Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
PART I (will get to Parts 2 & 3 when I have time to type them up):
Well, to make a long story short, I lost a bet I did not intend to lose. The bet? From my side, if I lost I agreed that I would watch 30 chick flicks with a girl I am seeing -- one for every night of the month of November (although for all sorts of practical reasons that didn't mean one every night, but instead some nights watch none, others watch two, watch a bunch during weekends etc.). If she lost...well, this is a family site.
In any case, I'm generally a pretty good sport about chick flicks, have even been known to enjoy a good one more than some brain dead actioner (and like most guys who have gained wisdom with age realize that they are second to only horror flicks in inspiring snuggling
). However, 30 in a month is a bit much. But I survived, and figure as long as I had to watch them all, somebody might as well benefit.
So without further ado, my ratings of the great Chick Flick Holocaust of 2004 (in the order they were watched):
1. Laws of Attraction (4) -- eh...not off to a very good start here. Think she thought I'd like it because it involved lawyers. But while Brosnan and Moore are pros, they had zero chemistry and a dumb, unbelievable script to work with.
2. Two Weeks Notice (5) -- now I know she was picking them because they involved lawyers. This time we try romantic comedy stalwarts Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock. Grant was amusing, but everything else was flat.
3. One Fine Day (8) -- hmm...maybe the connection was that they are all set in NY rather than involving lawyers? Anyway, seen this one before. Liked it quite a bit. Excellent chemistry between Clooney and Pfeifer and fun and well paced. Also has a number of scenes shot just a hundred feet or so from my old office. Major drawback was the presence of one little brat in the film in desperate need of a spanking. Or maybe a beheading.
4. Truth About Cats and Dogs (7) -- hey, there you go girl! Two pretty good ones in a row. Had seen this before too. Janeane Garofalo does a nice job playing against type. Actually an adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac I think.
5. The Wedding Planner (3) -- egads. Just when I had hope, she drops in JLo and Matthew McConaughey, NOT my favorite actors. Ignoring for a moment the utter immorality of the JLo character's actions, there is nothing here. No chemistry. No reason for being.
6. Autumn in New York (4) -- well, we interrupt our romantic comedy parade with a weeper. Problem is, I didn't care. Are these characters actually believable? How about likable?
7. My Best Friend's Wedding ( 5 ) -- I have a confession to make -- I am not much of a Julia Roberts fan. Unamerican, I know. And in this one she REALLY wasn't likable. Did appreciate the non-formulaic ending though, and Rupert Everett as her gay friend was definitely the highlight of the movie.
8. Message in a Bottle ( 5 ) -- oh boy, another weeper. This movie was slowwwww. I have always liked Robyn Wright Penn as an actress but teaming her with Mr. Charisma himself (Costner) is a cure for insomnia. However, falling asleep is against the rules of our bet, and I am trooper. Paul Newman had a nice little part to add some life to the proceedings.
(Note: after three non-happy ending in a row, I began to wonder if there was a message in there or not, and bought her some flowers to cheer her up just in case.).
9. Dirty Dancing ( 6 ) -- whoa! Going retro. This is really a silly little movie, but I have to admit a soft spot for it since it was the favorite movie of the first serious GF I had in high school and she bought me a copy of it so that we could always watch it whenever she wanted to, her place or mine (Of course I did not mention that to current girl) In any case, never did understand what possessed Patrick Swayze to try to go play action hero when the only two successful movies he ever made were both essentially romances (DD + Ghost).
10. Ever After ( 9 ) -- yay! She rented this one on my advice. First saw it a few years back on an airplane, and was totally taken by surprise by it. Normally I find Drew Barrymore entirely disposable, and you would have had an extremely hard time convincing me that a remake of Cinderella would even remotely interest me. But I thought the movie really worked in a goofy feel good way, and Drew showed me something with a strong likable character. Girl liked it too -- think I scored some of those all-important sensitive and romantic points for suggesting it.
Well, to make a long story short, I lost a bet I did not intend to lose. The bet? From my side, if I lost I agreed that I would watch 30 chick flicks with a girl I am seeing -- one for every night of the month of November (although for all sorts of practical reasons that didn't mean one every night, but instead some nights watch none, others watch two, watch a bunch during weekends etc.). If she lost...well, this is a family site.
