We asked Playhouse staff to share their favorite romantic movie as we celebrate Valentine’s Day. Bring your Valentine to the Playhouse on Feb 14 for Bell Book & Candle – more info on the evening is here.
Moonstruck
Jennifer Pace, Development Manager
“You look beautiful.” “You look beautiful too.” These superlatives shared in front of the (old) fountain at Lincoln Center by Ronny Cammareri (Nicholas Cage), upon seeing his breathtaking date, Loretta Castorini (Cher), who bashfully reciprocates the sentiment always makes me smile, and giggle a little too. It charmingly displays the essence of two people smitten with one another early on in their relationship. It also doesn’t hurt that these lines are delivered in their best 80’s Brooklyn accents. For me, Moonstruck is a year round failsafe love story. There is tenderness everywhere you look: from Johnny Cammareri and his ailing Mother, Loretta’s Grandfather (“Old Man”) and his dogs, the poor girl at the bakery with her unrequited feelings for Ronny Cammareri, to the couple who run the Sweetheart Liquor Store and of course Ronny and Loretta. There’s also all of the complicated, messy, and sad parts of love that make this story incredibly real and incredibly rewatchable.
She’s Having a Baby
Dan Friedman, Artistic Director
When John Hughes started making “grown-up” movies in the late 1980’s it was a sign that adolescence was over and it was time to start thinking like an adult. Nowhere is this more evident than in the movie that finds its way to our Blu-ray player every Valentine’s Day – She’s Having A Baby. Released the year I graduated from high school, it had been up to a certain point just another romantic comedy but when I met my wife in college and started “introducing” her to all of my favorite movies, which she generously tolerated, this is the one that somehow stuck around even though it was years before we were married or she had a baby. There’s something about Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth McGovern that’s completely relatable and perhaps inspired daydreams that one day we too would have a 3-bedroom mortgage and lawnmower without a plastic flywheel (Not for nothing, it’s because of this film that I’ve never really been able to watch Downton Abbey because Elizabeth McGovern is supposed to be married to Kevin Bacon, not some English Lord). And it’s not completely without pathos. Although played for laughs, the couple’s struggles with conception are both laugh out loud funny and depressing at the same time. Looking back now it’s become a piece of nostalgia with an awesome soundtrack but some things are in fact universal. Pretty heady stuff from the guy who gave us Weird Science.
Phantom Thread
Sean Quinn, Theater Operations Manager
“Was this an ambush? Were you sent here to ruin my entire evening, possibly my entire life!?”
Reynolds Woodcock is a pristine dressmaker in period piece London. His M/O is a ladies man always with the same agenda. Date them, be with them and then lose interest. This is how life is until he meets Alma. Alma seems to be just like the others but there’s a difference, she is insatiably in love with Reynolds and doesn’t want to share him with anyone else, including Reynolds’ hard willed assistant sister, Cyril. Reynolds has never married, which is seen as odd being a bachelor at his age. He appears to love Alma as well and they may end up together, but being happily ever after is a drastic decision that must be made by Reynolds…and Alma.
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Cast: Daniel Day Lewis, Vicky Kreips, Lesley Manville
Year: 2017
Note: Daniel Day Lewis may it very clear that this would be his final film before entering retirement
Say Anything
Seth Rothschild, Operations Director
In addition to the stellar soundtrack (which features the Replacements twice), it features a very sweet and tender scene as Lloyd helps Diane navigate the terror of flying, without any judgment. Although very simple and perfectly written, it is very profound as it shows what love should/could look like. Written with the same attention and care the two characters show each other.
INT. PLANE – DAY
C.U. Lloyd and Diane’s hands, clasped together. There is a
sound.
LLOYD
Wing adjustment.
The plane takes off.
It’s like a big rollercoaster. Everybody likes rollercoasters,
right? Blink twice if you’re fine.
DIANE
I’m fine.
LLOYD
Okay, good, this is all very noble.
There is another noise, and the plane shakes slightly.
Very standard for a seven forty-seven.
DIANE
Okay.
LLOYD
Alright, high level air safety tips. If anything happens, it’ll
usually be in the first five minutes of the flight, right?
DIANE
Okay.
