Richard Gere says Pretty Woman sucked

Pretty Woman is one of the most famous romantic comedies of all time, a modern-day fairytale that fulfills every girl’s dream of being a whore until you find a super rich guy to buy you stuff. It made huge stars of its leads, then 22-year-old Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, but it turns out Richard Gere is sick of getting asked about it (which is funny, because I can think of a few worse things to ask him about). In fact, he says Pretty Woman sucked, and his new movie that no one cares about is going to be WAY better. And hey, have you heard of The Boxmasters?

While promoting his new financial thriller Arbitrage in an interview with Woman’s Day recently, the 62-year-old shared his scorn for the feelgood 1990 chick flick, telling Woman’s Day, “It’s my least favourite thing.”

Richard adds, “People ask me about that movie, but I’ve forgotten it. That was a silly romantic comedy. This is a much more serious movie that has some real cause and effect.” The grumpy star also claims his Pretty Woman character Edward Lewis helped contribute to the global financial crisis, as he glorified greedy and selfish Wall Street types.

“It made those guys seem dashing, which was so wrong,” Richard explains. “Thankfully, today, we are all more sceptical of those guys.” Despite the actor’s high-minded misgivings, Pretty Woman went on to take more than $460 million at the box office and is one of the most successful movies ever in terms of worldwide TV syndication. [NineMSN]

I honestly don’t remember Pretty Woman well enough to refute him here, but come on, know your audience, dude. The interview was with Woman’s Day, not The Economist. I would’ve gone with something more along the lines of, “Of course, I love Pretty Woman! Why, I find rom-coms almost as exhilarating as baking! But my new film is more of a thriller, about out-of-control speculating and predatory lending, which make the world financial markets all cranky and bloated like when you get your period. It’s a huge problem, which threatens our very ability to shop!”

[clip from Arbitrage]

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