I Love Trouble (1994)

Salute to Journalism Movie #2

Synopsis: Pretty Woman and old fart investigate a train wreck. Well, two if you include the I Love Trouble screenplay.

Blurb From the VHS Jacket: “Screen favourites Julia Roberts (Pretty Woman, The Pelican Brief) and Nick Nolte (48 Hours, Cape Fear) team up to deliver high-voltage star power to this action-packed comedy hit! Roberts and Nolte are Chicago reporters working in hot competition – and she’s not about to give him a break.”

What Did I Learn?: Apparently, brand new cub reporters are provided with unlimited expense accounts, can travel across the USA without checking in with the office, and might even see their mugs plastered all over the newspaper delivery trucks if they file a few good stories early on.

You Might Like This Movie If: You enjoy seeing your favourite early 1990s stars in deep, deep trouble.

Really?: 1) I guess you can’t hit anything with a submachine gun, even if you’re a professional assassin. 2) So wait...Roberts and Nolte keep finding dead bodies, and neither of them ever think to call the cops and report the stiffs? 3) So, the criminal mastermind is a political fixer, and Nolte knows the guy? Gee...that’s convenient. 4) Don’t these two ever work on other stories besides the train derailment? 4) Has the Wisconsin dairy industry ever been known to engage in dirty pool, let along murder and arson? And why are they so gung-ho in protecting their bovine growth hormone if they know it leads to cancer in humans and they’ll face mega-billion dollar lawsuits in years to come?

Rating: I Love Trouble is a nice, little romantic comedy that’s severely undermined by a heavily-contrived script (Nolte and Roberts are forced into a cheeseball Vegas wedding ceremony to avoid a contract killer, for crying out loud!) and a lack of romantic chemistry between the two leads – Nolte is just too old for sweet Julia. The film does its best to channel Tracy-Hepburn, but it instead feels more like the final season of Moonlighting, when the charm was long gone and Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd both wanted to move on. 6/10 stars.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110093/