Romantic DVD releases in July provide a partygoer’s potpourri of drinking, music, and dance. Watch for a carousing bachelor in Arthur, a manipulative slacker with an agenda in Take Me Home Tonight, and a dedicated, though calculating, ballet dancer in Mao’s Last Dancer. Some older romantic favorites also come out on Blu-ray this month.
Arthur (Widescreen, Blu-ray, and Blu-ray/Digital Combo)
In this remake, an immature playboy spends his time partying, until at age 30, he is forced to grow up or be cut off from the family fortune. Although his mother has selected a suitable woman for Arthur to marry, he has his own pick: a poor Manhattan tour guide. Can he give up drinking and carousing? Can he convince his uptight family to let him marry the woman he chooses despite her unsuitability? This romantic comedy takes a somewhat serious look at alcoholism and a lighter look at love.
- Starring Russell Brand, Jennifer Garner, Helen Mirren, Greta Gerwig, Geraldine James, Luis Guzman, Nick Nolte, Christina Calph
- Director: Jason Winer
- Writers: Peter Baynham (screenplay); Steve Gordon (story)
- Genre: Romantic Comedy
- Run Time: 110 Minutes
- Rating PG-13 (for alcohol use throughout, sexual content, language, and some drug references)
- DVD Release Date: July 15, 2011
Take Me Home Tonight (Widescreen and Blu-ray)
Set in 1980’s Los Angeles, a young man without desire or ambition finds himself back in his hometown after graduating from MIT. Though a math whiz with infinite possibilities, he his underemployed at a video store where he wastes his time trying to figure out what to do with his life. When he encounters his former high school crush at the mall, he tries to lie his way into her life with disastrous consequences.
- Starring Topher Grace, Teresa Palmer, Anna Faris, Michelle Trachtenberg, Dan Fogler, Chris Pratt, Michael Biehn, Michael Ian Black, Lucy Punch
- Director: Michel Dowse
- Writers: Jackie Filgo, Jeff Filgo (screenplay); Topher Grace, Gordon Kaywin (story)
- Genre: Romantic Comedy
- Run Time: 97 minutes
- Rating: R (for language, sexual content, and drug use)
- DVD Release Date: July 19, 2011
- Read a review of Take Me Home Tonight
Mao’s Last Dancer (Widescreen and Blu-ray)
Based on the true story of ballet dancer Li Cunxin, this romantic drama stars Chi Cao (principal dancer at the Birmingham Royal Ballet) in his screen debut. The film follows the character from his early childhood in a poor Chinese village to his eventual rise to fame as an adult in the Houston Ballet. His passions for dance and women are addressed in this moving story of one man’s fight for personal freedom.
- Starring Chi Cao, Bruce Greenwood, Kyle MacLachlan, Joan Chen, Amanda Schull, Shuanbao Wang, Chengwu Guo, Wen Bin Huang, Camilla Vergotis, Madeleine Eastoe, Penne Hackforth-Jones
- Director: Bruce Beresford
- Writers: Jan Sardi (screenplay); Cunxin Li (book)
- Choreographer: Graeme Murphy
- Genre: Romantic Drama
- Run Time: 117 minutes
- Rating: PG (for a brief violent image, some sensuality, language, and incidental smoking)
- Additional Information: In English and Mandarin with English subtitles
- DVD Release Date: July 26, 2011
Older Romantic Films Newly Released on Blu-ray
The Hugh Grant-Andie MacDowell romantic comedy Four Weddings and a Funeral comes out on July 5. Also look for Johnny Depp and Juliette Bincoche in the whimsical romance Chocolat and Renee Zellweger and Colin Firth in Bridget Jones’s Diary, a romantic comedy based on the best-selling novel by Helen Fielding, both released on July 19.
For more information about any of these movies, visit Internet Movie Database.
Leslie C. Halpern - Leslie C. Halpern, Romantic Films/Comedies Topic Editor, authored Passionate About Their Work, Reel Romance, & Dreams on Film.
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