‘Romantic Comedy’: Operation Snow White

Audiences obviously need to be relieved by occasional lightweight, and yes, obvious laughs, and giggles were heard during the public screening, but still I truly wonder how many Turkish viewers will relate to a handful of male and female characters who look like supermodels, own wardrobes fit for celebrities, spend money like there’s no tomorrow and strut around without a care in the world -- except for landing the appropriate mate.

I’ll give some credit to the male characters though, two out of three of them are actually in search of genuine intimacy despite their unbearable vanity. As for most of the women, their intolerable stupor despite the script’s flimsy effort to mention female empowerment is far from heartwarming.

So let’s get to the story: our main girl Esra (Sedef Avcı) not only hates her mundane corporate job but is also bored of her cluelessly selfish boyfriend -- one ponders how this supposedly smart girl puts up with such a dimwit in the first place -- the guy constantly puts her down with his careless comments. Anyhow, our frail beauty finally decides she’s had enough and with a burst of movie magic, she suddenly quits her job and dumps the boyfriend. Off she goes in her yellow VW Beetle into the sunset ready for a new journey! A change-of-life celebration is in order and thus Esra and her best mates -- Didem (Sinem Kobal), the blonde airhead who owns the Barbie dollhouse they cohabit, and the gay friend what’s-his-name who has become a must in every chick-flick -- go out for a drink in a chi-chi bar. It’s almost like a “Sex and the City” episode. Almost. Didem and Esra notice two terribly handsome young men in the corner. Wouldn’t you know it, they’re dressed in tuxedos. Turns out one of them is Cem (Engin Altan), a famous actor, and the other, Mert (Cemal Hünal of “Issız Adam” fame), the creative director of an ad agency called Krea Tiff -- how creative.

Two months later, Esra finally lands a job in the very ad agency that Mert runs. Naturally she’s already head over heels for her new boss. Meanwhile the daddy’s-little-rich-girl-who-doesn’t-need-a-job Didem, with the aid of self-help books, is strategizing over seducing actor Cem. Dear Lord, it’s almost like the feminist movement never happened. The following events, full of mistiming (the ingredient for every girl-meets-boy movie), take place in every hip bar, expensive restaurant, gym and Maison Française-inspired location you can think of -- and it’s amazing how the characters happen to run into each other all the time on these outings.

Cinder-Esra will obviously get her Prince Charming in the end, she even writes a book about “real love” in the process. It’s destined to be a bestseller of course, given that the chapters are full of absolutes and grandiose declarations.

Still, it’s not the popular entertainment component, the directing or the acting that is so off-key about this film; it is, indeed, a well-crafted polished piece of popcorn like any other. But the in-your-face “oh we’re so amazing” atmosphere that oozes out of every corner of this production somehow does not succeed in luring the viewer into this glamorous world, and quite the contrary, creates a certain distaste and aggression toward its disguise of harmlessness. And for a movie that tries to say something about love, it would have been quite nice if we actually got to see more scenes where the men and women actually engage in conversation rather than talk amongst themselves. Even the ultimate men vs. women TV show “Coupling” managed to do that in 26 minutes.