by Josh Sewell
For more than a decade, I’ve occasionally used this column for a series called Catching Up on the Classics. I focus on an iconic film that I either haven’t seen or one that I’ve wanted to write about for a while. Over the years, I’ve discussed movies like Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane, The Apartment, Vertigo, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Do the Right Thing and When Harry Met Sally…
Since we’re less than a week from Valentine’s Day, I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to write about another one of the all-time romantic comedies: 1990’s Pretty Woman. Directed by Garry Marshall, the late-20th century update of Cinderella turned Julia Roberts into a superstar and provided a career resurgence for 1980s leading man Richard Gere.
Because we’re in an era when the vast majority of romcoms go straight to streaming services like Netflix and Hulu – if studios can be bothered to care about the genre at all – it’s hard to convey what a massive hit Pretty Woman was at the box office. Shot on a then-substantial budget of $14 million, Marshall’s film took in more than $463 million worldwide once you adjust for inflation. Not quite Marvel money, but it’s still astounding to see a movie without masked heroes and CGI overload put up those kinds of numbers.
Not only that, Pretty Woman went on to influence pop culture in various ways for decades to come. When CDs and cassettes were still a thing (remember those?), the soundtrack sold approximately seven million copies worldwide and has since been certified triple platinum.
In addition to songs by Natalie Cole, David Bowie, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Peter Cetera, the album breathed new life into Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman,” the 1964 tune that inspired the film’s title. It launched Roxette’s “It Must Have Been Love” to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1990 – even though it was nearly three years old by that point.
The soundtrack also features Go West’s “King of Wishful Thinking,” a warm slice of cheesy ’90s goodness that refuses to leave your brain for hours once you’ve heard it. The music video was so memorable that Jimmy Fallon and Paul Rudd did a shot-for-shot remake on The Tonight Show in 2018. Coincidentally, that’s the same year Pretty Woman: The Musical debuted on Broadway. And that’s not even getting into the various fashion trends, not-so-subtle homages, loose remakes and reunions we’ve seen in the 33 years since.
So, is the movie itself worth all that adoration? In short, yes. Pretty Woman isn’t exactly a cinematic masterpiece, but even when you strip away the nostalgia it’s a sweet, simple story powered by a breakthrough performance from Roberts so undeniable it earned the 21-year-old actress her second Oscar nomination. (The first was for Steel Magnolias the year prior). Gere might get top billing because he was a bigger star at the time, but this is clearly her show.
The plot is straightforward: corporate raider Edward (Gere) gets lost in a bad part of L.A. and asks proverbial “hooker with a heart of gold” Vivian (Roberts) for directions. She refuses to help unless he hands over some cash, a shrewd move that appeals to his business acumen. They hit it off on the way back to his fancy hotel – their scorching chemistry evident from the start – and he decides to hire her as arm candy for several events he attends while trying to close a billion-dollar deal. Try to guess if they overcome their wildly different backgrounds and fall in love.
Several moments in Pretty Woman became instantly iconic: the reveal of Roberts’ famously gorgeous red hair; the Rodeo Drive shopping montage (“Big mistake. Big. Huge.”); the unplanned moment when Edward closes the jewelry case on Vivian’s hand (Robert’s shocked laugh is genuine); the flying escargot (“It happens all the time.”); and the epically romantic finale, when Edward/Prince Charming overcomes his fear of heights and scales Vivian’s balcony/fire escape – as she lets down her hair, Rapunzel-style – to finally declare his love.
Despite Vivian’s profession, a couple of steamy scenes and some rough language, there’s a reason this reworked fairy tale impacted so many viewers who likely would’ve deemed themselves too old for such kid’s stuff. Chalk it up to brilliant rebranding: the romcom was distributed via Touchstone Pictures, an arm of Walt Disney Studios created to release films targeted to adult audiences with more mature themes and darker tones. In other words, in a very real sense, Vivian is an R-rated Disney princess.
Don’t believe me? The studio found a way to make even more money by doing a loose, kid-friendly remake, utilizing a lot of the same people. That would be 2001’s The Princess Diaries, which made Anne Hathaway a superstar, much like Roberts. Once again directed by Marshall, the cute comedy features another iconic makeover scene utilizing the same actor – Larry Miller – from a similar moment in Pretty Woman.
The same goes for Hector Elizondo, who serves as something of a “fairy godfather” for the protagonists of both movies (Barney the hotel owner in Pretty Woman, Joe the limo driver in The Princess Diaries). We even get a recreation of the former flick’s restaurant mishap, with the same actor – Allan Kent – playing a server who reassures Hathaway’s character with a familiar line.
Although a Pretty Woman sequel never materialized (probably a good thing), Roberts, Gere and Marshall did reunite for 1999’s Runaway Bride. Although it’s cute and allows Gere to cut loose more than he did as the stiff, cold Edward, it’s nowhere near as magical as the team’s original collaboration. Pretty Woman is the epitome of lightning in a bottle: imitated countless times over the decades, but never duplicated.
