I seriously never wrote about Casanova?!

Aside from mentioning it as number 23 in 25 movies I can watch over and over I have neglected to ever talk about Heath Ledger's turn as the infamous lover who falls for Sienna Miller's Francesca, who thinks he is a friend of Casanova not the actual Casanova after he becomes engaged to Victoria (the life long crush of Giovanni, Francesca brother) so that he doesn't get killed for his sex crimes which are actually not crimes at all. Meanwhile Francesca begins feeling something for Ledger's character but ia conflicted for two reasons: she is betrothed to Paprizzio and because Casanova (disguised as a friend of Casanova) would dare defend Casanova and his use of women which goes against her femist belief that are so strong that she writes books about female empowerment under the nomme de plume of Giuardi, who Paprizzio (Oliver Platt) thinks Casanova is and whose advice he seeks when he comes to woe his betrothed.


Confused? I don't blame you but when watching the film, the plot is actually rather easy to follow. That being said the movie didn't do extremely well for a few important reason. The number one issue with this movie is it is rated R. A lot of great movies are rated are but with a plot like this, when the rating is factored in, people expect an at least slightly explicit Sex romp not just a straight up Romance or Romantic Comedy. It seemed as though it would be another change to see Ledger pull a full frontle (or the first time for those who hadn't seen Brokeback) but alas there is not even a rear to be seen and all of the (sparse) love scenes pretty much end just as they should be beginning. If the film had been billed as a romantic comedy with a PG or PG 13 rating larger (and younger) audiences would have gone out to see it.


The other issue lays in the timing of its release. The 2005 film came right in the middle of Brokeback fever (December 2005) and during a time where it seemed Ledger would appear in almost ever film for the rest of eternity, which would have been such a wonderful thing looking back. However, at the time it seemed audiences couldn't handle passing Blockbuster with the just out on DVD BROTHERS GRIMM, going to a movie theater where they were seeing Oscar contending BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, watching and Ad for the heroine love story CANDY, and then seeing CASANOVA as well. Maybe it was just too much hotness for some to take or maybe it was like when you can't forget an actor just came out of the closet when you are trying to watch them be a Romantic lead. Leger himself blames his being in the film for it not being successful stating that he didn't like what he did with the character and would have loved to have gotten another chance to play the character differently.


Still I believe, if you take it at face value, the rom-com is a very fun fluff movie to watch, if only to see Sienna Miller (the girl who took Jude Law back after he not only cheated on her with a nanny but blamed her for the said cheating) playing a woman with self confidence.