There are a few things in life which I can say I am extremely fond of; one of them is basketball, and somewhere in the top 5 is movies. Yes, I love movies, but I'm not what I would call a movie 'buff' per say. The term 'movie buff' conjures up images of a short bespectacled man who takes a small notepad with him to the movie theatre, or perhaps a short nerdy teenager who'd ask a girl out to a movie because he actually wanted to watch the movie.
Don't ask me why both of my illustrations happen to be short; I guess it's a guy thing. My point is, I enjoy movies that entertain, be it old fashioned blood gore and explosives, or edge-of-your-seat drama, or silly romantic comedies. However, this doesn't mean I'm into pointless movies in which the sight of a man covered in shit is supposed to induce laughter; I want some form of intelligence behind the performance too.
Recently I've had the opportunity (if I can call it that) to see a few movies that dealt with romance. No, that doesn't necessarily make them 'romantic' movies, hence the whole 'dealt with romance' phrase. I'll explain my reasoning later.
Movie No.1: High Fidelity
'High Fidelity' is a movie based on the novel of the same name by Nick Hornby, the same author who wrote 'About a Boy' which was also made into a movie starring Hugh Grant. John Cusack plays a somewhat jobless man who is going through a difficult break-up, and as a result starts regaling the viewers with his top 5 break-ups. It's an interesting and humorous movie that has done very well to convey the views expressed in the book in a manner suitable for the big screen. I won't give much away, but it's a great movie, dealing with male issues in a relationship, and also has one of Jack Black's best performances.
Movie No.2: The Notebook
Yes, I know. THE Notebook. The very name invokes images of scented candles and other gooey romantic thingy’s. Go through any girls list of favourite movies and you'll find this one in it. Women speak of it with the same glazed look in their eyes that we have when we recall any scene from 'The Godfather'. Yes, it is the holy grail of romance, and so it is with a sense of mortal dread and impending doom that any man sits down to watch this movie; the last time I felt this way was when I went to the dentist.
But, being the objective movie critique that I am, I steeled myself and set down to have a look; it's got an 8.0 rating on IMDB.com, and any movie with such a high rating has to be watched, no matter what its content.
To cut a long story short, only my moderate crush on Rachel McAdams got me through this movie; it had so much cheese in it I had a sudden urge to order-in pizza. The movie is well done however, but its content had me asking a lot of questions.
Movie No.3: Wedding Crashers
Right about now, some readers will be thinking "Pfft! That's not a romantic movie!" I know that, dumbass. That's why I said movies that dealt with romance. (Ha!) Despite all evidence to the contrary, 'Wedding Crashers' is one of my favourite movies. Yes, in spite of the rather crude sexual humour involved and Vince Vaughan's eccentric character, I still liked this movie a lot. This time, my moderate crush for Rachel McAdams had nothing to do with it. It's funny, I loved the dialogues, and even Christopher Walken did a great job in a movie I was surprised to see him in.
Now for the verdict. To be honest, I decided to write this review only after watching 'The Notebook' and frankly, I just didn't get it. That may seem like a typical response from any male viewer, but let me give you my reasons first.
In my opinion, both 'High Fidelity' and 'Wedding Crashers' had believable romances; you can see the chemistry the characters have, and you genuinely want them to have a happy ending. In ‘Notebook’, we only believe that the characters are in love because the narrator states (in a rather warm fuzzy voice) that ‘they were inseparable’. Blech! As for the happy ending, well, watching the 'happy' ending for 'The Notebook' was as uplifting as watching Tiger Woods win a golf tournament; you knew it would happen, and you wish you could get the last 2 hours of your life back. 'High Fidelity' had humour, great music, funny sub-stories and great actors to go along with the romance. 'Wedding Crashers' had great humour and great characters to support its romance story. 'The Notebook' has nothing but the love story, and in my opinion that failed. There's no humour, no drama and Ryan Gosling’s character Noah, who ironically enough is a carpenter (get it? Noah? Noah’s ark? Carpenter? Oh never mind!) has to be the most annoying love interest in movie history!
It's no wonder that women complain about not being able to understand us, they've been reading from the wrong (note)book. Allow me to enlighten you; all men are useless, but we're simple creatures with good intentions. If you're looking for Mr. Right, someone who’ll write you 365 letters in a year and fantasize about you over a period of close to 10 years, build a house for you just because you said so, steal you away from your fiancé, read to you while you’re in a mental institution and then proceed to die with you, side by side, holding hands; well you’d have better luck searching for the elusive Purple-n-pink Polynesian Porcupine.
I hope you are enlightened.