LLOYD
So when you hear the smoking sign go ‘ding’, you know
everything’s going to be okay.
DIANE
Good to know.
LLOYD
Right, I’m just going to keep talking until that ding happens,
which is going to be soon.
DIANE
Okay.
LLOYD
Alright, personalised flight care from Corey. Books, cassettes,
magazines, anything?
DIANE
Not right now, thanks.
Diane suddenly kisses Lloyd. The old woman next to Diane is
staring at them.
LLOYD
How’s it going?
DIANE
Nobody thought we’d do this. Nobody really thinks it’s going to
work, do they?
LLOYD
No. You just described every great success story. Alright, it’s
alright.
DIANE
I know.
They look at the smoking sign.
Where’s the ding?
LLOYD
It’s coming… any second now… any second now.
The ding sounds.
BLACKOUT.
CREDITS ROLL.
When Harry Met Sally
Courtney Walker, Communications Consultant
“I’m too structured, I’m completely closed off.” – Sally Albright
“But in a good way.” – Harry Burns
Is it my love of Harry Connick Jr’s soundtrack or the backdrop of autumn in NY (my favorite season in Manhattan)? It’s those things and more (cue Katz’s Deli scene, IYKYK) – brought together by the perfectly paired writer-director duo of Rob Reiner and Nora Ephron. Sally Albright and Harry Burns take us on a years-long journey of looking for love while exploring the age-old question “can men and women just be friends?” The witty romantic love story has also stood the test of time, bringing in new fans nearly 35 years later.
“I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.” -Harry Burns
Humorous and heartfelt, treat yourself to this classic Rom-com this Valentine’s Day.
Sleepless in Seattle
Toni-Ann Marinaccio, Rentals & Events Manager
I have to say my favorite movie, whether it’s Valentine’s Day, or any day… Is Sleepless in Seattle. I love that movie!
It came out in 1993 when I was single, working and living in Manhattan. It gave me hope that I would find my soulmate somewhere in New York City, and possibly at the top of the Empire State Building!! Ha!
It’s the quintessential, romantic, comedy and love story that never gets old.
An Affair to Remember
MJ Weintraub, Chief Development Officer
One of my all-time favorite films. A 1957 American romance film starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr.
Love this movie and tearing up just writing about it!
A man and a woman have a romance while on a cruise from Europe to New York. Despite being engaged to other people, both agree to reunite at the top of the Empire State Building in six months.
However, an unfortunate accident keeps Terry (Deborah Kerr) from the reunion, leaving her unable to walk. Nickie (Cary Grant) fears that she has married or does not love him anymore.
At the end of the movie, Nickie shows up on Christmas Eve for a surprise visit and tries to coax her into explaining why she never showed up, and Terry dodges the subject, never leaving the couch where she is covered with a blanket draped around her legs.
He gives Terry a shawl that Janou (his grandmother, who has died, left for her) and as he is leaving, Nickie mentions a painting on which he had been working when they first met, and that it was just given away to a woman who liked it but had no money. He is about to say that the woman was in a wheelchair when he pauses, suddenly suspecting why Terry has been lying still on the couch. He walks into her bedroom and sees the painting hanging on the wall, realizing that she was the woman in the wheelchair. The film ends with the two in a tight embrace as Terry says, “If you can paint, I can walk. Anything can happen, don’t you think?
Love Actually
Marie Scanlan, CEO
Love Actually – a holiday movie, but obviously about love. Through a brilliant cast, cleverly intertwined storylines, and well selected soundtrack, Richard Curtis makes you laugh and cry and everything in between. The movie explores the reality that love is complicated, it has so many facets and varieties – unrequited, undeserved, infatuation, mistaken, broken, silly, forbidden, true – and that even when painful or awkward, in the end, love enriches. The characters, while all clichés in one way or another, are completely relatable. A few favorite moments/lines: Liam Neeson’s lovelorn son asking “what could be worse than the total agony of being in love?” *** Alan Rickman’s exchange with Rowan Atkinson while wrapping the telltale gift: “could we be quite quick … certainly sir, just a little flourish … no bloody holly!” *** Colin Firth and Lúcia Moniz’ conversations in Portu/English …”yes, is being my answer.”