Love and Other Catastrophes (1996) Reviews

• Low-budget gem

  howie732005-03-23

  This low-budget comedy was the debut of Emma Kate Groghan and it remains one of the freshest Australian romantic comedies in recent years. Given the limitations of the budget, one would have expected it to fall flat at times; the opposite is true. The cast do a very good job with the offbeat script, most notably Frances Connor and Radha Mitchell. Set in a Melbourne University, Connor takes center stage in a tale of unrequited love and missed glances. The comedic element is often tempered with dark touches which makes a change from the usual limitations of romantic comedies. The end might be a tad obvious but it gels in well with the genuine feel-good nature of the film.

• Cute Romantic Comedy

  noralee2005-12-12

  "Love and Other Catastrophes" is co-written and co-produced by a Jewish Australian woman, makes some jokes on Woody Allen, and doesn't repeat any of his stereotypes. There's an interesting Jewish character or two - including a guy named Ari who is a lothario and a guy considering a circumcision due to the demands of his Jewish girlfriend. It fits nicely in the genre of twentysomething roommates seeking love, i.e. "Singles," "Kicking and Screaming," etc. The lesbian couple is treated completely naturally and romantically and is really the most interesting couple. None of the guys even assume the lesbian's straight best friend is gay, as I think would happen in most American films. The film student satires are a bit heavy handed, but on a whole it's a cute, funny first-time movie casually made. I only recognized two songs out of the whole soundtrack as it was filled with Australian rock 'n' roll I've never heard before. (originally written 4/2/1997)

• delightfully quirky!

  m_madhu2003-10-03

  this is one of the few successful attempts at trying to capture the vitality, the heart-break, the ecstacy and the madness of college life and campus romances. this is about the desperate and hurried search of adolescents, on the brink of adulthood, for meaningful romances and fulfilling careers. the terrible reality of their tribulations and the utter pettiness of their failures, the monstrosities of their triumphs and the fleetingness of their celebrations. debutante director emma kate croghan captures all this beautifully in putting together a few days in the lives of group of friends. the shoe-string budget of $37,000, provides for the warmth and credibility of the characters and their situations. clearly this is a movie that would have been a disaster with a million dollar budget. the characters are portrayed extremely realistically by the fresh actors and each of the characters shines through with their ability to convey the humor of their plights. all in all, a delightful movie that does not tax the viewer much, but takes one along for a voyeuristic look into campus lives. this might not be one of the three best movies of my life (watch the movie to understand the significance of top three movies) but it is one of the top 5 English language movies of the 90s, whose central theme is love. 5. chasing amy 4. as good as it gets 3. love and other catastrophes 2. before sunrise 1. high fidelity anyway, this one is a winner. a delightful 9!

• Great dialogs, great actors, a great little movie....

  darknigh-21999-08-12

  When a movie lover like me is watching a movie like this one, his heart becomes happy, really happy. The characters love movies, they are talking seriously about them, with some respectuous words. I hope that the director of this one will going far in her career because she has a lot of talent.

• A great Gen-X film

  Peridot1999-01-31

  This film is for anyone who's in (or was in) university and fallen 'victim' to a bureaucratic bungle. As the title says, the film focuses on "love and other catastrophes", the "catastrophes" being many problems young people face such as the one above-mentioned, moving out of home finding a place to live, fitting into a new environment, making new friends and finding your own identity. The "love" aspect is about finding your one true love and whether or not he/she exists, and if they do not exist, do you settle for someone who does not fit all your "criteria"? I give this film 8/10. I would have preferred it to be longer, even though the ending was quite good. All the characters are likeable and unique, Frances O'Connor does a great job at playing Mia. I highly recommend this film to anyone especially those in the 18-25ish age group.