favorite movie #114 - holiday edition: while you were sleeping

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #114 - While You Were Sleeping (1995) - Sandra Bullock is at her adorable best as Lucy, a Chicago token seller who has a major crush on one of her regular riders (Peter Gallagher). On Christmas she saves him from an oncoming train after he falls on the tracks after a bunch of muggers attack him. Later at the hospital she inadvertently fibs that she is his fiancée so that she can get in to see the comatose man and see if he's O.K. She learns that his name is Peter and meets his wonderful family, who immediately fall in love with her — including his younger brother Jack (Bill Pullman). Hijinks ensue, and the lonely Lucy must find a way to tell the truth and not hurt the people who she has come to love.

wonderful, lyrical, practical magic

I saw the movie Practical Magic with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman quite a few years ago. It's one of those movies that I wanted to be better than it was — it seemed to have so much potential, but it just didn't work, even with the wonderful Aidan Quinn as Bullock's love interest.

I have been in the mood lately, Halloween coming up I guess, to read some witch-related books, so even though I didn't love the movie I had heard good things about the book by Alice Hoffman, so I thought I'd give it a try. I am so glad I did. The book is, from start to finish, a delight. Hoffman tells the story of Sally and Gillian Owens, two orphan sisters that are raised by their eccentric aunts in a wonderfully creaky old family home in Massachusetts. Their aunts, and the girls, too, are looked on with suspicion and fear by their neighbors — but that doesn't stop the townswomen from showing up at their kitchen door night after night in search of a charm or something that the old ladies can brew up to help their love lives. All through their childhood Sally and Gillian eavesdrop on these goings-on with fascination, while also realizing that this might not be the best atmosphere to grow up with a healthy view of romantic relationships ...

Hoffman's prose is lyrical, and the girls, their aunts, and all the other characters are wonderfully depicted. I really didn't want it to end. The good news is that Hoffmann recently published a "prequel," The Rules of Magic, centered around the aunts in their youth. Looking forward to reading that next. She also has a book written about the mother of painter Camille Pissarro, who was the mentor of the French Impressionists — The Marriage of Opposites. That sounds great, too.

favorite movie #40: the thing called love

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #40 - The Thing Called Love (1993) - Peter Bogdonavich sets the film around Nashville's Bluebird Cafe, a showcase for new aspiring singer-songwriters. Samantha Mathis's Miranda Presley (no relation) rides a bus all the way from the Big Apple to take her shot. Along the way she meets Linda Lue (Sandra Bullock) and enters into a love triangle of sorts with James (River Phoenix) and Kyle (Dermot Mulroney) — but is there any doubt who will spark her interest? Although the film presents an easier path to success than must be the case, the quartet is charming to watch the the setting is appealing. The romance, although an intrinsic part of the plot, is not the central story, but just a part of Miranda's pursuit of her dream, which is refreshing. There's no fairy tale ending, but hope for the future. Sadly, this was Phoenix's last film.

the unwatchables

I'm not sure if I am becoming less patient or just more selective, but I have noticed lately that I am unwilling to watch more than a few movies after the first twenty or so minutes. Our internet scanning culture has made us more in charge of what we watch. We are even watching more, not less, something of which I am all too aware. I try not to leave the boob tube on too much, so I guess when I am going to watch something, usually a "grown-up" movie that I couldn't watch in theaters or when the kid is around, I want to make it count. I have also noticed that these movies that I have rejected are all pretty negative in tone. I just don't have time for that these days.

Prisoners - This movie, with Jake Gyllenhaal and Hugh Jackman got pretty good reviews I think, when it first came out, so I tried to give it a go. I had hesitated for a while because of the subject matter - the disappearance and possible murder of two young girls on Thanksgiving, but I turned it off because it frankly bored the heck out of me. I didn't care for any of the characters, and Jackman's dad seemed one note and off the rails from the get go. I didn't care to find out what happened to anyone.

Prisoners - Nope and nope.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World - I am a little tired of Steve Carell's sad-sack characters, but I liked the idea of a sort of buddy adventure, although a tad apocalyptic, with Keira Knightley. But the characters didn't really gel with me, and after a minor character offed himself in a seemingly gratuitous and extremely unfunny scene, this black comedy was crossed off my continue-to-watch list.

The Heat - I have tried, I have really tried to watch Melissa McCarthy in movies. I loved her on Gilmore Girls, but I am really getting sick and tired of her blowsy, boorish big-screen characters. I found her foul-mouthed cop in The Heat an unbearable bore that even Sandra Bullock's presence couldn't temper. I never made it past the first twenty minutes of Identity Thief either. I'm not a fan of the recent spate of gross-out comedies, so although I will admit that her character was funny in Bridesmaids, I really didn't care for the film. I am hoping that she doesn't spoil St. Vincent, because I am still looking forward to checking that one out.

all about sexism?

