Post Grad

I love romantic comedies (duh). I love movies about people trying to get their lives together. I love movies with female protagonists. I also love Gilmore Girls. So it should follow that I would love last year's quickly forgotten Post Grad, right?

Actually, yeah! I loved this movie. I mean, it was definitely not dealing with any heavy shit, which was why I used it as a palate cleanser before watching Fitzcarraldo. Also, it seemed like a movie made for families with children, like something Papa Winfrey would watch on the Hallmark Channel some Saturday afternoon, even though the subject matter (college graduate looking for a job) would bore most families with children. This movie was totally cute, and you don't have to take my word for it, just listen to Roger Ebert, who, as always, totally gets it:
"Apart from a few words and attitudes, this movie, directed by Vicky Jenson and written by Kelly Fremon, could be a throwback to more innocent times. It contains no drugs, no angst, no bitterness, no generation gap, no big family problems, and it doesn't even seem to know how blessed it is. Sometimes you get out of a movie and feel like you've just worked a desperate overnight shift on the homicide detail. You get out of this film, and you have a good feeling."
Also, it's worth noting that this movie contains my #1 favorite-of-all-time romantic comedy plot: a best friend who is madly in love with the protagonist, but the protagonist just can't see it. I've never been in love with my best friend (mostly because all of my close friends have always been either female, gay, or guys I've known since I was literally five years old) and none of my best friends have ever been in love with me, but it has to be a common fantasy, right? That the person who knows you best in the whole world is also the one you get to spend every day with? In reality, I can't see this ever working out; usually the protagonist only realizes they should be with the best friend after being worn down and pleaded with, and who wants to be with someone they have to convince? But still. I love this plot. I love the drama and the way it necessitates a tearful fight, a montage of memories, a sudden realization, and then a dramatic resolution. Even if it would never work in real life, at least in the movies you know it always will. Unless you're watching Pretty in Pink, or My Best Friend's Wedding. Or kind of a lot of movies, I guess.
Another thing I found quite charming about Post Grad was the emphasis on family. As someone who comes from a very close, very strange family (perhaps you've noticed), I really appreciated the celebration of the familial unit. Also, Michael Keaton TOTALLY reminded me of Papa Winfrey. Actually, the whole family reminded me of us:

Mom and Dad are Michael Keaton and Jane Lynch. Alex is Alexis Bledel, just tryin' to get his life together. Chase is the kid with the sock puppet. And I'm Carol Burnett, because OBVIOUSLY.
Also, in general, I will like any movie that earnestly make proclamations like, "What you're doing with your life is only half of it; the other half is who you're with when you're doing it." And that's it, because I can almost guarantee Alex has not read this far, and is just now skimming through the post, seeing his name, and reading this last line. Bottom line: This is a good bad mood movie.

Ebert Again

I've said some bad things about Jezebel in the past, but sometimes they really come through with a great article. Although, to be fair, Roger Ebert is a great topic. He reads all the comments on his blog! He's a total feminist! His wife is awesome! There's so much to love here.
Edit: I usually don't read the comments on Jezebel, for reasons that should be obvious, but they're worth reading here. It seems almost everyone has a funny, sweet story about a personal Ebert encounter!

Typically Ebertian

You all read Roger Ebert's twitter, right? Well, he said what we were all thinking after the Golden Globes:
All hail "Avatar," yes, but the year's best picture? Give me a f--king break

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh

This will be arriving on Monday via Netflix.

I do not have high hopes, but I will, of course, report back to you no matter how it goes. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh is one of my favorite books. Duh. Everyone who reads it says that. I read it while on Winfrey Family Vacation 2008, right after I graduated from college. What a perfect time to read it! It's not so much that I WANT to watch this movie, but more that I feel compelled, the way I do for most film adaptations of books I love. The general bad vibes around this movie, combined with the lousy reviews and the fact that they apparently chose to combine two central characters, makes me apprehensive. But my love of Peter Sarsgaard is pretty intense, so who knows?

More 500 Days of Summer

500 Days of Summer has one of those trailers.

By that I mean that it involves some fast-paced dancing, a song that sounds vaguely like "Where the Streets Have No Name," and a lot of running. Running in a trailer will always sell me on a movie, but even without that I would have still wanted to see this. Ever since this teaser trailer came out in January, I've thought about movie nearly every single day. It seemed like July was never going to come.
So I guess it's inevitable that I was going to be a little disappointed. But overall I loved it. 500 Days of Summer reminded me of why movies are sometimes just better than books. On paper, this would have been one boring story. But it worked on film, mostly because of all the things that Lexie already mentioned. He spent very little space talking about the clothing, though! The clothing was marvelous! I am currently on the hunt for a sweater vest for H.
Two things: Roger Ebert's review was right on the mark, as per usual.
He liked it. Also, he was a total sassy bitch about the punctuation in the title. I love it!
Secondly, this person is an asshole. Seriously. I don't want to be one of those people who claims that anybody who doesn't like what they like just doesn't "get it." But this person really obviously didn't "get" the dance sequence, and there isn't even all that much to get. Also, they dared to insult the parade sequence in Ferris Bueller? Barf.

The Heartbreak Kid

This weekend, Alex and I unintentionally had an Anti-Marriage Movie Marathon by watching The Heartbreak Kid and Hannah and Her Sisters. Wait, The Heartbreak Kid with Ben Stiller, you're asking yourself? NO. The original 1972 film starring the (always) superb Winfrey Family fave Charles Grodin.

We learned a lot of things from this movie. Like, don't marry someone until you've:
1. Had sex with them.
2. Gone to the beach with them.
3. Watched them eat egg salad.
4. Heard them sing.
Just make sure you know what you're getting into, I guess. Do yourself a favor and don't watch this movie if you're about to get married. Oof, seriously. This movie will make you feel so much discomfort, misery, and despair that you won't even know what to do with yourself. But I mean that in a good way. Add in some wonderful tunes, a young Cybil Shepard, and Charles Grodin's ability to pull off clashing patterns and you've got a winner.
So why the hell would anyone feel the need to remake this movie? We don't know. This movie needed no remaking, since it's already perfect the way it is. But maybe you watched it and thought, "Instead of going to Miami for their honeymoon and being surrounded by old people, why don't we take them somewhere a little more fancy and less sad? Like Mexico? And can we make everyone, like, five times hotter? And how about instead of making the audience feel depressed and confused, we try to make them laugh by making disgusting jokes?" NO, FARRELLY BROTHERS. YOU JUST RUINED THE MOVIE. Roeper and Some Guy agree:

If you, like us, enjoy Charles Grodin, movies from the 70s, and laughing and feeling sad at the same time, you should probably watch The Heartbreak Kid. And if you don't, then you probably shouldn't be reading this blog.

Awww

This is sad. I'm a big Roger Ebert fan. He looks so happy though! Like, he does not look like the same person at all. The old Roger Ebert always looked kind of like, "Really? You liked that movie?" This Roger Ebert looks a lot more like, "I'm glad to be alive!" Also, Leonard Maltin!