He's Just Not That Into You

I really should have named this post: I'm Just Not That Into How This Book Was Adapted to Film.

After a conversation over amazing French food and wine with one of my girl friends from high school, I finally watched He's Just Not That Into You. Almost every woman I know had seen this movie and all told me pretty much the same thing: that they related to parts of it and that it had a good message.

Before I get into what I want to say about the movie, let me begin by saying what I want to about the book. I was a junior/senior in college when the book was first published, and as a communication and rhetoric major it was a huge discussion point. I read and studied the book quite a bit for academic purposes and I was so curious as to how the message that is written in the book could be transformed into a movie. Let me rephrase that. I was curious as to how it could be transformed into a movie that people would actually like. The book... is pretty harsh.

Then there's the movie. It's got that Love Actually kind of feel to it where there's multiple plot lines going on with lots of different people who all kind of know each other somehow. That's fine. Whatever.

Justin Long's character is the only character in the movie who is consistent with the message of the HJNTIY book. That message is that women cling on to men too easily and don't move on when the guy isn't interested. The message of the book is that if the guy isn't calling you, he doesn't want you, so move the F on with your life. Except it's a little bit more abrasive than that.

At the beginning of the movie, Justin Long's character portrays this message. And it's good! I think it is something that a lot of women need to hear. He tells the cute girl in the movie whose name I don't know that she IS NOT the exception how men are going to treat her, she is the RULE. But what happens at the end of the movie? Oh yeah... she becomes the freaking exception by hooking up with a guy who previously had no interest in her!

Oh and also, Jennifer Aniston's character is supposed to teach us that not all men want to get married and if they are going to waste your time and life you should dump them. This is a great message until she gets back together with her dreamy boyfriend and, so conveniently, he changes his mind about marriage and proposes.

He's Just Not That Into You the book was written because women have always been led to believe (by movies and by each other) that men know not what they do and in the end, love prevails. It was written to help women realize that some relationships aren't meant to be and to move on.

He's Just Not That Into You the movie does nothing more than reinforce this myth and acts just like those movies that fill women's heads with the idea that they will be the "exception" and not the "rule."

It really gets my goat when a perfectly good text is mangled to fit the proper "Hollywood Ending." Though I'm sure no one would have paid $10 to go see a movie where all the women end up single, unhappy, and alone because He's Just Not That Into Them.

The Fugitive

I haven't seen any new movies lately. However, I did watch The Fugitive on TV over the weekend, for probably about the 20th time, and learned the following:

1. Once upon a time, Harrison Ford was kind of dreamy. When The Fugitive first came out, I was maybe 9 years old and thought Harrison Ford looked like my grandpa. That, my friends, is no longer the case. That is one fugitive I would harbor any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

2. It is still a badass movie. I attribute this to Tommy Lee Jones being the eternal badass.

3. The plot of The Fugitive is a lot more intricate than I ever remembered it being. Pharmaceutical companies? Liver samples being switched? Wha?? But, this also goes back to me being about 9 years old when the movie first came out.

4. What I enjoy most about this movie is that, unlike most movies with similar plot themes, The Fugitive doesn't have ridiculous shoot-out scenes with mayhem and violence and all that brouhaha. Ok, there is a little bit at the end, but it all relates to the plot. I feel like most movies of this genre just have a ton of gratuitous violence, which is fine and all, but it's not realistic. In real life, if one cop fires one shot, he/she gets put on administrative leave until an investigation is completed to determine whether or not said shot should have been fired. I know movies are fictional and all, but come on, throw me a realistic bone every once in a while.

5. There are some movies I will just never, ever get sick of. This is probably one of them.

I need to get my ass to the movie theater to see some new movies. Sometimes, watching old movies on TV is great. Other times, it's The Notebook all weekend long and that's just bad news all around.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

If you are one of the five people who have actually read my senior thesis about Fight Club, you know that I am a sucker for movies that embellish and satirize the daily life of your average Jack. (After living in a military town for three years, I try to avoid the word "Joe" as much as possible). I prefer movies that do this because I walk away from it feeling like the crappy things that happen in my life may be crappy, but they can be funny, too. This is why I don't like sci-fi movies. Unless one day I end up trying to save the world from zombies and/or aliens, I don't think I will ever relate to a sci-fi movie. If I can't find something real in a movie, I probably won't like it.