Don't ask me why both of my illustrations happen to be short; I guess it's a guy thing. My point is, I enjoy movies that entertain, be it old fashioned blood gore and explosives, or edge-of-your-seat drama, or silly romantic comedies. However, this doesn't mean I'm into pointless movies in which the sight of a man covered in shit is supposed to induce laughter; I want some form of intelligence behind the performance too.
Recently I've had the opportunity (if I can call it that) to see a few movies that dealt with romance. No, that doesn't necessarily make them 'romantic' movies, hence the whole 'dealt with romance' phrase. I'll explain my reasoning later.
Movie No.1: High Fidelity
'High Fidelity' is a movie based on the novel of the same name by Nick Hornby, the same author who wrote 'About a Boy' which was also made into a movie starring Hugh Grant. John Cusack plays a somewhat jobless man who is going through a difficult break-up, and as a result starts regaling the viewers with his top 5 break-ups. It's an interesting and humorous movie that has done very well to convey the views expressed in the book in a manner suitable for the big screen. I won't give much away, but it's a great movie, dealing with male issues in a relationship, and also has one of Jack Black's best performances.
Movie No.2: The Notebook
Yes, I know. THE Notebook. The very name invokes images of scented candles and other gooey romantic thingy’s. Go through any girls list of favourite movies and you'll find this one in it. Women speak of it with the same glazed look in their eyes that we have when we recall any scene from 'The Godfather'. Yes, it is the holy grail of romance, and so it is with a sense of mortal dread and impending doom that any man sits down to watch this movie; the last time I felt this way was when I went to the dentist.
But, being the objective movie critique that I am, I steeled myself and set down to have a look; it's got an 8.0 rating on IMDB.com, and any movie with such a high rating has to be watched, no matter what its content.
To cut a long story short, only my moderate crush on Rachel McAdams got me through this movie; it had so much cheese in it I had a sudden urge to order-in pizza. The movie is well done however, but its content had me asking a lot of questions.
Movie No.3: Wedding Crashers
Right about now, some readers will be thinking "Pfft! That's not a romantic movie!" I know that, dumbass. That's why I said movies that dealt with romance. (Ha!) Despite all evidence to the contrary, 'Wedding Crashers' is one of my favourite movies. Yes, in spite of the rather crude sexual humour involved and Vince Vaughan's eccentric character, I still liked this movie a lot. This time, my moderate crush for Rachel McAdams had nothing to do with it. It's funny, I loved the dialogues, and even Christopher Walken did a great job in a movie I was surprised to see him in.
Now for the verdict. To be honest, I decided to write this review only after watching 'The Notebook' and frankly, I just didn't get it. That may seem like a typical response from any male viewer, but let me give you my reasons first.
In my opinion, both 'High Fidelity' and 'Wedding Crashers' had believable romances; you can see the chemistry the characters have, and you genuinely want them to have a happy ending. In ‘Notebook’, we only believe that the characters are in love because the narrator states (in a rather warm fuzzy voice) that ‘they were inseparable’. Blech! As for the happy ending, well, watching the 'happy' ending for 'The Notebook' was as uplifting as watching Tiger Woods win a golf tournament; you knew it would happen, and you wish you could get the last 2 hours of your life back. 'High Fidelity' had humour, great music, funny sub-stories and great actors to go along with the romance. 'Wedding Crashers' had great humour and great characters to support its romance story. 'The Notebook' has nothing but the love story, and in my opinion that failed. There's no humour, no drama and Ryan Gosling’s character Noah, who ironically enough is a carpenter (get it? Noah? Noah’s ark? Carpenter? Oh never mind!) has to be the most annoying love interest in movie history!
It's no wonder that women complain about not being able to understand us, they've been reading from the wrong (note)book. Allow me to enlighten you; all men are useless, but we're simple creatures with good intentions. If you're looking for Mr. Right, someone who’ll write you 365 letters in a year and fantasize about you over a period of close to 10 years, build a house for you just because you said so, steal you away from your fiancé, read to you while you’re in a mental institution and then proceed to die with you, side by side, holding hands; well you’d have better luck searching for the elusive Purple-n-pink Polynesian Porcupine.
I hope you are enlightened.
3 comments:
might i remind u that the novel the notebook on which the movie was based, was written by a GUY :)
i liked the book :) i mean notebook. havent seen the movie though.. ur article made me laugh, very entertaining!
Hey, Hey...don't knock movie buffs. Some of those bespectacled, short men are quite adorable (hee)!
And, honestly...shushhhhh...don't tell anyone...*looks around* but I didn't like The Notebook...yes, me...a woman...with a very pink blog...didn't like the notebook. It was mundane and draggy and in all fairness, I didn't even finish it (instead I watched Friend's reruns for the 11th time) so I might have not gotten to the tissue soaking bits...but well...I didn't like it...so HA..don't generalize =P
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