P.S. I Love You

When I asked my friend, Roxane, if she wanted to go see P.S. I Love You, she said...."somebody I know wants to see that, but I can't remember who." I said, "That would be me." Since every time the trailer came on before the movie, or the commercial came on T.V., I'd tell anyone listening, "I want to see that", whether they cared or not. It looked like a cute story.

Written and directed by Richard LaGravenese, the film stars Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler as Holly and Jerry Kennedy in an unusual romantic comedy. Holly and Jerry are married. They are madly in love. Jerry dies because of a brain tumour. Holly falls into depression and doesn't leave the house. Her mother, Patricia (Kathy Bates), and friends Denise (Lisa Kudrow) and Sharon (Gina Gershon) arrive to get her out of the house to celebrate her 30th birthday. Also arriving that night, the first of ten letters from her deceased husband, with specific instructions on what he wants her to do to help her move on.


The film follows Holly as she tries to cope with Jerry's death and attempts to find herself and where she wants to go, while also remembering her time with Jerry. One of the reasons that I wanted to see this film was because it stars Harry Connick Jr. as Daniel, who works for Holly's mother at her pub. I fucking LOVE Harry Connick Jr. and he's so cute as the budding romantic interest who has a big crush on Holly and tends to blurt out whatever comes into his head.


I really liked this film. The story was sweet and was able to take you some place else. Even though it was clear that Jerry was going to die early on, the trailers made that clear, it was still sad when Jerry died and when he made an appearance in the flashbacks. I don't know what it's like to have the person you love pass away, but I do know what it's like to have love end and have to deal with moving on. That's why I could relate to Holly's depression and confusion at figuring out what she really wants to do with her life now that she is on her own. Everybody was great and I especially got a kick out of Daniel and Holly's friends, Sharon and Denise, the comic relief. I recommend it if you like romantic comedies or are in the mood for a good cry. From fairly early on in the film when Holly tells Gerry something about life....
Holly: All I know is, if you don't figure out this something, you'll just stay ordinary, and it doesn't matter if its a work of art or a taco, or a pair of socks! Just create something... new, and there it is, and its you, out in the world, out side of you and you can look at it, or hear it, or read it, or feel it... and you know a little more about... you. A little bit more than anyone else does... Does that make any sense at all?
Gerry: Yeah... you're saying you want to paint socks.
Holly: [ecstatic] Maybe!


More ramblings to come.....

This Christmas

I decided to catch another flick today, just because I can, and decided to go cheesy with a Christmas flick. I saw This Christmas at the Rainbow. Like most Christmas films, I'd have to say it was okay, but not great.

Written and directed by Preston Whitmore, the film is about the Whitfield family getting together for Christmas for the first time in four years. Starring an ensemble cast including Delroy Lindo, Loretta Devine, Columbus Short, Regina King, Mekhi Phifer, Idris Elba, Sharon Leal, Lauren London, and Chris Brown.

The film is a family drama with many different little plot lines. Ma'Dere (Devine) is the matriarch of the family who lives with her long term boyfriend, Joe (Lindo). The visiting family includes daughter Lisa (King) and her adulterous, controlling husband and two kids, daughter Kelli (Leal), a model in New York, daughter Mel (London), a professional student and her new boyfriend, son Claude (Short), a soldier in the Army who brought a big surprise with him, son Quentin (Elba), a musician who rarely makes it home, and the only child still living at home, son Michael (Brown), an aspiring singer who everyone calls "Baby".


It's a little hard to get into the plot since there are so many subplots. Basically, Lisa's skeezy husband is trying to get Lisa to get the rest of the family to convince Ma'Dere to sell the family drycleaning business to get money. Kelli and Lisa don't get along because Kelli hates Lisa's husband, Lisa feels Kelli is selfish for deserting the family business for her own career, and Kelli feels Lisa tries to make the rest of the family feel bad for not doing enough. Quentin and Joe don't get along because Quentin feels Joe is trying to take his daddy's place. Claude is hiding a woman at a hotel nearby for reasons later discovered and Baby just wants to sing, but is afraid to tell his mother because she feels she lost her husband and her son to music (the patriarch of the family left to pursue a musical career many years ago). Got all that?


