Sunday, September 11, 2005

Romantic Dramedy.

Everybody likes to pretend that they have pop-cultural taste, but everyone has fatal blind spots threatening to expose them at all times. One guy at the gym was talking a pretty good game to me, lending me his iPod, until he handed it over loaded with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. For me, I was embarrassed to admit that sure, I would see Must Love Dogs. It has John Cusack and Diane Lane, right? I would see Must Love Dogs, even though it's a cheesy romantic comedy, but for some unexplained reason I'm going to get snobby and say I would never see something as stupid and gay as Maid in Manhattan.

Well, I'll tell you. I saw Must Love Dogs and they should call it Must Love Crap. The film does manage to establish John Cusack as some kind of prodigy for pulling off romantic, man-boy patter at his advanced stage of puffiness, but it all still falls flatter than the EKG on Dave Chappelle's career.

Meanwhile, I just saw the end of Maid in Manhattan on cable, and I'm ashamed to admit that I enjoyed it more, with the exception of Ralph (Rafe) Fiennes' poor American accent. Maybe it was the subzero expectations. Still, I don't know anyone who would endorse Maid and I know of at least two people who would endorse Dogs. Considering I have a Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam Greatest Hits CD in my collection, I don't know why I ever thought my opinion was credible in the first place.

6 comments :

  1. Anonymous8:01 PM

    Does this series of realizations really reflect social discomfort of any kind? And did you just use "gay" as a derogatory adjective? They can actually take away your SAS diploma retroactively, you know.

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  2. Anonymous9:28 AM

    i see the thought police have arrived.

    did you have an U.M. with the gay iPod man when you returned the device?

    -- pb (dot c)

    ps. i like clint eastwood movies because pretty much everybody gets what they deserve.

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  3. Anonymous1:17 PM

    I just watched a double feature of "Hitch" and "In Good Company" -- every time I laughed out loud, I punched myself in the leg. That'll learn me...

    I hear that "Exorcism of Emily Rose" trumps all but "Philadelphia Story" for witty romanti-comedic banter...

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  4. Anonymous7:49 PM

    Damn, one MCPS joke and you're Hermann Goering.

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  5. Anonymous3:20 PM

    I hope I'm not being counted as one of the two people who would endorse that movie. I just didn't dislike it as much as you did. I don't want to be responsible for encouraging your fans to go see it.

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  6. Hahahaha -- T, you make a fair point. But still, don't try to escape the fact that you spoke up for it -- and I don't think there's anything wrong with that, since I'll speak up for much less defensible stuff. But the beauty part is, no outside opinion can come between a person and his/her bad taste. If someone wants to see 'Must Love Dogs,' neither you nor I could stop them anymore than we could convince them that it's better than "Maid in Manhattan.'

    ReplyDelete

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