Rhapsodies

As a long time anime fan, I’m very familiar with the trope of magical girlfriends. Because of this, I thought I’d look at examples in western films. This wasn’t as easy as it sounds. For one thing, I’ve seen a whole lot of them. with a remarkable number of these films were about vampires, which I would have to save for Halloween. So I decided to narrow my search a little bit and go with angels.

The first on my list Luc Besson‘s Angel-A features Andre (Jamel Debbouze) a down on his luck American in Paris. He has failed in just about every business venture and owes money to just about every thug around. When every last hope fails he decides to end it all by jumping off a bridge into the Sienne. But just as he does he sees a beautiful statuesque woman (Rie Rasmussen) named Angela who is about to do the same thing. He tries to save her by jumping in after her, and afterward, tries to convince her there are causes that can make life worth living. To his surprise she decides to make him her cause and do whatever she can to help him, no questions asked. If that wasn’t weird enough she is very good at it since she reveals she is an Angel

Beyond seeing a very pretty trailer was there was a rumor at I’m not sure what I thought of it. It was certainly fun Rie Rasmussen has great stage presence, and the best parts of the film involve her effortlessly dancing through a crowd, but otherwise, beyond being an interesting tour of the underside of Paris there really wasn’t much to say about it.

The next film on my list Date with an Angel tells about Jim Sanders  Michael E. Knight an executive who is engaged to his boss’s spoiled daughter, Patty Phoebe Cates. After his roommates throw a prank “kidnapping” him from his own engagement party, He’s drunk with his fiancé and future in-laws furious at him. And just then something crashes in his swimming pool, a beautiful blonde woman with wings.

This film was a mess even by the standards of the 80s comedy, virtually serving as a list of every cliche in bad romantic comedies. There are a few good slapstick bits but otherwise, at it’s best it comes off like a bad Splash! ripoff.