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"The place? New York City. The time? Now. 1962. And there's no other time like it."

The relative success of Far From Heaven has apparently made facsimiles of movies from eras past all the rage, as signaled by the arrival of the aggressively retro Down With Love, a wonderful, fleet-footed movie in the style of the Doris Day comedies of the 1960's. There are pitfalls in attempting this sort of thing, not least the temptation to imitate the visual style and nothing else. Fortunately, and perhaps miraculously, both of the recent attempts have done everything right. Down With Love is the only modern romantic comedy to merit the term "exciting."

Whatever else the film will attempt later, director Peyton Reed wants us to be impressed with the production design first, foremost and from the get-go. Indeed, we are. After an opening credits sequence that reminded me of the one in the similarly playful Catch Me If You Can, the first shot is a zoom in on what is certainly a drawing of New York City. We are reminded that it is 1962, and that "there's no other time like it." Barbara Novak (Renee Zellweger) arrives to work with her editor Vicki (Anne Paulson) on the release of her upcoming book "Down With Love," which teaches women to forgo attachment to men and concentrate on furthering their professional careers.

The Big Apple also happens to house Catcher Block (Ewan McGregor), a writer for the men's magazine "Know." He's a suave ladies-man type who prides himself on being able to attain any woman in New York City. So when the opportunity to interview nobody writer Barbara Novak presents itself, he blows it off. The book becomes a sensation and he changes his tune, plotting with his editor McManus (David Hyde Pierce) to write a tricky expose on the suddenly popular girl from Maine. He decides to pretend to be someone else and get Barbara to fall in love with him, thus proving that she is just like every other woman and not the original "down with love girl."

Wouldn't you know it, Barbara falls head over heels for Catcher Block's creation Tip Martin, the naive, childlike astronaut to whom "going to bed" means curling up under the covers in each person's respective abode. Meanwhile, McManus develops a crush on Vicki, who is going through a personal crisis of sorts herself, trying to figure out whether being a "down with love girl" is right for her.

Down With Love doesn't just replicate gags from its source material, it expands them, builds momentum with them, is spectacularly inventive with them. It goes to great lengths to imitate the visual style, yes -- when there's bluescreen, it's obviously bluescreen -- but it goes beyond mere imitation, and even exaggeration. Early on, there is a brilliant running joke in which the maitre'd carries a phone to a restaurant table, again and again and again; late in the film, there is an extended monologue that's filmed in one take, without reaction shots. My eyes wandered desperately around the frame, wanting to escape but not being permitted to do so.

There's anachronism as well, in a scene where split-screen takes on a surprising new function. It's surprising the way the film works in elements that would undoubtedly not be present in a 1962 production, but still fit in visually and tonally. Reed, who is following up the decent Bring It On takes a number of risks, not least the aforementioned climactic monologue, and many of them pay off handsomely as Down With Love barely ever steps wrong. Again: how many romantic comedies have there been during which you have actively wondered what happens next?

Ewan McGregor seems to have found his niche, perfectly cast as Catcher Block, the man-about-town. David Hyde Pierce is becoming a top-notch supporting character actor: I don't think he could or should carry a movie on his own, but he's great playing neurotic and insecure as he does here. I'm still not sold on Renee Zellweger, despite her excellent performance in Bridget Jones' Diary because she is, it turns out, becoming a one-note actress. She is an appealing personality in this movie, as she always is, but not very much more.

I don't like the romantic comedy genre, which inevitably follows the same formula with variably entertaining results. By harking back to decades ago, Down With Love bucks the modern trend. You can actually expect the unexpected.