Pretty Woman (1990) * * *

 

Directed by:  Garry Marshall

Starring:  Richard Gere, Julia Roberts, Hector Elizondo, Ralph Bellamy, Laura San Giacomo, Jason Alexander

Pretty Woman was originally written as a harrowing drama involving a prostitute in 1980's Los Angeles.  Thank goodness it was converted to a romantic comedy, although it retains an edge because its two leads play jaded characters who cynically don't believe in the possibility of romance.  One is a hooker and one is a corporate raider who makes a fortune off of buying companies and selling off the parts.  As Edward Lewis (Gere) tells Vivian (Roberts), "We are the same type of person.  We screw people for money,"  

Edward breaks up with his live-in girlfriend over a brief phone discussion which Edward handles like many others.  He leaves a party with a flashy stick-shift car which he can't drive, gets lost on the Sunset Strip, and pays Vivian ten dollars to lead him to his hotel.  She even takes the wheel, displays vehicle knowledge, and Edward likes her.  He pays her three hundred dollars for her company for the rest of the night, although sex is the furthest thing from his mind.  He is plotting a takeover of a shipbuilder (Bellamy) who founded the company and planned to leave to his grandson upon his retirement.  Edward admires the man, but to him, it's all about business.  People be damned.  

Edward hires Vivian for $3,000 to be at his beck and call for a week.  There is sex involved because he's human and Vivian is wide-eyed, young, and attractive.  There is also something more:  Edward and Vivian begin to relate to each other and open up, discussing personal matters of which they've never spoken to anyone else, and each grows and changes.  Edward starts to see people as not commodities, but human beings, and Vivian realizes there may be a life outside of prostitution.  

Director Garry Marshall was wise to turn this material into an unlikely romantic comedy set amongst the unfeeling and cold corporate world.  Edward's right-hand man, Philip Stuckey (Alexander), is a bigger shark than even Edward who makes it his business to interfere in Edward's relationship with Vivian.  She is making him soft, he thinks, which could blow the whole deal and millions of dollars for him.   The key to the movie's success is Gere's and Roberts' abundance of chemistry, which elevates the movie from being a simple romcom.  There are depths to each character which Gere and Roberts plumb for all they're worth.  The movie itself transcends into something special.