Some Kind Of Beautiful (2014)

Malcolm McDowell in a single movie but I bet you haven’t heard of it. After seeing this, I am sure each of them are quite glad this has slipped you by. With such a beautiful cast, this romantic comedy had so much potential.

We have Mr Brosnan, playing Richard the Cambridge literary professor who teaches the classic romantics, following in his fathers footsteps Mr McDowell. Both would be considered womanizers – don’t think twice about hopping in the sack with their students.

Enter Ms. Alba, playing Kate, the American-in-Britain-studying student who beds Richard and they finally make a long term relationship (6 months!) resulting in Kate getting pregnant. Oops.

Arranging to meet Kate’s father in a London hotel, he bumps into Ms Hayek, Olivia, who he flirts with at the bar, but turns out to be Kate’s half sister. Oops number 2.

So they move to America and the setup of course, that eventually Kate falls out of love with the older man and instead sets up shop with a co-worker that eventually move in together, leaving Richard to live in the guest house so they can bring up their son together.

Olivia enters the fray again, this time kindling stirrings in each other that results in them dancing around one another until the dead is done and they are in love. Except now he gets deported, for messing up his green card application.

blaaaaaaah

There are some moments of humor, the odd line, the odd setup, but they are so few and far between it isn’t worth waiting for. There is a rather comical scene that shows off the excellent (20 year old) body of Hayek, who was 49 at the time of making this movie. Which brings me onto the casting of this story – it is all over the place.

We have Brosnan, who is 62. Alba who is 34, Hayek at 49, and McDowell who is 72. It just doesn’t make sense, not even numerically but on screen it looks out of whack. McDowell is putting on an awful Yorkshire accent to make him look more crusty than he is, and doesn’t fit the Cambridge professor archetype at all (excusing the fact playing a dad to a son only 10 years his junior!).

The trailer, if I am honest, didn’t scream ‘oh what have i missed’, so I was already underwhelmed before going into this one. But forever the optimist I had high hopes they were holding back saving the best bits for the actual movie. Nope.