The kids and hubby are off to my mother-in-law’s for a few days and I’m home alone for the first time in years. So, on my list of things to do is to see a few movies. I just got back from seeing Waitress. I was hoping for a simple, well-made, happy, fall-in-love type movie. It was good, but the main character’s husband was abusive (and I hate scenes of abuse) and everyone was having affairs. Kind of a pathetic commentary on human existance, IMHO, and definitely not what I was looking for on a lazy Saturday afternoon.
I still have a few days. Is there anything out there good and happy? For you guys, is there a movie your wife’s dragged you to lately that she loved? Evening doesn’t look good to me at all and I’m really not in the mood to be preached at by Michael Moore. Knocked Up looked somewhat good, but if I recall kittycat had a lukewarm reaction. What about You Kill Me? Anyone seen that?
wow–i thought waitress was happy! ultimately, she championed her situation…and some very funny (albeit dark humor) parts.
as for knocked up, it has some lol funny parts. it got great reviews (the again, so did black snake moan–2 thumbs up, ack)…the only thing you can do to know if you’ll like it is watch it and see for yourself!
Waitress was funny in parts – but in the way that we all try to find the humor in tragic or desparate situations. I didn’t like the fact that her child was the triggering point for changing her life – going goo goo gah gah after birth was just too pat and unrealistic for me, especially after the film had done such a good job of portraying the compromises people make for just a little bit of happiness – the woman whose husband is an invalid has an affair with the manager; the insecure waitress settles for the freak; the abused wife finds love in the arms of a married man. I thought that Keri Russell did a magnificent job of portraying the despair of an abused wife. But the notion that she would just announce she’s leaving is crap. If this film had been honest in its attempt to capture the real human condition (as I think it was throughout most of it), she would have been beaten within an inch of her life when she left. That’s the reality of domestic violence – it peaks at the point the abuser loses control. So, I found it confusing that the filmmaker (may she rest in peace) chose to close with such a pollyanna view of getting out of that life – I have a baby, that solves everything, I tell the bastard to leave – literally skipping off into the sunset with a toddler in matching outfits. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE pollyanna endings; it’s just that it has to make sense. If I’m going to have a fantasy, let it be from the start.