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May 02, 2004
50 First Dates
Damn, that was a dusty cinema. I had stuff in my eyes throughout the last third of the movie. Anyway, I have to say that I am a sucker for romantic comedies, but most of the time, the set-up is so preposterous that I find it really hard to summon the requisite suspension of disbelief. It's not often that I watch a movie, particularly a standard four act romance, and not cringe at the ridiculous plot contortions, but this movie easily accomplishes the stretch. What struck me were the parallels between Adam Sandler and George Peppard in Breakfast at Tiffany's. As I mentioned, I believe the essential blandness of George Peppard contributes to Breakfast at Tiffany's, such that we are able to project ourselves onto the Everyman Peppard. Adam Sandler shares a similar blandness, and his bland physicality also aids. After all, if he were making US$20,000 a year and crashing in his parents' basement, would the Drew Barrymores of the world be falling all over him? I seriously doubt it. It gives hope to us normal average guys. The difficult thing I find about such movies is that it invariably raises expectations about romance to the point where real life invariably cannot measure. For example, Henry Roth's job doesn't seem to require him to work more than a few hours every morning, and all the things he does works out pretty much perfectly. This movie has a perfect ending, too, hitting all the right notes while sidestepping the difficult issues that were raised. It's hard going back to real life when you have, for two hours and £4.50, been allowed to inhabit a world where everything works out perfectly and the course of true love runs smoothly (apart from the requisite break-up about two-third of the way through a movie, of course). Still, watching such movies recharges my optimism about life and refreshes my belief that true love awaits us all somewhere out there. And if & when I find it, I have to adjust my life so that I have to have a videotape ready, can never be far from a TV, and have to spend an hour explaining every morning, well, I'll be ready for that too. Anyway, how could I not enjoy a movie that has a good natured "Red Sox win World Series!" joke? Posted by pj at 12:18 AM
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Movies are Movies. It's not realistic. Very often, it's also a reflection of what people are dreaming or yearning for. As ladies, we're all yearning for our guys to be patient and loving to us, and never bear grudges..or even if there's grudges, the next day everything resets and a beautiful day begins.
I always enjoy such light-hearted romantic comedy.. It always brighten up our days and perspective of things, away from this world of so much troubles.
