Main Cast: Monica Potter, Freddie Prinze, Jr., Shalom Harlow, Ivana Milicevic, Sarah O'Hare
Release Year: 2001
Country: US
Run Time: 86 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
If you think you've seen a man killing someone, does that mean you shouldn't be dating him? This and other questions about modern relationships are explored in this offbeat romantic comedy. Amanda Pierce (Monica Potter) has found a great job (restoring paintings for the Metropolitan Museum of Art) and a great place to live: a spacious East Side apartment that she shares with four successful models, played by Ivana Milicevic, Shalom Harlow, Sarah O'Hare, and Tomiko Fraser. Amanda is still in the market for a great boyfriend, since most of her previous relationships have ended in broken promises or infidelity. She thinks she may have found the right guy in Jim Winston (Freddie Prinze Jr.), but she has reason to believe that he might be guilty of murder. Since she's not sure he has actually done anything, she decides to find out the truth, and her investigation has unexpectedly comic consequences. Head Over Heels was directed by Mark S. Waters, whose first feature, The House of Yes, also starred Freddie Prinze Jr.. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
It would be easy to pillory Mark S. Waters for selling out to Hollywood so quickly after the success of his quirky indie debut The House of Yes. Yet the sophomore director enlivens what could have been a by-the-books romantic comedy with flashes of style, wit, and self-mocking humor. Freddie Prinze Jr., who turned in his most accomplished work to date in Yes, here simply coasts on his charm, his puppy-dog eyes, and his washboard abs. But the likable Monica Potter, with her gawky beauty and husky Julia Roberts voice, turns in an appealing lead performance as the odd girl out in a flat full of models. With a gift for looking gorgeous while simultaneously exuding equal amounts of insecurity and warmth, Potter could quickly become a tiresome America's sweetheart like Meg Ryan; this early in her career, though, such vulnerability and likability are, well, likable. Meanwhile, the models themselves get to have fun poking holes in fashion-world clichés, especially real-life model Ivana Milicevic, who embodies the epitome of Eastern European glamour. Many hands were involved in the screenplay, including There's Something About Mary scribes Ed Decter and John J. Strauss. Yet the result has enough in common with classical farce that it's easy to overlook the many implausibilities in the plot (such as Potter's art-restorer character adding Prinze's visage to a damaged Renaissance painting). In all respects Head Over Heels is a low-cal trifle, but it's just about gleeful enough to pull us along. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Tomiko Fraser - Holly; China Chow - Lisa; Jay Brazeau - Halloran/Strukov; Stanley de Santis - Alfredo
Credit
Lance King - Art Director, Joanna Colbert - Casting, Amy Tasken Somers - Casting, Ira Shuman - Co-producer, Gregory Mah - Costume Designer, Tracey Ross - Costume Designer, Morgan Beggs - First Assistant Director, Mark S. Waters - Director, Ira Shuman - Second Unit Director, Cara Silverman - Editor, Edward Decter - Executive Producer, John J. Strauss - Executive Producer, Tracey Trench - Executive Producer, Julia Dray - Executive Producer, Randy Edelman - Composer (Music Score), Steve Porcaro - Composer (Music Score), Happy Walters - Musical Direction/Supervision, Gary Jones - Musical Direction/Supervision, Perry Andelin Blake - Production Designer, Mark Plummer - Cinematographer, Robert Simonds - Producer, Dominique Fauquet-Lemaitre - Set Designer, Catherine Ircha - Set Designer, Michael McGee - Sound/Sound Designer, Edward Decter - Screen Story, Edward Decter - Screenwriter, John J. Strauss - Screenwriter, David Kidd - Screenwriter, Ron Burch - Screenwriter, Richard Legrand, Jr. - Supervising Sound Editor, Tracey Ross - Costumes Supervisor, Valerie Halverson - Costumes Supervisor, Norval D. Crutcher III - Dialogue Editor, Dominique Fauquet-Lemaitre - Set Decorator
Early in the film, she moves in with four supermodels and falls for a man living in an apartment that they can see across the street. After the models try to help Amanda get the man, they find out he might not be what he appears to be.
Amanda Pierce (Monica Potter), a New York paintings conservator working at The Met, has very bad judgment in men which is proven when she walks in on her boyfriend cheating on her with a supermodel. Amanda begins looking for a new apartment and finds one with four struggling models, Jade (Shalom Harlow), Roxana (Ivana Miličević), Candi (Sarah O'Hare), and Holly (Tomiko Fraser). When Amanda discovers that Jim Winston (Freddie Prinze, Jr.), the guy she likes, lives in the apartment across from hers she starts spying on him to try and find his flaw. One night Amanda sees Jim kill a woman, Megan O'Brien (Tanja Reichert), and by the time the police arrive they don't believe Amanda because she is the only witness, and the evidence is gone. Annoyed about the police's lack of effort to find out what has really happened, Amanda and her new friends investigate on their own. When Amanda finds out about what she thinks is Jim's involvement with Megan's death, she confronts him. Amanda's judgment turns out to be wrong and Jim's (who turns out to be undercover cop, Bob Smoot, who was trying to gain Halloran's (Jay Brazeau) trust by staging his partner Megan's death) cover is blown. Amanda discovers that Jim is investigating Halloran, a Russian man who has been smuggling in money and who Amanda has been privately restoring a painting for. Later, Jim, Amanda and her roommates get captured but later escape when Roxana seduces their Russian guard and with the help of the models realize what Halloran was really doing, smuggling diamonds. Amanda, Jim (now Bob Smoot), and the models go to a fashion runway and take down Strukov. They are all awarded special commendations for meritorious service from the FBI. After the cops take care of things Jim asks Amanda if they can start over, but she refuses and Jim leaves. At the end Amanda and Jim (going by his real name Bob) "meet" again and the movie ends when Bob takes Amanda up to his new apartment and shows her the view, which turns out to be of Amanda and the models' apartment. Lisa and the models are jumping around happily while Bob and Amanda laugh. They kiss and close the curtains to his apartment window.
On the theatrical poster to the right, on the bottom left corner, Jim (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) is holding a tan great dane called Tanner (in the film he is called Hamlet). Tanner was owned by Steve Giagiakos given by his wife for Christmas. Then, when Steve was playing pool at a bar, people were looking for a dog for this movie. Steve pointed out about Tanner. This is how the movie started.
In the film, Amanda sees a flier that the models put up. It says the apartment is located at 22 E. 82nd St. in Manhattan. This address is the actual address to the apartment building that Amanda goes to in the film. Amanda also says that she lives a block from The Met. This is also true. The Met is only three buildings away from 22 E. 82nd St.
Reception
The film opened on April 20, 2001 to largely negative reviews, receiving a 10% "Certified Rotten" rating at Rotten Tomatoes. It was noted, "Head Over Heels is being blasted by critics as a huge mess. The plot and jokes are idiotic, while the toilet humor is gratuitous and more gross than funny."[3] The movie has received a Metacritic aggregate rating of 27 out of 100 reviews, denoting "generally negative reviews" based on 25 reviews.[4]
By most standards, the film was financially unsuccessful. Released on February 2, 2001, the film opened at #7 in 2,338 theaters and grossed $4,804,595 in the opening weekend. The final domestic grossing was $10.4 million while the foreign market grossed $2.7 million for a worldwide total of $13,127,022. Against its $14 million budget, the film was a flop.[5]
