Stranger Than Fiction

Year 2, Day 22 - 1/22/10 - Movie #387

BEFORE: The plan was to get together with some co-workers and ex-co-workers tonight, and watch an academy screener of "Bruno" - we ended up eating homemade pizza and venting about work, and we didn't get to the DVD - so I'll watch this piece of metafiction instead.

THE PLOT: An IRS auditor suddenly finds himself the subject of narration only he can hear: narration that begins to affect his entire life, from his work, to his love-interest, to his death.

AFTER: I found this to be extremely clever and original - and it raised a lot of interesting questions. What would you do if your life suddenly came with a commentary track? What does it mean - are you a fictional character? What if we're all just fictional characters in someone else's book? This is a variation on the old "brain in a jar" thought experiment - what if we're all just brains in a lab, someone's lab samples, and everything around us is just an illusion? Are we even in control of our destinies at all?

Harold Crick hears this proper British narration and gets a glimpse of some larger force - so he sets out to learn the "rules" of the situation, by consulting a literature expert, Professor Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman). Smart move - using the conventions of the fiction genre to determine whether his story is a comedy (which means he'd get the girl and live happily ever after) or a tragedy (his new relationship won't work out, and he'll probably die some tragic death)

Oddly, for this OCD-afflicted very boring IRS agent, finding out that his universe's author might be planning to kill him off proves to be just the kick in the pants he needs to start living his own life the way he wants to. It's time to get busy living, or get busy dying - so he makes his move with the cute bakery owner (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and takes guitar lessons. Finally, in a last-ditch effort to change his fate, he figures out how to contact the author who seems to be writing and narrating his story and beg her not to kill him off.

As for the author, Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson), she's awful surprised when one of her fictional creations tracks her down and walks into her office - I suppose I should be upset that no one ever really figures out how this is all possible, or why it's happening. Once again, like in "Delirious", we see a "magic typewriter" as a symbol for the power of the written word - and it's just sort of taken for granted that what she types in her manuscript will manifest itself in Harold's life.

But the movie is so elegant, and so poignant, that I (almost) don't care. It raises all these pertinent points - like, how would you spend your time if you knew you were going to die? And since we're all going to die someday, why don't we tend to live that way?

There's a lot more about the nature of human interaction, but I've probably said too much as it is. It's nice to see Will Ferrell play something relatively straight and not just be a big goofball - and I'll probably be thinking about this one for a while.

Also starring Queen Latifah, Tony Hale, with cameos from Linda Hunt, Kristin Chenoweth, and Tom Hulce (who's really let himself go since "Amadeus" - I barely recognized him...)

RATING: 8 out of 10 chocolate-chip cookies

Pleasantville

Year 2, Day 21 - 1/21/10 - Movie #386

BEFORE: OK, so I guess the term I should be using is "metafiction" - a kind of fiction that self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction. I thought dramatic irony might be the right term, but metafiction seems to use irony in a more self-reflective way. So "Delirious" was a piece of metafiction, using and highlighting the common devices seen in soap operas. Tonight's film is an example of metafiction using the common devices of 1950's TV shows, set in "ideal" American towns.

THE PLOT: Two 1990's teenagers find themselves in a 1950's sitcom where their influence begins to profoundly change that complacent world.

AFTER: Squabbling siblings David and Jennifer (Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon) are sent into the fictional TV town of Pleasantville by a magical remote, provided by a mysterious TV repairman on the night of a "Pleasantville" marathon. They assume the identities of two of the show's characters, but their influence ends up changing the town in unexpected ways.

Jennifer's Lover's Lane dalliance with her character's boyfriend awakens some unusual feelings, as symbolized by the addition of color to the black-and-white world. Soon the basketball team is losing games for the first time (the assumption is that they're suddenly interested in girls instead of sports, I guess...) and people start to question their ideal yet humdrum American suburban lifestyles. The local diner owner (Jeff Daniels) discovers a desire to be an artist, and housewife Betty Parker (Joan Allen) discovers a desire to be an artist's girlfriend...

Before long a number of people in the town are turning on and turning colors, and their emotions are being awakened for the first time - it's a variation on Eve eating the apple in the Garden of Eden, once forbidden knowledge is introduced, it can't be unlearned, and the genie can't be put back in the bottle.

Unfortunately, the film doesn't seem to have a clear message. Is the 1950's "ideal" TV show setting really ideal, or is it lacking something? If a couple of teenagers dry-humping was enough to shatter all the conventions and mores of society, then how solid was the foundation - how ideal could it have been? In other words, is it hip to be square, or were the "good old days" not all they were cracked up to be?

Look, I'm just asking for some consistency here - even the fantasy world has to have rules. Dorothy had to follow the Yellow Brick Road, and Alice had to play a game of chess and answer riddles. The 1950's society portrayed in "Pleasantville" is a town without any double-beds - so the implication is that sex doesn't exist there, at least not in the same form. While it's an interesting idea to show a daughter teaching her mother about the birds and the bees, it just doesn't make sense - where did the daughter come from? And how can sex and passion and all the emotions that come with it not exist, then suddenly exist, just because someone thinks of it? Either they were always there, lurking below the surface, or they can't be introduced - but you can't have it both ways.

