Scream 2

Yesterday did not start out so dramatically.

Len called. He had said he was going to call, but I figured this being Len and all, there was no way he'd remember, and I was going to have to call him. I simply hadn't worked up the nerve. But he did call and we talked about his comments on my script.

He put his position on this script into perspective: he thinks of himself as a coach, and while everyone else may think I'm playing a pretty good game, his job is to watch the fundamentals. This made a lot of sense to me. He suggested a few things I could put in my script to really shake it into shape, and I thought one suggestion was a good one, so I have something to chew on over this holiday season.

I told Len about a clip from Amistad that Anthony Hopkins had brought to The Late Show with David Letterman, in which Hopkins, talking to Morgan Freeman, keeps asking, "What's their story?" and "What's your story?" He started laughing, because of course Len is famous for asking us, "What's the story?" I asked if Anthony Hopkins had ever met him; Len didn't answer.

After Len's call, Darin and I decided to go see a movie, and of the 8 we started with, we whittled it down to Good Will Hunting (a movie Len was brought in on to help shape, especially Act 3) and Ulee's Gold, which Darin and I had both heard great stuff about.

Since Ulee's Gold had been around forever and there was no telling how much longer it might last, we decided on that one.

It's playing at the Laemmle Sunset 5, in Hollywood. We decided to drive there and look for lunch in Hollywood. Once we got to the Virgin Megaplex/Laemmle Theatres, however, we decided to go to the Wolfgang Puck Cafe, which was in the same complex.

Because of the chilly air, there were no tables set out around the restaurant. I wasn't even sure it was open, despite being 12:30pm, because I didn't see anyone around.

We walked in and found 5 Cafe employees, each in a brightly colored shirt, each in a different color, standing around the reception desk.

All 5 turned toward us and said, in almost-but-not-quite unison, "Hi!"

Darin and I both stopped in the doorway. You don't expect 5 people to greet you like that, let alone keep looking at you, smiling brightly.

"Hi," we said.

The woman behind the desk picked up two menus and bounced over to us. "Is a booth okay?"

"That'd be fine."

We followed her through the empty restaurant--every time we passed another employee in a bright pastel shirt he or she said, "Hi!"

Darin and I sat down and started giggling helplessly.

A guy who sat in the booth across from ours a few minutes later said, "What a welcoming committee!"

The food was actually pretty good: better than the W. P. Pizza Restaurant, Darin says. We'd probably go there again, if we were in the neighborhood.

The movie Ulee's Gold, however...Darin and Diane had a split decision on that one. Darin liked the characters and the first half of the movie; I thought the entire thing was flat and affectless, with Peter Fonda's main acting talent being that he looks exactly like his father now.

We both agreed that the dialogue was hopelessly on-the-nose, with the worst offender being Peter Fonda's line, "I have a difficult time with new ideas...new feelings...new people."

The best part was the setup of Fonda's profession, which is beekeeper in the Florida swamps. I wish they'd spent more time on that.

Today Darin and I met up with Brent and Therese and we went to see Scream 2. Pretty enjoyable, not as good as the first one. And I even know why--there's no central character. Who's the protagonist of this one? Don't tell me Neve Campbell: she's hardly in the damn thing and she doesn't do anything.

I guess I should put up a spoiler for this one. Be forewarned.

Big bonus: Jerry O'Connell. Usually I don't like younger guys, especially almost blond ones. But him I make an exception for. Tough to believe he was the fat kid in Stand By Me.

I found out that Mj called his roommate at 4am--he'd only had to wait 4 hours to see the emergency doctor, which evidently is pretty speedy. Best that they could come up with was some kind of stomach flu or stomach virus, although his symptoms came on awfully quickly for a virus. They sent him home and he's swilling Immodium AD now. But he sounds better.