Pretty Woman (Summary)

Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) is a whore. So is Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts). Only she works on Hollywood Boulevard and he stays at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel.
"We both screw people for money." Of course, Cyndi Lauper sang that "Money Changes Everything." And in its original, darkly cynical incarnation, the script for Pretty Woman (which could've been called Working Girl ) was called 3000, because it was about the money that makes men and women unequal. Of course, it is beyond the scope (or intention) Pretty Woman to sharpen this into an ironic or satirical point. Vivian (the designated moral superior) compares what Edward does -- buying companies, dismantling them, and then selling the pieces for profit -- to stealing cars and selling the parts. This same lesson appears to have been lost on the makers of Pretty Woman. Pretty Woman (the motion picture) does not. In this movie, the clothes make the man (or woman) and if you cry at the opera, it proves you've got a cultured soul.
Pretty Woman brackets its urban fable with appearances by a black street hustler/panhandler/chorus, who strides through the picture hollering stuff like: "This is Hollywood where people come to fulfill their dreams! Some dreams come true and some don't! Believe in your dreams!" To prowl the streets of Hollywood day and night shouting at people? Pretty Woman doesn't wanna know...
Pretty Woman can't handle the contradictions it raises. At one point, Vivian speaks for Disney (and audiences) when tells Edward, flat-out: "I want the fairy tale." Vivian herself recognizes as much.
Edward becomes the movie's hero when he prevents an associate from raping Vivian and decides not to commit a comparably despicable business transaction at work. Maybe Pretty Woman isn't really a tainted romantic comedy after all, but a sort of latent horror film about the ethical/economic decay of America.

About Yulia Roberts

Julia Fiona Roberts (born October 28, 1967) is an Academy Award-winning American film actress and former fashion model. She shot to fame during the early 1990s after starring in the romantic comedy Pretty Woman opposite Richard Gere, which grossed US $463 million worldwide. She won the Best Actress Academy Award in 2001 for her critically acclaimed turn as the title character in Erin Brockovich and earned Oscar nominations as Best Supporting Actress for Steel Magnolias (1989) and Best Actress for Pretty Woman (1990). Her films, which also include The Pelican Brief, My Best Friend's Wedding, Mystic Pizza, Notting Hill, Runaway Bride, and Ocean's Eleven, have collectively earned box office receipts well over US$2 billion.Roberts had become one of the highest-paid actress in the world, topping the Hollywood Reporter's annual power list of top-earning female stars for four consecutive years (2002-2005), until 2006, when Nicole Kidman became the highest paid actress in the film industry. Her fee for 1990's Pretty Woman was $300,000; in 2003, she was paid an unprecedented $20 million for her role in Mona Lisa Smile. As of 2007, Roberts' net worth was estimated to be US$140 million.[2]Roberts was the first actress to appear on the cover of Vogue and the first woman to land the cover of GQ. She has been named one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" eleven times, tied with Halle Berry. In 2001 Ladies Home Journal ranked her as the 11th most powerful woman in America, beating out then national security advisor Condoleezza Rice and first lady Laura Bush.[3] Roberts has a production company called Red Om Films ("Moder" spelled backwards; formerly Shoelace Productions).

About Pretty Women

Pretty Woman is a 1990 romantic comedy film. The film centers around the title character, down-on-her-luck prostitute Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) who is hired by a wealthy businessman and corporate raider, Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) to be his escort for several business functions, and their developing relationship.Pretty Woman was initially intended to be a dark drama about prostitution in Los Angeles but was reconceptualized into a romantic comedy. The film was a critical success and became one of 1990s highest grossing films, and today is one of the most financially successful entries in the romantic comedy genre, with an estimated gross of $464 million USD.[1] Roberts received a Golden Globe Award for her role, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. Screenwriter J. F. Lawton was nominated for a Writers Guild Award and a BAFTA Award. The film was followed by a string of similar romantic comedies, including Runaway Bride, which teamed up Gere and Roberts under the direction of Garry Marshall once again.