Customer Reviews

Ready to Wear

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Robert Altman's 'Pret a Porter' was slammed by critics on its theatrical release for its apparent sprawling, incoherent and superficial nature. But it's a film about the fashion industry. How could it be anything but superficial! Superficial it is, but it is also witty, intelligent, and ravishingly beautiful. And the integration of music with image is up there with the best -- wait for the end credits, as the final fashion parade takes place to Grace Jones's pulsating version of 'La vie en Rose'.

My DVD copy is Region Two, and benefits from anamorphic mastering. But whether anamorphic or not, this DVD demands to be seen. Altman's work ultimately and resoundingly answers his critics, who simply cannot understand the nuances of this great director's work.

I had been looking for this on DVD forever....and a day! So I was never so happy when I found it on Amazon.ca....thank you, thank you, thank you for having it....my Julia DVD collection is now even closer to being completed!!!

I really love everything that has to do with fashion, but this movie was somewhat disappointing. I thought the bit with the "editors" of Vogue, Elle, and Bazaar was funny and as usual Sophia Loren was stunning. However, Julia Roberts was horrible. Watch it, if you don't have anything better to do.

This is one of my favourite films.

Many of the critics of this movie missed the point. This movie is not about plot or characters. Robert Altman does what movies are for; he takes us to another place.

What Altman does is give us a vivid impression of the incestuous whirl of the fashion world. His world is populated by both real designers (as ever spotting them is half the fun). and wonderful performances such as Richard E. Grant as a male Vivienne Westwood.

The movie also effectively transports us to Paris. And yes, Paris really is covered in "Dog Poop" (they were Paris jokes, not Poop jokes).

I think that many of the jokes about Paris, may have gone over the heads of US movie critics who have not set foot outside LA and New York.

One of the reviews of this movie described the fashion shows as "pointless". They were pointless in the same way a Monet is pointless; they were in the movie because they are beautiful.

To summarise, if you love Paris and you love fashion, you will love this. The closing credits of a montage of Issey Miyake and other fashion shows set to Grace Jones' "La Vie En Rose" is worth the price of admission alone.

You know you're in trouble when the camera pulls in for a lingering close-up of dog poop. Then we see someone step in the poop. Hardy-har-har, Bob Altman, are we supposed to split our sides laffin' at this here real sophisticated-like "comedy"?

An earlier reviewer asked if anyone knew why Danny Aiello ends up in drag. Well, I'll tell you why. Altman needed someone to utterly humiliate, and poor Aiello (a wonderful actor savagely mistreated here) gets saddled with the, um, "honors." As do Forest Whitaker and Linda Hunt.

In fact, trashing actors known for their sensitive portrayals in other (and better) films is the closest thing that Ready to Wear has to a plot. The degrading scene between Hunt and Stephen Rea left me feeling contaminated. If the editor Hunt portrays had been a glamorpuss type, then the bit about getting on her knees and pricking her fingers on rose thorns that Rea tosses at her might have been barely amusing. But Linda Hunt is so delicate that you feel protective of her; the physical contrast between her and the strapping Mr. Rea makes this sequence play like an excerpt from a training film for joining the Nazi party. It's disgusting. In its own repellent way, it's nearly as horrific as the dreaded coke bottle in the face nightmare from Altman's The Long Goodbye.

The only performers who transcend this deeply unfunny unforgivable fiasco are Anouk Aimee and Julia Roberts. Aimee alone is treated with dignity; she brings a real poignancy to her role as a successful businesswoman who's being sold up the river. Bob does his best to desecrate Julia but she outfoxes him with her devastating smile. Although her role isn't much, she manages to keep her footing as almost everyone else gets lost in the mudslide.

Or is dog poop??

I saw this movie when it came out on video. I thought I would like it since I was into fashion magazines and knew a lot of the designers' and models' names. I thought, "A movie about fashion and modeling. Cool." Boy, was I wrong. Ready to Wear has got to be one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I saw no point to it at all. I walked out of the room several times while it was playing. I don't even think I let it reach the end before I stopped it. It was boring and pointless. IMHO. If you want to see a good movie about fashion and modeling, watch Funny Face with Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn.

Most critics harped on this movie's lack of "depth" when it originally came out. My question is, how would a comedy with "depth" about the fashion industry play? I'm sure it would be much more unwatchable than the witty display Altman puts on here. Yes, there's too many characters and yes, Altman glides over everything without much development but he directs with a sense a fun and keeps the whole thing smooth and amusing. He's much less judgmental about the fashion industry than a director in his seventies might be: in a movie fillled with star performers and designers, everyone is depicted and even photographed is a very democratic manner even if they're all made out to be slightly ridiculous. Only Sophia Loren is really given the "star" treatment in her appearances and even that is done mainly as parody (she begins the movie in a frumpy bathrobe and glasses-who else but Altman would have the nerve to commit such a breach? ) It's arguable that the movie is a little trite-but then so is the fashion industry. I think people were disappointed in this movie primarilybecause Altman didn't stage a fashion show, he only covers one. Altman does here what he's always done well: shown off the farcial elements of American social and political institutions. As for Leonard Maltin, I'm sure his mind is numb after a lifetime of overpraising movies much worse than this one.

I really had hoped this movie would be better. There really wasn't too much of a plot. There certainly are cute elements.
As always Tim Robbins and Julia Roberts were adorable. Otherwise
I can't really say a whole lot for the movie--Sorry:(

My patience with films and filmmakers is high, regardless of length or pacing. I watched the five-hour version of "Fanny and Alexander" in one afternoon with considerable pleasure. Conversely, I've sat through incredible stinkers to the last frame, hoping for some worthwhile glimmer that never came. With a director as demonstrably talented as Robert Altman, it seems impossible that he could create a film sufficiently awful to send me running from the theater in mid-movie.

But he did.

"Ready to Wear" is unbearable. Painful. Unspeakable. There's nothing here except a colossal waste of talent. It's not bad in the right way to be unintentionally funny, and God knows the intentional "comedy" isn't funny. Stay far away from this cinematic torture.

I really thoought this review was very good.