I just saw All About Steve on cable and it was a fun little movie. Hardly the worst thing out there. So why all the bad press and low ratings? Sandra Bullock actually won the "Razzie" for Worst Actress and being Sandra Bullock, she attended the Razzies and accepted her award. According to imdb, "She brought a wagon full of DVDs of this film for the 300 attendees and asked them to watch or re-watch the movie. If in fact the audience decided she was NOT the Worst Actress and changed their minds, Bullock promised to come back to the Razzies next year, turn back in her award and buy drinks for everybody." The day after the Razzies Bullock won the Best Actress Oscar for The Blind Side. Ahhh, irony.

Watching any of the old classics on TCM there are dozens of movies that weren't box-office bonanzas but were nice character studies and are still fun to watch, as is All About Steve. Why did All About Steve get lambasted by critics? What about the audience? Did they really hate the film, or has everyone been so American Idol'd to death that they need some supposed "expert" to tell them what to watch, what is good?

So why did so many consider All About Steve Razzie-worthy? It's not your standard rom-com. It's not really a rom-com at all, although the studio advertised it as such. It's a comedy with an obnoxious protagonist who happens to be female. There have been plenty of male misfit heroes — Bill Murray is beyond annoying (and also funny as hell) in What About Bob. Jim Carrey and Jerry Lewis have made careers out of playing obnoxious characters. So why was there so much objection to Sandra Bullock playing an equally difficult person in this role? Was it because she was a woman?

All About Steve isn't even remotely about Steve, which is of course, the point. It's about the quirky character of Mary Horowitz, played by Bullock, and how she finds herself through her obsession for news cameraman Steve (Bradley Cooper), and how she breaks out of a self-created cocoon, sees the world, and makes some real friends. It's also a road movie — it's completely absurd and it's quite entertaining. Mary is a person that in real life many, if not most people, would definitely avoid. How many times have you sat on a bus and been stuck seated next to a compulsive talker, wondering, "Is this a crazy person? Or just lonely or socially awkward? Will they get off soon or will I have to listen to them the whole ride?"

Characters like Mary in movies are almost invariably played by men, as women's roles are not typically personality-driven. Women are called on to be beautiful, sarcastic and funny, maybe even sometimes brave. But women can be just as nutty, just as annoying, if given the chance. The panning of All About Steve seems to be mostly a backlash against Bullock's character. Women, especially pretty ones, and heroines, are not supposed be so verbal, so quirky, so difficult to like. The character of Steve keeps calling Mary a stalker, and that is even how the movie was advertised — as a stalker romantic comedy. That sort of description couldn't help but drive people away.

But as every character keeps pointing out to Steve — Mary's not really a stalker. Deluded, going through an emotional crisis after being fired from her beloved job, beyond socially awkward, absolutely. She actually thinks that Steve invited her to join him at his job, on a location shoot. The audience knows that wasn't what Steve intended, but Mary doesn't. As off-putting as Mary may be at times, and as eccentric as her behavior can appear, Steve never seems exactly repulsed by her. He was more than happy to make out with her until she started talking and wouldn't stop. Spouting interesting (to her) but completely extraneous facts while they are in the clinch killed the mood, "There's over a million Stevens with a "V" in the country. It's much more popular than the "PH" way. Twice as popular, in fact. I think it was the the Brits who prefer their PH's."

Mary is too much for Steve to process. He's overwhelmed by her. He can't deal with her. Critics seemed to have had the same reaction. But Bullock is actually wonderful in the movie. She's not afraid to be eccentric, even unlikable. The first scene, where we meet Mary as she walks to work, to a job she loves, and sees people working on the crossword puzzle that she created in the local newspaper she works for is wonderful. She is absolutely giddy with joy. Her walk home, the same day, after a bad experience where she has been made to feel that her job and her life isn't as wonderful as she believes it is, shows the pain underneath all of her manic behavior. Bullock has always been drawn to playing eccentric female characters, and she plays them in movies she produces as well (Miss Congeniality, Two Weeks Notice) — she is one of All About Steve's producers.

Steve and the audience get to know the real Mary as the movie progresses. Steve's friends and co-workers (a wonderful Thomas Haden Church as narcissistic would-be anchor Hartman Hughes and Ken Jeong as producer Angus) see Mary's good points immediately. There is more to her than a hyper personality and her shiny red boots. Hopefully All About Steve will get more attention on DVD and cable. I actually like Bullock's performance in All About Steve much more than The Blind Side. It's quirkier.