Tuesday, February 20, 2018

"Roman Holiday" (Thing 1)

We watched "Roman Holiday." It's about a princess, Ann, who, on her publicity tour, has finally had enough of her rigid, predictable, overwhelming, and boring schedule. She escapes and runs to explore the streets of Rome, but finds herself exhausted from a sedative a doctor gave her and ends up falling asleep outside. An American reporter finds her and takes her to his apartment to recover, unaware that she's royalty. When he does discover her identity, he joins her on her journey to explore Rome in order to secretly obtain an exclusive interview. But things get complicated when the two end up falling for each other.

I'd only ever seen Audrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady," so I really liked getting to see her in a role that's pretty much the opposite of Eliza Doolittle (Eliza is a common girl learning how to be a high society lady and Ann is a princess learning how to let loose and live a common life). Though the acting in this movie tended to be a little over the top, the characters were enjoyable and entertaining. The story is fairly simple, but there was a lot of humor, which I wasn't necessarily expecting, so it was a nice bonus. I won't give anything away, but the ending went in a direction I didn't anticipate. I'm glad it did, though, since my guess at what the conclusion would be wasn't nearly as interesting as what it actually was. Some may not find it satisfying, but personally, I liked it.

I give this movie



(Actual rating: 3.5). I'd recommend it to anyone looking to watch a fun and simple classic film. Some older movies can be a little dry, but "Roman Holiday" was not one of those movies.

4 comments:

Boquinha said...

Hey, you're right! Opposite of Eliza Doolittle! I hadn't thought of that. Good point.

I agree about the ending. I liked it, too.

Dr. Mark said...

Over-the-top acting seems to be an early requirement for moving pictures. It always helps me enjoy older films when I remind myself of that. I also thought it was cool that we saw a Dalton Trumbo movie after learning about his story. Nice review.

Boquinha said...

Ooooh! Ditto the Trumbo thing. That was pretty awesome!

Siths and Jedis said...

Love reading your thoughts. We had very similar views on it!