So, about a year ago, I heard about this movie called Forgetting Sarah Marshall. My friend Randy (sometimes also known as Tito Taquito), told me that I had to see it. He said that it was really funny, but different than most other comedies. So, that night I rented the movie and immediately saw what everyone was talking about.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a movie about an average guy named Peter who gets dumped by his TV star girlfriend, the aforementioned Sarah Marshall. He has such a hard time getting over her, he takes a vacation to Hawaii to find that she is also there with her new boyfriend, a snarky Englishman played by Russell Brand. You can guess where the plot goes from here. Hilarity does ensue, but what makes this movie so hilarious is the way it satirizes and exaggerates the things that happen to us "normal" people when we are dumped.

Though most of us have never dated a TV star, we have all had our Sarah Marshalls. You know, the kind of relationship where you are so out of your league and in love with someone that you fail to realize they are unhappy, possibly miserable, and most likely cheating on you. Then when you figure it out and you get dumped (or whichever comes first), you are so desperately devastated that you can’t think straight. Everywhere you go, you are reminded of your Sarah Marshall and you can’t escape the memories. You feel like your life is over, that no one will fill the void of your Sarah Marshall. We’ve all been there.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is an honest and funny film that demonstrates the emotions and behavior that average people experience after heartbreak – the bad dates, the intrusive family members, the fraught need to move on but being derailed many times in the process.

But, of course, this movie has a happy ending. Don’t most of them? It annoys me sometimes, because life doesn’t always have a happy ending. But I will give this movie a reprieve because I think it makes a very good point. Yes, your Sarah Marshall may have broken your heart, and things might feel hopeless for a while, but in the end you will forget her. Or in my case, him.

Inspired by a True Story

This is one story that should never be turned into a movie.

Ten years ago when the Columbine shooting happened, I was a freshman in high school. I had many friends who went to the school and I visited there often for various school activities and sports. I can’t explain the day it happened. I have never really been able to put it into words. There is no reason for me to keep trying – it won’t change the turmoil of that day or the months following.

When this tragedy first happened, it was painted as a picture of two loaners who sought revenge. The media told us of two boys who were so tormented by the jock culture at Columbine, that they created an elaborate plan to seek out and kill anyone and everyone who had crossed them.

The media interviewed students who had just fled for their life out of the school, who were already telling non-fact checked stories of what had happened inside. Some students were even saying the killers’ names on live TV before the shooting was over. The first headline on the Rocky Mountain News after the shooting read that 25 individuals had been killed. In reality, the death toll would end at 15. Mere hours after the first shots were fired, the media told us a story of a young martyr inside the Columbine library who was shot after telling one of the killers she believed in God. We would later find out this story was false.

Living only 10 minutes away from the school made it difficult to miss anything that was being said or reported about the shooting. I was 15, involved in a huge emotional crisis because of my connection to this tragedy, and the news coverage became all-encompassing.

This event was so sudden and so horrendous it created a sense of panic everywhere. Much of the shooting was aired on live television. I sat in a classroom watching a Columbine student named Patrick Ireland dangling from a window as he attempted to escape the library. The media was completely unprepared for this tragedy that would unfold before our eyes. For most involved, I think it would have been better for the cameras to have been turned off while this irreparable catastrophe unfolded.

Even though the victims and their families were being completely exploited by the media chomping at the bit for live breaking news, the community came together quickly in support of the victims. My parents attempted to donate blood hours after the shooting, and were turned away because so many people from the community had filled the blood banks to ensure that every victim would receive the necessary treatment. This outstanding effort from the community – something real - was juxtaposed with the media reporting fabrications of events that happened leading up to, during, and after the shooting.

The adrenaline of this tragedy took over the nation. Everything from Marilyn Manson to Mortal Kombat was scapegoated as the real perpetrator behind the shooting. Not Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. While the media debated if The Matrix was to blame for this horrible tragedy, members of the Littleton community were attending memorial services and building crosses in memory of the victims. The media was taking advantage of this awful event to avenge popular culture and create fodder for every news outlet in America.

Ten years later it is apparent that most of what was reported not only the day of the shooting, but the couple of years after, was erroneous. The shooters were upgraded from anguished loaners to deranged psychopaths. Which was the truth that most of us here already knew. The word of mouth stories from inside the school the day of the shooting were mostly dissolved as hearsay. The beautiful story that the media had written was diminishing into something much less romantic – just your typical run-of-the-mill massacre planned by two disturbed teenagers who had everyone fooled.

