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.