Before Lasse Hallström became known for pairing blonde girls with hunky white dudes in Nicholas Sparks adaptations like Safe Haven and Dear John he did some really solid work directing movies like The Cider House Rules and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. It seems like he has a soft spot for romance stories, and these can be hit or miss, perhaps depending on the source material. He had a pretty big romantic hit that was actually really good thanks to some religious themes with Chocolat, and more recently, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, a story of a less conventional romance that works well because it has more going for it than just a cheesy Hollywood couple formation ending.
The entire movie centers around this idea of finding joy and happiness and sometimes success in incredibly unexpected contexts, hence the whole deal with salmon fishing and they’re in Yemen and all that. It’s a preposterous experiment conducted by this visionary sheikh, questioned all along the way by Ewan McGregor as Dr. Jones. It’s Dr. Jones’ first off-putting and eventually charming social awkwardness that ties the story together, when his doubts about the salmon experiment are assuaged by the sheikh’s confidence and then his relationship with Emily Blunt comes together at the end and you just go ohhh, that’s as unlikely as the salmon swimming! But it worked out! It does this with enough self-awareness that I found it sweet and different from the usual romantic cheese. The bureaucratic storyline also provides some big laughs.
Am I leaving anything out? Share your own picks for genre-defying (i.e. not terrible) romantic comedies in the comments section below.
Published: Feb 14, 2013 12:13 pm