Romancing the Stone (1984)

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito

Synopsis:
A mousy romance writer travels to Colombia to exchange a treasure map for her kidnapped sister.

Impressions:
I always enjoyed this movie when I was a kid, but as an adult I can really appreciate how cleverly written it is. The idea of playing with the tropes of romance fiction and lampshading it by making the main character a romance writer is really neat. The untimely death of writer Diane Thomas is a real shame because I would've liked to see what else she could have come up with. I also like that there are two tiers of villains, the more comical Ralph and Ira (Danny DeVito and Zack Norman) and the deadly serious and menacing Zollo (portrayed excellently by Manuel Ojeda). There's a good character arc for both our leads and I particularly want to credit Kathleen Turner for her portrayal of Joan Wilder (just look at how she is at the beginning of the movie compared to the end). Michael Douglas makes a pretty good action lead and romantic foil, too. I also want to note Alfonso Arau as Juan, a really first-rate side character. Last but not least is the Alan Silvestri score that fits the film like a glove. This movie deserves a large part of the credit for kickstarting Robert Zemeckis' career, so if you like some of his more prominent titles, you'll want to see how he rose to prominence. This is one for the collection if you ask me and absolutely worth seeing.

Rating:
Own It