Movie Monday: Pause Button Movie Review. Little Black Book- the 2004 Rom Com with a Convoluted Plot

So I've been thinking about this movie ALL THE TIME recently and... I saw it on HBO Maxx and I had to do a post about this... so I'm starting a new type of review that I'm going to call a "Pause Button" review where I can really break down movies and pause them as I'm watching for info... this one I think is going to get messy. It might just be because I get this confused with another Brittany Murphy Rom Com called Uptown Girls.

The Trailer/ Synopsis

Okay so I remembered it being about a woman that finds her boyfriends little black book and because she's a journalist and tries to further her career she was going to have it on a tv show or maybe she was just saying that but one of her coworkers betrayed her and actually had it on the show... and the betrayal was totally out of left field but it was also so late in the movie that it felt kind of out of no where.

I also remember the end of this movie quite a lot... but it wasn't what I expected. It isn't exactly a "rom com".. and I'm just going to spoil the movie now... the girl and the guy do not end up together- she ends up quitting the show that she was betrayed and embarrassed on and interviewing for Good Morning America or something where she ends up working for Diane Sawyer- which is her dream... and then she meets Carly Simon who she loves.

The Review

Pausing already because this Rom Com somehow starts with a quote from William Shakespeare's The Tempest... "Hell is empty. All the devils are here." This makes no sense... This isn't a retelling of The Tempest... and I don't think the vibe of this movie is "All the devils are here."

This movie kind of laser focuses on the character Stacy-who is kind of... too reliant on her mom maybe. Her mom always listened to Carly Simon when she was heartbroken and when her father left her. And the mom told her "don't over commit unless you're sure" because she didn't want Stacy to be heartbroken like she was. So Stacy takes this advice really to heart and breaks up with guys too soon seemingly. But right when she meets Derek- she knows. It was different than past boyfriends- I'm going to guess that she might end up with one of them and maybe I just didn't remember she reconnects with Bean or something but I could be wrong.

Then she gets a job on a Jerry Springer type show starring Kathy Bates. Holly Hunter plays the woman training her, and Yvette Nicole Brown also made her feature film debut in this movie as a production assistant.

Okay the production of this show is insane... there's a rat in the studio that triggers a sound effect and they all go crazy. I also think... there's some offensive stereotyping here. Also they blame Stacy for the sound effect... but it was a rat I think... unless I totally misunderstood this... but she also blames herself and apologizes for it... but also they don't show her how this works before the live show? She's a producer but I don't really think she's doing any work at all.

This movie takes place in New Jersey also... Specifically Trenton New Jersey... which is more like Pennsylvania... but it is important to realize... this takes place in New Jersey. Great State and that's where I'm from!

They just kind of... casually mention that Derek's ex girlfriend had Bullemia during their relationship. And... its not great. Like... they aren't sensitive to it... they just say "she barfs quietly" and that Derek heard it.

So Stacy has too many interests. She loves Diane Sawyer, Carly Simon and also the movie Working Girl... which I guess makes her an interesting character but also... its a lot.

And for someone so interested in knowing about her boyfriend's exes.. .he knows nothing about hers... and she doesn't bring it up... which I would maybe mention if I wrote this movie.

So he goes to Detroit and leaves his palm pilot at home... and the palm pilot is the Little Black Book.

The show that Stacy works with is just a "check local listings" talk show... but it has a really high production value... there's an orangutan hanging out... which is also dangerous... Gordy.

So... Stacy thinks the girl Derek dated before her is a podiatrist... but she's very obviously a Gynecologyst... like it says all over the building. There's also some weird 2000s humor here... like Stacy should have probably been to a gynecologist by this point... and she shouldn't really be embarrassed about the nurse asking when her last period was... I mean I guess podiatrists don't usually do that.. Rashida Jones also plays this gynecologyst... and she's beautiful and hilarious. There's also a very funny transition between her telling Stacy that her warts cleared up- cut to the Kippie Kan show (the talk show Kathy Bates hosts) saying "that's good to know." And then a segment saying "Grandma is a hooker, so handle it!" And she makes a lot of money as a hooker... so good for Grandma.

2000s movies also had a lot of "girls don't know how to walk the dog" and "this cell phone vibrates and that makes me feel good... which is also weird and dated... but okay I guess.

Alright... Derek is not a great guy and we shouldn't really be rooting for him. We meet Joyce- his most serious ex girlfriend and he still talks to her... and he didn't tell her about Stacy... despite the fact that the two of them are basically living together because "they aren't really serious." This whole movie could have just been a conversation between Stacy and Derek. It's weird that they don't talk about this type of stuff because they're practically living together and its very easy.

The ending of this is very very dramatic. It's an episode of the Kippie Can show- live, where we find out Holly Hunter was behind this plan... but she sort of turns into this over the top villain at this point and wants to take the whole show down and leave... but she also wants to get promoted and she stole her one coworkers idea... who didn't want to do this to Stacy. Stacy says Derek is more fit for Joyce- Joyce's brother is a hockey player that Derek is trying to recruit.

She does meet Bean after this dramatic break up! She tries to get back with him- but he's taking his pregnant wife to the movies... so yeah. Didn't work out. Bean also has a coffee shop that Stacy always goes to...

So yeah- Stacey gets the job working for Diane Sawyer- but she doesn't interview with her... but she's so excited... and then she sees that Carly Simon is on the show and she faints- and she's on the phone with her mom and then Carly Simon picks up the phone- tells her mom that her friend fainted and that she's Carly Simon... and then the mom faints... and that's a funny end.

So I don't really love the dramatics of this movie and I still think the plot is unnecessarily complicated and the jokes are dated but... the ending is pretty good and over-all I thought it was cute. This movie stuck with me and I only saw it that one time in theaters in 2004. Maybe I saw it a second time... but the ending did throw me for a loop a little bit... but the very end was happy and funny.

This also isn't really like the trailers made it out to be... which seems to be a big thing for movies especially in the late 90s/ early 2000s. Bicentennial Man and Hitch are 2 other movies that come to mind when I think of the sort of "catfish" trailers.

Let me know if this "Pause Button" review is good. I don't know if I'll do it for a movie like this again... I think I might do it for a movie that I can really break down and analyze- like when Scream is available to stream... but yeah. I thought that was a fun look at the movie.

Bye!

-Shannon