In any case, I'm generally a pretty good sport about chick flicks, have even been known to enjoy a good one more than some brain dead actioner (and like most guys who have gained wisdom with age realize that they are second to only horror flicks in inspiring snuggling
). However, 30 in a month is a bit much. But I survived, and figure as long as I had to watch them all, somebody might as well benefit.So without further ado, my ratings of the great Chick Flick Holocaust of 2004 (in the order they were watched):
1. Laws of Attraction (4) -- eh...not off to a very good start here. Think she thought I'd like it because it involved lawyers. But while Brosnan and Moore are pros, they had zero chemistry and a dumb, unbelievable script to work with.
2. Two Weeks Notice (5) -- now I know she was picking them because they involved lawyers. This time we try romantic comedy stalwarts Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock. Grant was amusing, but everything else was flat.
3. One Fine Day (8) -- hmm...maybe the connection was that they are all set in NY rather than involving lawyers? Anyway, seen this one before. Liked it quite a bit. Excellent chemistry between Clooney and Pfeifer and fun and well paced. Also has a number of scenes shot just a hundred feet or so from my old office. Major drawback was the presence of one little brat in the film in desperate need of a spanking. Or maybe a beheading.
4. Truth About Cats and Dogs (7) -- hey, there you go girl! Two pretty good ones in a row. Had seen this before too. Janeane Garofalo does a nice job playing against type. Actually an adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac I think.
5. The Wedding Planner (3) -- egads. Just when I had hope, she drops in JLo and Matthew McConaughey, NOT my favorite actors. Ignoring for a moment the utter immorality of the JLo character's actions, there is nothing here. No chemistry. No reason for being.
6. Autumn in New York (4) -- well, we interrupt our romantic comedy parade with a weeper. Problem is, I didn't care. Are these characters actually believable? How about likable?
7. My Best Friend's Wedding ( 5 ) -- I have a confession to make -- I am not much of a Julia Roberts fan. Unamerican, I know. And in this one she REALLY wasn't likable. Did appreciate the non-formulaic ending though, and Rupert Everett as her gay friend was definitely the highlight of the movie.
8. Message in a Bottle ( 5 ) -- oh boy, another weeper. This movie was slowwwww. I have always liked Robyn Wright Penn as an actress but teaming her with Mr. Charisma himself (Costner) is a cure for insomnia. However, falling asleep is against the rules of our bet, and I am trooper.
Paul Newman had a nice little part to add some life to the proceedings.(Note: after three non-happy ending in a row, I began to wonder if there was a message in there or not, and bought her some flowers to cheer her up just in case.).
9. Dirty Dancing ( 6 ) -- whoa! Going retro. This is really a silly little movie, but I have to admit a soft spot for it since it was the favorite movie of the first serious GF I had in high school and she bought me a copy of it so that we could always watch it whenever she wanted to, her place or mine (Of course I did not mention that to current girl) In any case, never did understand what possessed Patrick Swayze to try to go play action hero when the only two successful movies he ever made were both essentially romances (DD + Ghost).
10. Ever After ( 9 ) -- yay! She rented this one on my advice. First saw it a few years back on an airplane, and was totally taken by surprise by it. Normally I find Drew Barrymore entirely disposable, and you would have had an extremely hard time convincing me that a remake of Cinderella would even remotely interest me. But I thought the movie really worked in a goofy feel good way, and Drew showed me something with a strong likable character. Girl liked it too -- think I scored some of those all-important sensitive and romantic points for suggesting it.
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Also had an odd feeling while watching this -- for the first time I am getting just old enough that I am wondering whetehr its perverted for me to think a high school girl is hot. But I ain't THAT old, Ms. Cook is not really THAT young, and despite her utterably unbelievable character and flat performance she's still the only thing I take away from this one.
. But really, there are a lot of "chick flicks" that you are missing out on.
The furor over Drew's story, the baseball stadium, all of the attempts to embarrass her character. Just amateurish.