Pretty Woman is rated R for sexuality and some language.
Grade: B+
Since we’re less than a week from Valentine’s Day, I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to write about another one of the all-time romantic comedies: 1990’s Pretty Woman. Directed by Garry Marshall, the late-20th century update of Cinderella turned Julia Roberts into a superstar and provided a career resurgence for 1980s leading man Richard Gere.
Because we’re in an era when the vast majority of romcoms go straight to streaming services like Netflix and Hulu – if studios can be bothered to care about the genre at all – it’s hard to convey what a massive hit Pretty Woman was at the box office. Shot on a then-substantial budget of $14 million, Marshall’s film took in more than $463 million worldwide once you adjust for inflation. Not quite Marvel money, but it’s still astounding to see a movie without masked heroes and CGI overload put up those kinds of numbers.
Not only that, Pretty Woman went on to influence pop culture in various ways for decades to come. When CDs and cassettes were still a thing (remember those?), the soundtrack sold approximately seven million copies worldwide and has since been certified triple platinum.
In addition to songs by Natalie Cole, David Bowie, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Peter Cetera, the album breathed new life into Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman,” the 1964 tune that inspired the film’s title. It launched Roxette’s “It Must Have Been Love” to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1990 – even though it was nearly three years old by that point.
The soundtrack also features Go West’s “King of Wishful Thinking,” a warm slice of cheesy ’90s goodness that refuses to leave your brain for hours once you’ve heard it. The music video was so memorable that Jimmy Fallon and Paul Rudd did a shot-for-shot remake on The Tonight Show in 2018. Coincidentally, that’s the same year Pretty Woman: The Musical debuted on Broadway. And that’s not even getting into the various fashion trends, not-so-subtle homages, loose remakes and reunions we’ve seen in the 33 years since.
So, is the movie itself worth all that adoration? In short, yes. Pretty Woman isn’t exactly a cinematic masterpiece, but even when you strip away the nostalgia it’s a sweet, simple story powered by a breakthrough performance from Roberts so undeniable it earned the 21-year-old actress her second Oscar nomination. (The first was for Steel Magnolias the year prior). Gere might get top billing because he was a bigger star at the time, but this is clearly her show.
The plot is straightforward: corporate raider Edward (Gere) gets lost in a bad part of L.A. and asks proverbial “hooker with a heart of gold” Vivian (Roberts) for directions. She refuses to help unless he hands over some cash, a shrewd move that appeals to his business acumen. They hit it off on the way back to his fancy hotel – their scorching chemistry evident from the start – and he decides to hire her as arm candy for several events he attends while trying to close a billion-dollar deal. Try to guess if they overcome their wildly different backgrounds and fall in love.
Several moments in Pretty Woman became instantly iconic: the reveal of Roberts’ famously gorgeous red hair; the Rodeo Drive shopping montage (“Big mistake. Big. Huge.”); the unplanned moment when Edward closes the jewelry case on Vivian’s hand (Robert’s shocked laugh is genuine); the flying escargot (“It happens all the time.”); and the epically romantic finale, when Edward/Prince Charming overcomes his fear of heights and scales Vivian’s balcony/fire escape – as she lets down her hair, Rapunzel-style – to finally declare his love.
Despite Vivian’s profession, a couple of steamy scenes and some rough language, there’s a reason this reworked fairy tale impacted so many viewers who likely would’ve deemed themselves too old for such kid’s stuff. Chalk it up to brilliant rebranding: the romcom was distributed via Touchstone Pictures, an arm of Walt Disney Studios created to release films targeted to adult audiences with more mature themes and darker tones. In other words, in a very real sense, Vivian is an R-rated Disney princess.
Don’t believe me? The studio found a way to make even more money by doing a loose, kid-friendly remake, utilizing a lot of the same people. That would be 2001’s The Princess Diaries, which made Anne Hathaway a superstar, much like Roberts. Once again directed by Marshall, the cute comedy features another iconic makeover scene utilizing the same actor – Larry Miller – from a similar moment in Pretty Woman.
The same goes for Hector Elizondo, who serves as something of a “fairy godfather” for the protagonists of both movies (Barney the hotel owner in Pretty Woman, Joe the limo driver in The Princess Diaries). We even get a recreation of the former flick’s restaurant mishap, with the same actor – Allan Kent – playing a server who reassures Hathaway’s character with a familiar line.
Although a Pretty Woman sequel never materialized (probably a good thing), Roberts, Gere and Marshall did reunite for 1999’s Runaway Bride. Although it’s cute and allows Gere to cut loose more than he did as the stiff, cold Edward, it’s nowhere near as magical as the team’s original collaboration. Pretty Woman is the epitome of lightning in a bottle: imitated countless times over the decades, but never duplicated.
Pretty Woman is rated R for sexuality and some language.
Grade: B+
Reach out to Josh Sewell on Twitter @IAmJoshSewell
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