as tramps are gold-digging wives or snooty shopkeepers. It's the kind of working-class fantasy that wants the men in the audience to identify with a ruthless corporate pirate (Richard Gere) and the woman to identify with a simple but grandhearted streetwalker (Julia Roberts), who, given a chance, could be a lady's lady....The attempted laughs (few succeed) are at her expense.”
Gary Giddins·Natural Selection: Gary Giddins on Comedy, Film, Music and Books
“starts out as a neo-Pygmalion comedy”
Entertainment Weekly
“a particularly romantic kind of love, the sort you hardly see in the movies these days. [It] protects its fragile love story in the midst of cynicism and compromise.”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“Despite this quintessentially late 80's outlook, and despite a covetousness and underlying misogyny that bring Mr. Marshall's earlier 'Overboard' to mind, 'Pretty Woman' manages to be giddy, lighthearted escapism much of the time.”
Janet Maslin·The New York Times
“wasn't a love story, it was a money story. Its logic depended on a disconnect between character and narrative, between image and meaning, between money and value, and that made it not cluelessly traditional but thoroughly postmodern.”
Carina Chocano·The New York Times
Genres
Comedy, Romance
Cast & Crew
DirectorGarry Marshall
StarringJulia Roberts, Richard Gere, Ralph Bellamy, Jason Alexander, Laura San Giacomo
ComposerJames Newton Howard
Pretty Woman
1 Oscar Nominations·National Film Registry
Vivian is a carefree, streetwise diamond in the rough when she meets sophisticated billionaire Edward in a chance encounter that turns into a week-long business arrangement. But Vivian's energetic spirit challenges Edward's no-nonsense approach to life, and soon they are teaching each other – and falling in love!
What critics thought
DivisivePretty Woman landed with mixed reviews in 1990, with critics split roughly along the lines of whether its romantic charm could paper over its troubling premise. Audiences adored it far more than critics did, and even some of those original detractors have softened over the decades — the film's cultural staying power outlasting its initial reception by a wide margin.
“In the insidious Pretty Woman, all women who aren't explicitly identified as tramps are gold-digging wives or snooty shopkeepers. It's the kind of working-class fantasy that wants the men in the audience to identify with a ruthless corporate pirate (Richard Gere) and the woman to identify with a simple but grandhearted streetwalker (Julia Roberts), who, given a chance, could be a lady's lady....The attempted laughs (few succeed) are at her expense.”
Gary Giddins·Natural Selection: Gary Giddins on Comedy, Film, Music and Books
“starts out as a neo-Pygmalion comedy”
Entertainment Weekly
“a particularly romantic kind of love, the sort you hardly see in the movies these days. [It] protects its fragile love story in the midst of cynicism and compromise.”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“Despite this quintessentially late 80's outlook, and despite a covetousness and underlying misogyny that bring Mr. Marshall's earlier 'Overboard' to mind, 'Pretty Woman' manages to be giddy, lighthearted escapism much of the time.”
Janet Maslin·The New York Times
“wasn't a love story, it was a money story. Its logic depended on a disconnect between character and narrative, between image and meaning, between money and value, and that made it not cluelessly traditional but thoroughly postmodern.”
Carina Chocano·The New York Times
Genres
Comedy, Romance
Cast & Crew
DirectorGarry Marshall
StarringJulia Roberts, Richard Gere, Ralph Bellamy, Jason Alexander, Laura San Giacomo
ComposerJames Newton Howard
Rent/Purchase