Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Unreal estate

Last weekend I saw Just Like Heaven on DVD. The following adjectives came to mind: stunning; gorgeous; spine-tingling; breathtaking. But I'm not talking about the film, which was okay. I'm talking about Reese Witherspoon's apartment.

It's furnished classically, with dark wood and solid colors, plus a bright kitchen and huge bedroom. Then you can go upstairs for exclusive access to a giant rooftop, with a remarkable view of San Francisco. I know that apartments in the movies are supposed to be impossibly spacious, but this one has to make some sort of Unreal Estate Hall of Fame. So let's start one.

While watching the movie I thought of two other great fictional apartments, both in New York City: the elegant apartment with arboretum in Green Card (Andie MacDowell has a marriage of convenience with Gerard Depardieu so she can live there) and the circular bachelor penthouse in Three Men and a Baby (Tom Selleck is an architect who designed the building).

I'm also fond of Jack Nicholson's apartment in As Good As It Gets, because the guest room was so large, and the living room could fit a piano. Plus, it suited Verdell. As for TV shows, there are many nice fictional apartments, but the Seattle high-rise pad on Frasier deserves an honorable mention.

Dear readers, you watch your share of movies. So consider: what apartments have struck you as similarly deserving additions to the Unreal Estate Hall of Fame? The best entries will be recognized in a future post. (Unless you can think of a place on TV better than Frasier Crane's, stick with apartments and condos seen in movies. No houses or hotel rooms, please.)

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Some of the pads on MTV Real World were pretty impressive. My favorite was Real World Hawaii

Robert said...

I noticed that almost all of the apartments featured in last year´s Melinda and Melinda are beautifully furnished.

Dr. S said...

I remember thinking that the apartment in Sliding Doors fit this bill. And the interiors in Heights, too. Try, also, both Bridget's and Daniel's apartments in Bridget Jones's Diary.

Unknown said...

I liked Adam Sandler's digs in Big Daddy.

Bridges and walkways indoors? Too cool!

Julie said...

I don't know if this counts since I only remember the courtyard - but a gorgeous courtyard of an apartment complex in 'Til There Was You".

K-Lyn said...

Harry's apartment in WHMS...it pays to read the obits

Tom Hank's apartment in Big

Catcher and Barbara have crazy apartments in Down With Love...a whole genre covered there really.

I'll have to ponder. I know there are many MANY more.

Neel Mehta said...

Let's see what we have so far.

From suggestions here and at The Film Experience, I need to look at the rentals in:

Melinda and Melinda
Heights
Big Daddy
'Til There Was You
Single White Female


Second opinions are welcome.

I'll consider an honorable mention for the tour bus in Spice World. Come to think of it, Austin Powers' pad in his plane wasn't too bad either.

I'm going to nix the places in Big and The Real World. Tom Hanks lived in commercial space without any homey feel, which was kinda the point. And MTV crews pretty much invented those places for televised use; they're not residences.

In Sliding Doors and Bridget Jones's Diary, I seem to recall that the flats were essentially houses.

I must give K-lyn snaps for her Down with Love suggestions. Perfect. Now that film is all about the apartments.

Finally, I'm going to need a judge's ruling on this. When Harry Met Sally has a nice shot of the title characters rolling out a rug in Harry's tall loft, but we don't see much else after that. I'm more impressed by where Jess and Marie live, but that's basically a house.

ThatDeborahGirl said...

The apartments in Hitch, especially the title character's crib.

Fabulous.

K-Lyn said...

Addicted to Love. The loft that Meg and Matthew's ex-sweeties are living in is NUTS!

Anonymous said...

It's a date movie, and a decent one at that. It brings enough originality to the table to keep from being bogged down in obvious Ghost comparisons, but not so much originality that it'll actually start anyone thinking. The last thing you want to do on a date is start using your brain. That's why we have alcohol, to put a stop to that. Idealized romance is all about chemical connections and random mumbo jumbo. Just Like Heaven does a solid job of boiling that brew while asking nothing taxing in return.

Cheers,
Denise

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