One thing I absolutely hate about the IMDB message boards is that whenever there is a movie with an all black cast, there is always the inevitable "Why do all black movies suck?" thread that is just filled with racist comments back and forth with sweeping, generalized comments. I don't believe this is a bad movie, I feel it is an okay movie with great characters that gets lost in the different stories. One user comment on IMDB had said that it starts out slow and then seems to race to the finish. I would have to agree with that. In the beginning you're trying to figure out who everybody is and how they fit and what their character and situation is, then all the plotlines seem to be going at once pretty quickly. It all ties up nicely, but it takes a little while to get things straight.

All in all, the actors were all great and it was nicely shot. It was heartwarming at times, a teensy bit cheesy in others, in terms of how quickly all the family squabbles get resolved in a matter of a few days. As a holiday movie, it was okay. Not great, but still better than Deck the Halls.

More ramblings to come.....

Lars and the Real Girl

You know it's been a long time since your last post when you notice it was at Halloween and you've got your Christmas tree up and your shopping done. Oi. So I've finished this semester and finally got an afternoon to take in a matinee at my favourite cheap theater. I got a chance to see Lars and the Real Girl, which I had been wanting to see. I wasn't disappointed.

Directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Nancy Oliver, the film stars Ryan Gosling as Lars Lindstrom, a socially challenged young man living in the garage of his brother and sister-in-law's house. Lars spends most of his time sequestered in the garage by himself, cut off from the rest of world, when he isn't at work or at church. When he is at work or church, he still keeps to himself as much as possible, even with everybody else around him trying to bring him out of his shell.


This all changes one day when the Real Doll that he purchased online arrives at the garage. In case you didn't know, a Real Doll is a very life-like, anatomically correct sex doll that customers are able to customize to their preferences. Lars tells his brother and sister-in-law that he will be bringing a date to dinner. Delighted that he finally wants to join them for dinner and is actually socializing, his brother, Gus (Paul Schneider), and his brother's wife, Karin (Emily Mortimer), become horrified when Lars arrives with the sex doll and talks to her and about her as though she were a real person. They suggest that he take his new doll friend, Bianca, to see the town doctor, Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson), who is also a psychologist ("Up this far north, you have to be"). Dagmar suggests to Gus and Karin that they play along with Lars and his delusion that Bianca is real and that she will go away when he no longer needs her.

I really liked this movie a lot. A little slow moving at first, it slowly eases you into the characters and plot, while it establishes what a lonely life Lars leads. If there were Hollywood It Boys, like there are Hollywood It Girls, Gosling would definitely be an It Boy. He was superb as Lars, as throughout the film you got to discover the layers beneath Lars' shy, anti-social exterior. Emily Mortimer was also excellent as Karin, Lars' pregnant sister-in-law, who goes very far out of her way to try to include Lars in their daily life. Paul Schneider also gave a great performance as Lars' brother, Gus, who is very reluctant to go along with Lars' delusion and ashamed of his brother's behavior, as the whole town begins to meet Bianca.


Amusing to watch and at times, very touching, Lars and the Real Girl is very well-written. I especially like how it avoided the obligatory scenes in movies like this, where small-minded buttheads have to confront what they don't understand. Patricia Clarkson and Kelli Garner were also great as Dagmar, the therapist, and Margo, the girl at work who has a crush on Lars. I highly recommend it as a departure from the big budget fluff that usually infiltrates the theaters at this time of year. I'm torn on the quote, so I will post two. The first one from Dagmar, the therapist, when she assures Lars in one of their sessions that he isn't the only one who gets lonely. The second, from Gus, his answer to Lars when he asks what makes a man a man. Enjoy....

Dagmar: Sometimes I get so lonely I forget what day it is, and how to spell my name.

Gus: Well, it's not like you're one thing or the other, okay? There's still a kid inside but you grow up when you decide to do right, okay, and not what's right for you, what's right for everybody, even when it hurts.
Lars: Okay, like what?
Gus: Like, you know, like, you don't jerk people around, you know, and you don't cheat on your woman, and you take care of your family, you know, and you admit when you're wrong, or you try to, anyways. That's all I can think of, you know - it sounds like it's easy and for some reason it's not.

More ramblings to come......