Obviously, the media (especially the local media here in Denver), has not made an effort to dispel these rumors that still float around. I was impressed today when I read an article on usatoday.com that echoed this truth. I’m sure that there will never be a huge endeavor on the media’s end to set the story straight. Why would they? The other story they painted was so much more fun and relevant to popular culture.

It’s been ten years and it still doesn’t seem real to me. Partly because the real story has never been told in its entirety.

I’d be surprised if this appalling story ever makes its way into the movie theater as a “based on a true story” film. From what I can tell, the story that every news outlet has ever told about Columbine is the biggest work of fiction that could be created from this event. Even Hollywood couldn’t match it.

The Holiday

Lately TBS has been showing The Holiday a lot. Every time it’s on, I watch it. I have a problem with watching movies that I’ve seen over and over again. Perhaps I do it because every time I watch a movie, I take something different away from it. No matter what the reason is, it doesn’t change the fact that I have watched The Holiday about three times in the past few days, causing me to have *false* Jude Law sightings around town.

Alright, let’s get it out of the way: this movie is a chick flick. But it is not one of the typical “ohmighod I am a single woman and like, SO unhappy, even though I am outwardly stubborn, yet fiercely successful, and all I need is a man to fix my life!” kinds of movie. Though, I suppose at its most basic outline, it is that type of film. I like that the plot takes a different journey to this message than most chick flicks tend to do.

Kate Winslet’s character, Iris, is the film’s most “real” character, that movie watchers are most likely to empathize with. She is in love with a man named Jasper who has kept her on the back burner for three years. He gets engaged to a co-worker, which he conveniently forgets to tell Iris until it is announced at the company Christmas party. Douchebag.

Iris is vulnerable and sweet. Even if you are not this type of person, her character will make you remember the saddest emotions you’ve ever had in the unrequited love department, whether you were outward with these emotions or not. Iris is a character that many women and men can commiserate with, as most of us have been at the mercy of someone stringing us along. The most true and poignant line in this entire movie is said by Iris to Jack Black’s character, Miles, as he is also being strung along by an undeserving lover, Maggie. Miles questions why he never learns that Maggie is bad for him, always giving her a second chance. Iris states:

“Because you're hoping you're wrong. And every time she does something that tells you she's no good, you ignore it. And every time she comes through and surprises you, she wins you over, and you lose that argument with yourself, that she's not for you.”

Bingo. I can’t count how many times I have tried to say these same words to my friends, and to myself, but couldn’t quite piece the logic together. This is the answer to every guy who asks “Why do girls always date assholes?” There’s your answer! Thank you to whomever the broken-hearted and jaded member of the screenplay writing team was who threw that gem into the script! You rocked my otherwise unrockable world!

The other part of this film is the storyline that occurs between Cameron Diaz (Amanda) and Jude Law (Graham). This is the real chick-flicky part of the film, though I still don’t mind it too much. Amanda is a movie trailer editor, and this detail creates a unique self-deprecating aspect of the film making fun of how commercialized films have become.

This film theme is carried out in the enchanting sub-plot of The Holiday, which is about an old man named Arthur, who, in his younger days, used to be a big-time Hollywood screenwriter. His endearing character and relationship with Iris is what helps this film rise above being an emblematic chick flick. Arthur teaches Iris that she should be the “leading lady in her own life.” His character, whether intentional or not, reminds us of the important role that movies used to play in culture. He admits that movies aren’t as special as they used to be, which of course, makes you want to embrace this movie more because of the cute old man telling you to. In the end, everyone falls in love, Jasper gets his, and the British accents get kind of annoying.

Maybe the next time I have an emotional crisis, I will traipse over to England to see if Jude Law is waiting for me. Who am I kidding? We all know I’d get stuck with Jack Black, doomed to a life of watching movies over and over again on TBS.

Gran Torino

I have been fortunate to live in an era, a region, and a culture where racial tension has not been something that I have witnessed. I went to a high school known as "White Ridge," after all. It is always interesting for me to watch movies that have race as a theme because it is not something I have ever experienced first-hand. As I watch the film, I wonder if the way racial tension is being portrayed in the movie is better or worse than what happens, or has happened, in "real life." These types of films always make me really uncomfortable and anxious. The worst was watching The Express a few weeks ago on a flight back from NYC, which happened to also be the most turbulent flight I've ever had. Overhead bins were popping open, the drink cart never made an appearance, and the only distraction I had from this impending death was a movie about the first black man to ever win the Heisman Trophy, and all the discrimination he faced on his journey there. Like my grandfather would have said, I was "sweating like a whore in church."

