Film review: Addicted to Love (1997), directed by Griffin Dunne
Astronomer Sam (Matthew Broderick) lives in a small town with his beloved schoolteacher Linda (Kelly Preston), whom he wants to marry. She’s getting a bit bored of life in a town where nothing ever happens and goes to New York for a couple of months to teach.
And promptly dumps Sam. Sam is sad.
In fact, Sam decides to go to New York to talk to Linda about it, only to find out she’s now living with a French restaurateur, Anton (Tchéky Karyo). Sam goes ever so slightly bonkers and decides to stalk Linda from the abandoned building across the road, where one day, Anton’s scorned ex Maggie (Meg Ryan) shows up.
Maggie wants Anton back just as much as Sam wants Linda back, so they decide to work together.
(Hands up everyone who can see how this film ends based on that description?)
While I thought it was an amusing yet bizarre romantic comedy, I can’t drop the whole stalker issue. I mean, for goodness sake! You’re in love with someone, you get dumped. It happens. You don’t take out all your savings and move into a condemned building across the road just to spy on your now ex with their new partner!
Come to think of it, it’s very much like French Kiss, except they never go to France and charm-biscuit Kevin Kline isn’t in it. I didn’t get Meg Ryan’s character in that either, because she too seemed to lose her mind over a guy dumping her.
I mean, ever heard of just moving on with your life? Sure, you might go to your ex and say “hey, what’s up? I thought we had something good going on” but you don’t stalk them to desperately try getting them back. You don’t suppose the old adage is true – if you lose one, there’s plenty more fish in the sea and all that? If they dump you it’s not as if you were soul mates anyway, because if you were you wouldn’t split up. No?
And that kind of puts a damper on things. Considering that, the film just becomes a story of two mentally ill people with nothing better to do. And I’d rather not, you know? Plus I didn’t particularly like the characters.
3 out of 5 telescopes.
