The triple play of movies that I watched this past weekend may actually be the best reflection of just how eclectic my tastes are.
The Breakfast Club
The Breakfast Club is a pop culture classic, and I grew up watching it over and over again just like anyone else who is in their 30’s right about now. Everyone can identify with the struggles these kids face, which is how homogenous 80’s films about the struggle of growing up roll.
I’m kind of fascinated by John Hughes, since I happen to know he was kind of a dick. It raises the question: who was he identifying with in these movies? Did he have some kind of self-awareness that let him know he was kind of a dick and he just didn’t care enough to change, or what? Let me put it this way: if you were a popular kid, or self-identified as Claire* or Andrew and quoted this movie under your senior picture in the yearbook you are the worst kind of asshole. Even the other popular kids think you were an asshole. Way to miss the point.
FYI: I’ve always self-identified as Allison, although when I was ten I wanted to be Claire. If you’re over the age of 25 and still want to be Claire, you are also the worst kind of asshole.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
I’m not even going to get into the Mickey Rooney controversy here, I’ll just say that it’s stomach-churningly appalling and leave it at that.
I loved this movie when I was little, because I thought that the character of Holly GoLightly was glamorous, and I wanted to have life as exciting as hers. I love it as an adult, because I remember how much I loved it as a child.
Objectively, as an adult, watching this movie now, I am frustrated with a grown woman who is so naïve and, worse, outright flighty and irresponsible. We all have flaky friends that drive us up a wall with their antics, but Holly GoLightly would be someone whose phone number I’d see pop up on caller ID and ignore. I’m also openly angry about the treatment of Cat in this film. He loves Holly and what does he get for his trouble? Thrown against a closet door, and pitched out of a cab in the pouring rain in a dangerous city.
Bridesmaids
This is one of those movies that I wanted to see in the theater and didn’t get around to, like every other movie I’ve wanted to see since 2008. It’s also one of those movies that everyone hyped so much that I couldn’t help but be let down a little by it when I watched it. (Other victims of this phenomenon: My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding and Knocked Up.) It was funny, and Melissa McCarthy was wonderful (as always), but it wasn’t the funniest movie I’ve ever seen (Forgetting Sarah Marshall may never be beat). I did enjoy the surprise at the end, that made the entire movie worth watching in and of itself.
The Big Bang Theory: Season 4
Highlights:
• Zazzles, he’s zazzy
• The point at which food tastes “mothy”
• So Much Shamey
*I love that this movie let Molly Ringwald be the pretty, popular girl she was for once.