Love Potion No. 9 (film)
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''Love Potion No. 9'' is a 1992 American romantic comedy
film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
starring Tate Donovan and
Sandra Bullock Sandra Annette Bullock (; born July 26, 1964) is an American actress and producer. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Sandra Bullock, various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, Bullock was ...
. The film takes its name from the 1959 hit song, " Love Potion No. 9". The story is about a
love potion A love potion ( la, poculum amatorium) is a magical liquid which supposedly causes the drinker to develop feelings of love towards the person who served it. The love potion motif occurs in literature, mainly in fairy tales, and in paintings, ...
, that enables a person to make people of the opposite sex become completely infatuated with them by simply talking.


Plot

Paul Matthews is a lonely biochemist with a crush on his unavailable co-worker, biologist Diane Farrow. His friends take him to a gypsy on 34th and Vine named Madame Ruth. After reading his palm and seeing absolutely no romance in his life, Ruth gives him a small amount of Love Potion No. 8 on a piece of paper. As a scientist, Paul has doubts and ends up throwing it in the trash when he gets home. Around this time, Paul's friends buy him the services of Marisa, but all they do is talk. His cat gets into the trash and eats some of the potion, then meows and attracts all the other cats in the neighborhood. When Paul sees the results, he takes it to Diane, and they find out the "scientific" properties of it. After analyzing it, they decide to use themselves as human test subjects. Diane ends up attracting an Italian car mogul and the prince of England, ending up getting a makeover in the process, while Paul has a string of hookups with women in bars, supermarkets, cars, sorority houses. Paul and Diane realize their romantic attraction to each other and become involved. Eventually, Paul plans a proposal to Diane; however, when he comes by her house to do so, she's not there. Later, she tells him she has fallen for Gary. (We have seen Gary before, taking advantage of her loneliness to have sex with her.) Paul is devastated and decides he really wants to get her back. Marisa comes to his house to steal his stereo, and after trying the potion in his bathroom, she makes Paul gladly give her all his valuables, including the potion. After "waking up" from his infatuation, Paul gets an idea, and Madame Ruth confirms that somebody looking like Gary has bought all the potion No. 8. He phones Diane to tell her Gary is using the potion on her, but Gary forbids her to talk to him. After weeks of unsuccessful attempts, Paul goes back to Madame Ruth, who gives him Love Potion No. 9, which will not create love, but remove things obscuring it (such as potion No. 8). But if Diane was never really in love with him, Paul will love her for his entire life and she will eternally hate him. Paul asks three friends to help him force Diane to take No. 9, but they can't believe him. Marisa arrives at the house and uses No. 8 to rob all of them, proving the power of the potion. When they arrive at the house, Diane's friend and
matron of honor Bridesmaids are members of the bride's party in a Western traditional wedding ceremony. A bridesmaid is typically a young woman and often a close friend or relative. She attends to the bride on the day of a wedding or marriage ceremony. Traditi ...
tells them Diane and Gary are marrying in an hour, but that she suspects something is wrong with Diane. Paul explains, she agrees to give Diane the potion, and things go terribly wrong, but Marisa, having tricked Gary's potion bottle from him, causes havoc and effectively ends the wedding, which gives Paul the chance to drink Potion No. 9, kiss Diane and wait five minutes as per the instructions. The effect kicks in too late but in the end, Diane runs away from Gary into Paul's arms.


Note

The film gives a
pseudoscientific Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claim ...
explanation as to how Love Potion No. 8 "works." It is explained: :When swallowed it affects the vocal cords directly so that when you speak micro-tremors encoded within your voice stimulate tiny little hairs in the
inner ear The inner ear (internal ear, auris interna) is the innermost part of the vertebrate ear. In vertebrates, the inner ear is mainly responsible for sound detection and balance. In mammals, it consists of the bony labyrinth, a hollow cavity in the ...
of the opposite
sex Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones (ova, oft ...
. The hair vibrates, sending a signal along a nerve to the brain, which in turn produces a combination of mood-altering, endogenous chemicals responsible for the biochemical process of falling in love. It makes members of the same sex hostile. It only works for four hours at a time. Love Potion No. 9 prevents love from fading, and overrides the effects of Love Potion No. 8.


Cast

* Tate Donovan as Paul Matthews *
Sandra Bullock Sandra Annette Bullock (; born July 26, 1964) is an American actress and producer. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Sandra Bullock, various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, Bullock was ...
as Diane Farrow *
Mary Mara Mary T. Mara (September 21, 1960 – June 26, 2022) was an American television and film actress known for her main role as Inspector Bryn Carson on ''Nash Bridges'' and appearances on primetime dramas '' ER'' and ''Law & Order''. She also appe ...
as Marisa *
Dale Midkiff Dale Alan Midkiff (born July 1, 1959) is an American actor, best known for playing Louis Creed in the horror film ''Pet Sematary'' (1989) and Captain Darien Lambert in the TV series ''Time Trax''. Career Midkiff acted in off-Broadway plays lik ...
as Gary Logan *
Hillary B. Smith Hillary Bailey Smith (born May 25, 1957) is an American actress, best known for her daytime soap opera roles as Margo Hughes on ''As the World Turns'' and Nora Hanen Buchanan on ''One Life to Live''. Life and career Smith was born as Hillary B ...
as Sally * Anne Bancroft as Madame Ruth * Dylan Baker as Prince Geoffrey *
Blake Clark Blake Clark (born February 2, 1946) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. He is best known as Chet Hunter on ''Boy Meets World'' and Harry "The Hardware Store Guy" on ''Home Improvement''. Clark has voiced Slinky Dog in the ''Toy Story'' f ...
as Motorcycle Cop * Bruce McCarty as Jeff *
Rebecca Staab Rebecca Ann Staab is an American actress. Early life Staab won the Miss Nebraska USA title and competed in the Miss USA 1980 pageant that year, where she placed in the Top 12. Acting career Before becoming an actress, Staab was a model for ...
as Cheryl * Adrian Paul as Enrico Pazzoli *
Ric Reitz Kenric Lowell Reitz (born September 8, 1955) is an American actor, writer, composer, director and producer. Early life and education Reitz was born and raised in Rochester, New York. He was the middle of five creative children. Growing up an ...
as Dave


Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 25% based on reviews from 12 critics. Emanuel Levy of Variety called it "a light-hearted one-joke romantic comedy" and that it "tries too hard to be cute. Glib humor and emphasis on "feel good" values aim squarely at the dating crowd and twenty-something couples. But lack of real wit and comic vitality, absence of star names and sluggish pace make pic less appealing than it might have been." Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "D" grade. The film opened in 278 theaters and earned $416,641 in its opening weekend, and its North American domestic total was $754,935.


References


External links

* * {{Mojo title, lovepotion9, Love Potion No. 9 1992 films 1992 romantic comedy films American fantasy comedy films American romantic comedy films American romantic fantasy films American sex comedy films 1990s English-language films Films about potions Films based on songs Films set in Georgia (U.S. state) 20th Century Fox films Films with screenplays by Dale Launer Films scored by Ennio Morricone 1990s sex comedy films 1992 directorial debut films 1990s American films