yes! i step outside of the house.
"And Bonnie Hunt has done the impossible."
-- Darin
"She'd made David Duchovny likeable?"
-- Diane
One year ago: We see EdTV and I discuss romance novels. Two years ago: I am not fond of a USC classmate. Three years ago: I read the book Virtuous Reality.
Sophia does the funniest thing when she's hungry and I start unbuttoning my shirt (and sometimes even before I start unbuttoning): her eyes get really wide, her mouth opens, and she rapidly bonks her face against my breast, as if to say, "I know it's there! Yay! I'm so excited! C'mon, hurry up!"
I chatted with Mary via Instant Messenger today -- Grace is now walking. How can a baby who was just born be walking? Oh wait, that's right, Grace is now one. Sigh. It really does go by fast.
So, we went to a movie.
You know. In a movie theater.
Fernando left work early and came over. Friday afternoon, Fernando, Darin, and I...movie.
"We have to go to the local theaters," I said. Everyone agreed. The local theaters aren't as nice as the AMC Theaters in Burbank, but they're smaller and have balconies and it's easier to deal with a crying baby in a small theater than in a large one.
We were going to see Rules of Engagement, but Sophia needed a Moment of Zen (aka, "Change me!"), so we missed that. The only movie playing around the time we showed up was Return to Me. Since we weren't committed to any of the movies playing, Return to Me sounded just as appealing, so we saw that.
I saw most of the movie (and I have the feeling I didn't miss much during the times I went outside to walk up and down the hallway and calm Miss Pookie down). She fussed a little and nursed a little and slept most of the time. No one told us to shut up. As a first experiment of bringing Sophia to a theater, I'd say it was a success. I don't know how she'll do with a movie like Gladiator, but all I can say is, at some early Tuesday matinee, we're going to find out.
Return to Me is an old-fashioned romantic comedy. Extremely old-fashioned. Only the presence of cell phones tells you this is at all modern. Bonnie Hunt directed, co-wrote, and co-stars in this tale of a man (David Duchovny), who loses his beloved wife (Joely Richardson) in a terrible car accident. Heart patient (Minnie Driver) receives the wife's heart. David and Minnie meet and there's...some kind...of mystical...connection between them. They start dating and really really really like one another, although they haven't, you know (very old-fashioned movie, I tell you), because Minnie is afraid to show him her surgical scar. Plus, she hasn't told him about the surgery yet, because every guy freaks out when she tells him and she doesn't want to do that this time.
The direction is workmanlike (nothing fantastic or even surprising here), the acting is just fine, and the story is simple. A little too simple -- we know everything that's going to happen. Not because it's telegraphed, because that would indicate that they were trying to be tricky and surprise us. There are no attempts to be anything other than pleasant and predictable here.
Hunt makes a very easy mistake -- one all screenwriters, new and experienced, make. The supporting characters (none of whom, you'll note, get mentioned in the plot summary above because they're really not necessary to the "plot") are all more interesting than the leads, who are extremely safe and likeable and therefore incredibly bland.
We've got Minnie's family, which consists of her grandfather, Carroll O'Connor (doing a godawful Irish accent), and Carroll's four cronies, three old men and an old woman. We've got Minnie's best friend, Bonnie, and her husband Jim Belushi, and their five children. We've got the dead wife's co-worker, David Alan Grier, who's trying to set Duchovny up with a series of new women.
We end up spending a lot of time with people who are not the main characters. In fact, the relationship between David and Minnie is so straightforward and emotionally muted -- actually, everything is this movie is damped down and calm, when you really want some damn screaming at some point -- that the secondary characters provide the only color. And a little of these characters goes a long way.
It was an enjoyable movie, but a predictable and easily forgettable one.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Copyright 2000 Diane Patterson
Send comments and questions to diane@spies.com