The 2000s Movie Project: 'Down to You'

In this second entry in my new series, The 2000s Movie Project, I am taking a look back at an actor whose work I have loathed and reviled for most of 20 years. In the late 90s, Freddie Prinze Jr. was my nemesis in a fashion that rivaled my similar disdain for the work of Adam Sandler and Eli Roth. In hindsight, I can see now that this hatred may not have been entirely warranted. Don’t misunderstand, movies such as She’s All That and the Scooby Doo movies are still garbage, but they are not on the same remote scale as Sandler’s cash-ins or Eli Roth’s genuine villainy.

No other film will likely demonstrate just how far too hard I was on Freddie Prinze Jr than Down to You. Released on January 21 of 2000, Down to You is a lofty, loopy, romantic comedy that doesn’t deserve the scorn I heaped upon it at the time of its release. Watching Down to You nearly 20 years later, not only do I not actively loathe the movie, I rather enjoyed it. That could be due in part to my unending crush on actress Julia Stiles, but truly, I enjoyed Freddie Prinze Jr. for the first time I can remember.

Down to You stars Freddie Prinze Jr. as Al Connelly, a college kid on his way to becoming a chef. Al has known his particular career path since he was very young, his father, Ray (Henry Winkler, in a delightful supporting role), is a famous reality show chef. Think Emeril Legasse during his brief cultural moment and you get a sense of Al’s dad. The only thing lacking in Al’s life, is love. That begins to change when he meets Imogen (Julia Stiles), dancing in front of a bar jukebox.

He flirts, she flirts back and when she takes his hand and leads him onto the dance floor there are legit romantic sparks. No kidding, I was really struck by this casual, subtle, romantic gesture and watching the scene play out on Prinze’s face, you can sense the character drinking in the electric charge of attraction and first intimate contact. It’s a small thing, but her casual aggressiveness gives the scene a genuine charge.

Even as Al refuses to continue the romantic encounter that night, we know—and he knows—that something significant has happened and that this is not the end, and not just because this is a romantic comedy and the plot has to continue. This feels like one of those real, life changing romantic moments, the kind that parents recount to their kids and grandkids. Dismiss it as a mere meet-cute if you like, but I really loved this modest, minor scene.

I also enjoyed the moment that follows this one when Al, walking past Imogen’s dorm, returning home, carrying a porno movie, a gift for his roommate, Monk (Zak Orth), and he encounters a drunk Imogen dancing across the courtyard trailed by her equally inebriated friends. When Imogen sees Al, she guilelessly and heedlessly leaps drunkenly into his arms before running off into the night. It’s a solid comedy beat as Al hides the porno and does his best not to drop it, or Imogen.

I kept waiting for Down to You to falter after these two terrific, small, romantic scenes, but to my insane surprise, it didn’t falter. Down to You maintains a very particular modest charm from beginning to end. I could complain about a couple of cringey choices or complain that a character played by Ashton Kutcher is a one note, unnecessary running gag, but by the end I was too charmed by Down to You to care all that much about the film’s flaws.

Down to You is not a substantial film, or even one that begs to be remembered some 20 years later, but it is quite entertaining in its modest aim to be a trifle of a romantic comedy. The film has the right amount of laughs, the right amount of romantic chemistry, and just the right number of really good scenes to make me like this movie. More importantly, and seemingly impossibly, Down to You made me kind of like Freddie Prinze Jr.

Now, I am not about to revisit She’s All That any time soon, I feel like I can still feel the scars from my seething hatred of that movie, but I certainly never expected to write good things about the guy ever in my career. Yet, here I am. Down to You is the kind of movie that I hope to find more of on this bizarre journey through the movies of the 2000s. Here’s hoping that time has given me the open-minded perspective to find a few more movies I had dismissed, are actually hidden gems.