Cinerant

Casanova

Who would’ve thunk that 2005 would be the year that Heath Ledger would prove to the world he could be a serious actor?  As Oscar season comes hurtling towards an inevitability (start practicing the phrase Academy Award Winner Reese Witherspoon), Ledger is one of the clear favorites to win an Oscar for his performance as the self-loathing cowboy Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain.  While that is clearly the film that proves his talent and puts him on the map, it’s his title turn in Lasse Halstrom’s romantic comedy Casanova that solidifies the fact that Brokeback isn’t a fluke.  

While Casanova isn’t quite to the level of the Swedish director’s best films like My Life as a Dog or The Cider House Rules, it’s worlds better than Chocolat or The Shipping News.  Still, it’s a delightful romantic comedy that puts Lena Olin and Oliver Platt to excellent use.  The tale is a comedy of errors and mistaken identities that continually amuse, though are innocuous and completely unchallenging.  Ledger piles on the charm and forces you to like Casanova and his womanizing antics, whether they be plundering a nunnery, or deciding upon a whim, who his future wife is going to be.  

Tabloid fodder Sienna Miller doesn’t fare as strongly as her more established co-stars, but at least she doesn’t look as miserable as Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons.  Irons looks absolutely miserable the entire time.  Maybe it’s the ridiculous headpiece he has to wear, or maybe he just wonders if he’s ever going to get another shot at repeating his Reversal of Fortune Oscar win.  Whatever the case may be, he really does appear to want to be somewhere else.  

While Casanova isn’t going to win lots of above-the-line awards or be the most memorable movie in the world, it is fun and a fulfilling romantic comedy.  Definitely better than Rumor Has It.  

posted by cinegod @ 12:30 AM