The last part of the film seems to be a strange commentary on racism, with the black-and-white townsfolk squaring off against the "colored" people. It's an odd tangent to introduce, and then not follow up on. Then there's a "Code of Conduct" implemented by the town leaders, forbidding rock+roll, public displays of affection, and vandalism. Another commentary on social injustices and conservative Fascism vs. liberal freedom that seems to go nowhere?

And we're left with a lot of questions - where exactly is "Pleasantville", inside the TV or in the alternate 1950's dimension? Who exactly was the TV repairman (played by Don Knotts), and what was his motive for sending people into the TV-Land dimension? Was that a prize in the trivia contest that the main character was preparing for?

And if a character chooses to stay in the TV reality, and no one in the real world seems to miss them - is that bad parenting? Or just a plothole?

Also starring William H. Macy (not Bill Macy from "My Favorite Year"), Jane Kaczmarek, and king of the character actors J.T. Walsh.

RATING: 5 out of 10

Delirious (1991)

Year 2, Day 20 - 1/20/10 - Movie #385

BEFORE: And tonight we're behind the scenes at a soap opera - I've seen "Tootsie" before, and watched "Soapdish" last year, so this will have to do. I wish I had enough movies for a proper John Candy tribute, but I don't...

THE PLOT: A soap opera writer gets hit on the head and wakes up as a character in his own show.

AFTER: It's not Shakespeare, but it's a cute little movie, especially if you're a soap opera fan, and familiar with all of the genre's conventions.

Writer Jack Gable (John Candy) is constantly feuding with the producers of the soap opera "All My Dreams", over the direction of the show and the upcoming storylines. He's got a crush on the lead actress Laura (Emma Samms) and keeps bumping into a woman auditioning for a new character, Janet (Mariel Hemingway).

But when Jack gets knocked out, he "wakes up" in the fictional town of Ashford Falls, amid the familiar characters of the Hedison family and their intricate plots against each other. The characters assume he is mysterious tycoon Jack Gates, a character that Gable was about to introduce into the show's storyline. So he rolls with it, and soon realizes that he is (mostly) in control of the reality that he's fallen into.

When things do go wrong, he assumes that it's the work of a rival screenwriter, so he gets his magic typewriter out, and tries to direct the storyline of the show in favorable ways. But things go wrong again when the "real" Jack Gates (Robert Wagner) shows up in town.

It's sort of the equivalent of a "lucid dream", a fantasy world where the dreamer can alter the reality (or unreality) of his situation. I'm going to take a little break from my biopic/exploration of fame to watch a number of these films. I don't know the exact filmmaking term for movies such as this - it's a convention seen in many films, from "The Wizard of Oz" to "The Matrix". I guess those would be the two extremes of the genre, with Dorothy essentially having no control over her dream, and Neo having near-complete control over the artificial reality.

Also starring Dylan Baker, Raymond Burr, David Rasche, Jerry Orbach (last seen by me in "Mr. Saturday Night") and Renee Taylor (real-life wife of Joseph Bologna from "My Favorite Year") with an uncredited cameo by Margot Kidder.

RATING: 4 out of 10 typewriter ribbons

My Favorite Year

Year 2, Day 19 - 1/19/10 - Movie #384

BEFORE: Part of last night's movie took place behind the scenes of Buddy Young, Jr.'s 1950's TV show, so tonight we're behind the scenes at "Comedy Cavalcade", another fictional TV variety show, in 1954. Tonight's film was directed by Richard Benjamin, who starred in "The Sunshine Boys".

THE PLOT: A dissolute matinee idol is slated to appear on a live TV variety show.

AFTER: I've heard a lot of good things about this movie over the years, but in the end I just wasn't feeling it. It sort of reminded me of the show "30 Rock", especially since it takes place in Rockefeller Center, the (implied) location of NBC Studios.

In an odd coincidence, I spent the evening in Rockefeller Center, across the street from where this movie was set - I go to monthly beer-pairing dinners at Rock Center Cafe, a restaurant right next to the famous skating rink there...and after a two-month break for the holidays, it's nice that they started right up again in January. But I digress...

The movie stars Mark-Linn Baker as Benjy Stone, a junior writer for the show "Comedy Cavalcade", who is put in charge of a movie-idol guest star, Alan Swann (Peter O'Toole) to make sure that he stays sober, stays out of trouble, and shows up for rehearsal and the live telecast. He attempts this by taking Swann to his very-Jewish family's home in Brooklyn for a stereotypically Jewish dinner, cooked by his mother's second husband, a Filipino bantamweight boxer. Ummm...what?

But he doesn't manage to keep the star out of trouble, instead he helps him steal a girl away from her boyfriend in a club, which leads to a sex scandal in Central Park. I guess he wasn't too clear on the meaning of "out of trouble". Swann also manages to go on a few benders while in town, so I guess he didn't really understand the meaning of "keep him sober" either.

It was all just a bit too madcap, though not nearly as bad and slapsticky as "Radioland Murders", another behind-the-scenes nostalgia effort. There's a subplot where the star of the show, King Kaiser (Joe Bologna) refuses to stop doing sketches that make fun of a notorious labor leader/mobster, so his life is constantly in danger from mob hitmen trying to stop the show.

