Friday, September 30, 2005
Friday Movie Review
I gave my youngest daughter the pick of which movie to see and instead of Serenity or A History of Violence (my ineffectual mid beam choices) we went to see Just Like Heaven. Kind of an ironic title, to my way of thinking. It's a life after life, charming romantic comedy largely about fate but way, way over the top on new wave spirituality (it is set in San Francisco) and it was OK in a mindless, chick flick sort of way. It has Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo. It was 101 minutes long and had songs in it by the Cure. Still, I had a good time. And good looking but stupid girls are not my style either. Reese Witherspoon looked very good but she is short; as is, apparently, Mark Ruffalo, because the guy from Napoleon Dynamite towered over him.
The director was Mark Waters who rose from the miscellaneous crew on Requiem For a Dream to do the somewhat interesting, Indy film The House of Yes with Parker Posey (at that time all independent films had to have either Parker Posey or Eric Stoltz in them) and it was enough of a success that he's hit the big time in Hollywood and recent works of his cinematic art include: Head over Heals, the new Freaky Friday and the surprisingly successful Mean Girls. His brother, Daniel Waters, is a writer of screenplays whose best work (if you can call it that) now seems behind him. His credits start well-- Heathers was darn good, but the rest-- The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, Hudson Hawk, Batman Returns and Demolition Man-- seem like a downward arc to oblivion. He did more recently write and direct Happy Campers of which I've heard pleasant things.
There is absolutely no need to talk about the plot of this film--it is designed for one thing only--to get women to think (no, feel) that love is possible and worthwhile (and it is, though it's hard to find) and that once you find love, all is right with the World, and the blind can see, and the dead can rise up and live. In other words, it is an absolutely standard chick flick. But it does seem to warm up some sort of warm fuzzy things somewhere. Like I say, I had a good time.
Donal Logue, who was so good in The Tao of Steve, was also good in this, but the movie had just the right amount of him in it. He's like salt in a recipe. I think the star of the movie was the apartment where the bulk of it took place. This might be the best apartment ever, anywhere in the World. No female nudity (though you did see an old man's backside) or sex. Violence was minimal. There wasn't a single surprise in the whole film. Go watch it if you have to, but don't say I gave you any false impressions.
The director was Mark Waters who rose from the miscellaneous crew on Requiem For a Dream to do the somewhat interesting, Indy film The House of Yes with Parker Posey (at that time all independent films had to have either Parker Posey or Eric Stoltz in them) and it was enough of a success that he's hit the big time in Hollywood and recent works of his cinematic art include: Head over Heals, the new Freaky Friday and the surprisingly successful Mean Girls. His brother, Daniel Waters, is a writer of screenplays whose best work (if you can call it that) now seems behind him. His credits start well-- Heathers was darn good, but the rest-- The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, Hudson Hawk, Batman Returns and Demolition Man-- seem like a downward arc to oblivion. He did more recently write and direct Happy Campers of which I've heard pleasant things.
There is absolutely no need to talk about the plot of this film--it is designed for one thing only--to get women to think (no, feel) that love is possible and worthwhile (and it is, though it's hard to find) and that once you find love, all is right with the World, and the blind can see, and the dead can rise up and live. In other words, it is an absolutely standard chick flick. But it does seem to warm up some sort of warm fuzzy things somewhere. Like I say, I had a good time.
Donal Logue, who was so good in The Tao of Steve, was also good in this, but the movie had just the right amount of him in it. He's like salt in a recipe. I think the star of the movie was the apartment where the bulk of it took place. This might be the best apartment ever, anywhere in the World. No female nudity (though you did see an old man's backside) or sex. Violence was minimal. There wasn't a single surprise in the whole film. Go watch it if you have to, but don't say I gave you any false impressions.
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 9:38 PM 