Gran Torino is a film that addresses racism in a much different kind of way. Though movies such as The Express are based on a true story, and should therefore be more authentic than a fictional tale, Gran Torino spotlights a reality that many of us do not know exists.

Though they are respectable films, movies like The Express and Remember the Titans lead us astray. They teach us that racism is a thing of the past for the most part, and because of these small groups of people who overcame their differences and emerged in an otherwise despicable time, things are forever changed. But what they don't show us is that these success stories are a small percentage of what has happened in American culture. Though we have made progress, there is a much more intricate problem now than what used to be black vs. white.

Gran Torino addresses this in a way that can not be denied. Racial slurs beyond the sphere of anything a moviegoer has ever heard in a movie makes up most of the script - and in some ways, adds comedic appeal to the text. We Americans are taught to believe that those who are outwardly racist these days are obviously just ignorant, naive, and undereducated. That makes it easier to write off, doesn't it? Gran Torino doesn't take this easy out. It shows us that a perfectly respectable American man, who had a loving wife, a cute dog, and a gorgeous house, has deeply ingrained prejudice. He is not ignorant, naive, or undereducated. - he's your grandpa.

After making its point, Gran Torino takes the important step of showing the difficulties of how the Hmong community (which I feel is a representation of multiple other sub-communities of all ethnicities) fits into a typical American suburb. The relationship between this community and our racist, yet otherwise lovable protagonist is the plot line that leads to this film's message that a person's prejudices never fully erase from their mind, the person just chooses to stop being outward about their discrimination. I guess that's what they call tolerance?

I have definitely filed Gran Tornio under movies that you need to see in order to get a big ass reality check. In that same category is Requiem for a Dream. You may not feel fantastic after watching these movies, but that's the point. As Maroon 5 sings, "it's not always rainbows and butterflies." Take advantage of a film that doesn't take you on a trip through la-la land. It makes dealing with the real shit in your life thismuch easier.

Friends in Low Places

Something embarrassing about myself that I try to not openly admit (besides the fact that I drool in my sleep) is that I watch American Idol. In my defense, I haven't been watching this season... until last night. My good friend Tru Love has been keeping me updated on what has been happening this season, and I didn't feel the need to tune in. Last night, I turned on the TV, AI was on, and the rest is about to be posted in this blog.

If you are not an AI fan - lucky you - you probably don't know that each week AI chooses a theme for the week's songs. I think this is done in an effort to weed out the contestants who can only sing one genre of music. Probably a good idea. Anyhow, last night's AI theme was country music. Country week is always a good indicator of who the people are with real talent. Though I used to hate country music, living in Texas made me appreciate it. And by "made me appreciate it," I mean "I decided to stop being cranky at the bar so I had to learn to like country music if I wanted to have fun, like, ever."

As I watched AI last night, pretty much every contestant suffered through a horribly butchered and putrid version of a respectable country song. One douchebag even did an Egyptian-inspired raping of "Ring of Fire." You don't even want to know what that sounded like...

The performances weren't awful because the people can't sing - obviously, if they have made it this far in AI, they can sing. What was missing from the performances was something else, something beyond musical technicalities.

So this morning I was thinking about it more as I drove to work. I realized that as a genre, country music appeals to those of us who have some kind of haunted past, broken heart, drinking problem, etc. This isn't news to anyone I know, but I had never thought of it as the reason why so many artists simply can't perform country songs. Unlike other genres that just require talent to succeed, country requires an emotional queue that is authentic and far-reaching.

What I love about country music is the pain you can hear in the artist's voice. I love that only a small percentage of professional musicians can participate in this genre. I love that the lyrics in this genre apply to the "every man" and not just bitches and hos. Even though I can relate to that sometimes, too. Country music isn't liked by everyone, and it's easy to see why. It's a rhetoric that makes you feel better and worse all at the same time. It reminds you of the lowest times in your life, and the people who were there with you. I fell in love with this genre at a time in my life that I was falling apart. I think that is fairly common with most people who become fans of country music.

I guess those little American Idol bitches are always terrible during country week because they might have the chops to sing a song, but unlike some of us, they don't have friends in low places.