So Nobody's Interested in Book Reviews

I can see that book reviews from a person with questionable taste in literature might be suspect. Especially as I basically just say I like this book in a general sort of way and don't go into specifics. So how about a movie review? Would you find that interesting?

I watched two movies worth reviewing this week. Memento and 500 Days of Summer. Two very different movies with one thing in common - a kind of quirky oddness. Of course both movies leave you completely different so don't read too much into the oddness, but it's there all the same.

For me, Memento is about how people will use other people's weaknesses to their own ends. Of course sometimes that backfires. But the blatant self interest is appalling and the manipulation of situations left me cold. This is not a feel good movie. It's supremely well acted, written and directed and definitely worth seeing, But if you are at all squeamish, don't watch it at night.

500 Days of Summer is not your typical love story. I place it with the more modern and alternative Juno and Nick and Nora's Infinite Play List. It's off balance in a fun sort of way. But the mood is not traditional, well heck the story is not traditional. It appears to be written for the disillusioned twenty-somethings. I watched with my sixteen-year-old daughter. She liked it. I liked it. So I guess it works as a chick flick. But honestly I think it would work for the guys too. It's not a shoot 'em, car wreck of a movie, but it's shot from the male point of view and plays to guys sensibilities. It's not easy on the girl, which honestly works in this movie.

So there you go - two short and probably unhelpful movie reviews, but maybe you like them more than the book reviews?

"You've got Mail" and Other Tales of Woe

This story is a tad circuitous, you'll have to bear with me and keep reading and hopefully by the end of the blog the connections will be made and it will all make sense. As much sense as I can make when I'm writing after midnight because my legs are so jangly I can't possibly sleep.

I was perusing Jenny Crusie's site (www.JennyCrusie.com) as I'm apt to do. I enjoy her sense of humor and she has a way of writing that makes me feel like one of her friends. She's so intimate when she blogs that it feels like a conversation rather than communication with the entire world. Which is what it really is.

Anyway, (I did tell you this would be circuitous, didn't I?) Jenny has a section where she comments on mistakes in romance movies. One of the movies she comments on is Four Weddings and a Funeral - I'm not quoting here, this is just from memory - Jenny says the guy ends up with the wrong girl! So I'm thinking I've got to watch that movie again, because I can't figure out who the right girl could possibly be. Any ideas?

This got me thinking about You've Got Mail. When I first watched this movie I hated it. No way should Meg Ryan's character end up with the guy who puts her out of business. I was incensed and vowed never to watch that movie again. End of story.

Not quite.

Months later I'm pregnant with my fourth child who's due shortly and my blood pressure starts shooting up. Long story short I get put on a lovely drug with sulfide in it's name and labor is induced. I'm skipping the long, painful and fairly unsatisfactory night. Lizzie arrives and all is well, pretty much, but they want to keep an eye on us so we get to stay at the hospital for a couple of nights. My dear husband brings me movies to watch so I don't get bored. Three of the four movies are full of delightful scenes like where a man gets his eyeballs taped open and other horrid things happen. I stopped watching those movies after the first one. Yuck!

The other movie was You've Got Mail. Which I hate. But, given the choice between nothing and Meg vs. Tom, I take Meg and Tom. Lizzie and I watch that movie several times, which is okay because I'm still drugged and I keep passing out. Low and behold when I get home from the hospital what do I want to do? Watch You've Got Mail. Again and again and again. I become insanely fond of that movie - of course Meg and Tom should end up together, how else could it possibly end?

I'm sure a psychologist could explain to me why I ended up adoring that movie. I might even be able to explain it if I dug deep and pulled out some psychological terminology. But I think you get the point.

The question occurs: If Jenny Crusie had watched Four Weddings and a Funeral over and over again while bonding with her new baby, would that have changed her mind about which girl Hugh Grant should have ended up with?