I have never heard of this book before and I was rather hesitant to watch this due to the fact that it was left basically unnoticed and pushed to the side in the midst of all the big budget trash in the theaters. I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of this story. Alexis Bledel gives a really good performance as the main character Winnie and really helps drives this movie. She’s a really gifted actress and is able to pull off the early century lingo without fault of flaw. She reminds me of a young Brooke Shields giving both hard gritted strength and warm vulnerability all at the same time. I really became interested in her character and really wanted to know how she would end up by the end of the movie.
Tag Archives: Romance
Stealing Harvard (2002)
Sure, this is a lame comedy, and surprisingly, I wanted to see this because I’m a big fan of Jason Lee. The movie is so silly and inept it’s pretty enjoyable. It’s not hard to see that much of the dialogue in the movie is improvised, especially by “comedian” Tom Green who looks like he made up his entire monologues. At one point he throws a paper ball into a car at a girl, and you can tell she wasn’t expecting it. Tom Green manages to be funny in some very rare parts of the movie and had me chuckling occasionally. Jason Lee whose starred in great films like “Dogma” and “Almost Famous” is a pretty good straight man in the film and just stands around reacting to Tom Green’s foolishness.
National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002)
Out of all the bad teen sex campus romps, to the classics, this has to be the worst most putrid piece of trash I’ve ever seen. This poor excuse for a comedy features the same old tired clichés we’ve seen from other sex romps except everything falls flat here. After about ten minutes into the film, I could tell the writers were scratching the bottom of the barrel with basically nothing to write in to the story. They even begin resorting to desperate measures by showing a butt shot of Merriman. Then there’s this far-fetched storyline that goes nowhere. How is it he’s able to rent a hall and hire his own employees? How is it he’s able to drive a personalized golf cart around campus when other people are walking? How is it he’s able to walk in and out of classes without the teacher’s complaining?
Sweet Home Alabama (2002)
It seems lately, Reese Witherspoon is vying for the queen of romantic comedy throne since Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan have somewhat taken a departure over the past four years and I welcome her. Reese Witherspoon showed promise as an actress in critically acclaimed movies like “Highway”, and “Election” and starred in one of my favorites “Cruel Intentions”. She has a knack for the soft and mushy movies, never really taking anything that’s really deep and emotionally driven. She has a flair for acting and takes this character head on. Originally offered to Charlize Theron, Witherspoon makes her character very likeable and charming. The movie starts off with a weird opener setting the stages for the entire movie and then we fast forward into her adult years. I’m not one for watching “chick flicks” which is what this movie would be classified under, but this is rather charming.
The New Guy (2002)
Dizzy Harrison (D.J. Qualls) is an unpopular geek at Rock Creek High School and after an embarrassing accident with an erection, he decides to transfer schools but makes an oath to be a new man at his new school. He meets Luther (Eddie Griffith) a convict in a prison who decides to help him and teach him how to be cool and intimidate people, but can he pull it off when Rocky Creek students recognize him? “The New Guy” has barely any chuckles in it and has a ton of moments when you’re supposed to suspend logic and common sense. Why the character Dizzy would equate being a convict with popularity is beyond me.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
The story of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” is basically the cookie cutter romance we see in all Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts movies. It offers the illusion of originality by bombarding audiences with Greek stereotypes, but really clings to the formulaic romance comedy. Nia Vardalos is at least likable as the desperate and lonely Toula who feels pressure to get married by her parents and entire family. She’s the underdog who comes through in the end and that’s what helps this movie become likable. What ultimately drags this movie down is the pacing of the story.
Moonlight Mile (2002)
“The truth is hard. Sometimes it looks so wrong, y’ know. The color’s off, the style’s wrong, but I guess…I guess it’s where the good ones live.” That quote pretty much sums the movie’s entire premise because the parents, Jojo and Ben are desperately holding onto their daughter Diana’s memory and prefer to hold onto an illusion of their happy life rather than ever seeing the truth which is right there in their faces. Why do they do that? Maybe it’s because they hope to have some happiness after their daughter’s deaths and can’t face the stark truth before them. Joe is the soon to be son in law who lives with his in-laws and constantly has dreams with his ex haunting him, telling him to “Just say it”. What “It” is, the parents Jojo and Ben know, though they prefer to turn their heads.