We're led to believe that making TV is one big ball of wacky fun, but it's also dangerous fun, and the show must go on, and it all works out in the end, yada yada yada. I suppose one could also learn that rehearsals are pointless, because the guest-star doesn't even understand the concept of "live" TV, so whatever happens on show night happens, and that's your show.

Also featuring Bill Macy (the guy from "Maude", not William H. Macy), Lainie Kazan, character actors George Wyner and Selma Diamond, and a quick appearance by Gloria Stuart (yes, the old lady from "Titanic")

RATING 4 out of 10 dancing cigarette cartons

Mr. Saturday Night

Year 2, Day 18 - 1/18/10 - Movie #383

BEFORE: Continuing my exploration of fame with another film about old-time comics trying to survive in the modern age of entertainment.

THE PLOT: Buddy Young was the comic's comic, beloved by everyone. Now, playing to miniscule crowds in nursing homes, Buddy looks for work in show business.

AFTER: Ha! This movie mentioned George Burns, Walter Matthau and "The Sunshine Boys" - I love when that happens accidentally!

This is a fictional bio of Billy Crystal's alter-ego, Buddy Young Jr., a character he performed on SNL back in the 80's. It's really the history of comedy, from vaudeville talents shows to the Catskills resorts, the 1950's TV shows and the appreciation of "classic" comics in the 1980's and 90's.

Interspersed with the modern scenes of Buddy trying to get back in front of an audience are flashbacks to his younger days - how he and his brother Stan (David Paymer) developed his act, how he met his wife, and the coming together (and falling apart) of his television variety show. Buddy Young Jr. is sort of an insult comic, and (as we also saw in "The Sunshine Boys") it's tough to tell where the act ends, and the actual insults begin.

His brother has a thick skin, but we also see the effect that Buddy's insults have had on his daughter over the years, drug problems and bad marriages are mentioned. Eventually Buddy even drives his brother away, though he returns several times after retiring to Florida.

His new agent, Annie (Helen Hunt) gets him some commercial work, game-show warm-ups and even a meeting with a big Hollywood director, but Buddy manages to screw it all up somehow while trying to be true to his brand of comedy.

There's actually quite a bit of emotional stuff here, about growing old, dealing with death and learning that a few kind words to your family members can make all the difference. And I think they actually did a good job with the make-up, making Crystal look like an 80-year old.

Also starring Ron Silver, Jerry Orbach, with cameos from Jerry Lewis, Slappy White, Richard Kind, Adam Goldberg, Shadoe Stevens, Conrad Janis - and that was Bill Wendell, Dave Letterman's old announcer at NBC, as Buddy Young's show announcer - cool!

RATING: 2 out of 10 (nah, it's really a 7 - you see what I did there?)

The Sunshine Boys

Year 2, Day 17 - 1/17/10 - Movie #382

BEFORE: From the Ziegfeld Follies to vaudeville comics - I've seen parts of this movie before, but maybe not the whole thing, start to finish. It counts as an examination of what happens when famous comedians get old and cranky.

THE PLOT: A vaudeville duo agree to reunite for a TV special, but it turns out that they can't stand each other.

AFTER: Based on a Neil Simon play, re-creating some of the jokes and timing of the old vaudeville routines, about a fictional comic team, Lewis and Clark. Willy Clark (Walter Matthau) is convinced by his nephew (Richard Benjamin) that he should re-team with his old partner, Al Lewis (George Burns) for a TV special about the golden age of comedy, and perform their famous "doctor" sketch.

Problem is, the pair haven't spoken for 11 years, and there's plenty of bad blood between them. When they reunite to rehearse, the years melt away but the old arguments resurface, and their long history together means that they know exactly how to push each other's buttons.

Their comic timing is impeccable, even in their casual conversations - at one point they even admit that they no longer know where their routines end and their conversations begin. Even in the scene where Ben Clark is convincing Lewis to do the reunion show, I wasn't sure if Lewis' repetition of everything said to him was due to senility, or if he was just messing with the guy. Great comic timing either way, being exactly three seconds behind him on every conversational point...

Guest-starring Steve Allen, Phyllis Diller, Howard Hesseman as a commercial director, and F. Murray Abraham as a car mechanic (!) Also starring some great NYC locations like the Ed Sullivan Theater and the Carnegie Deli (or was it the Stage Deli?)

RATING: 7 out of 10 stethoscopes

Funny Girl

Year 2, Day 16 - 1/16/10 - Movie #381

BEFORE: Back-to-back Streisand - I suppose I could do a whole week of Barbra, but I'd rather not. I've got some other films about being famous comedians that I'd like to get to.

THE PLOT: The life of comedienne Fannie Brice, from her early days in the Jewish slums of the Lower East Side, to the height of her career with the Ziegfeld Follies.

AFTER: Ugh...this was really difficult for me to stomach. Over 2 1/2 hours of self-indulgent Streisand. Like with "A Star Is Born", all I really knew about this film was what I read in the Mad magazine parody back in the 1970's. For some reason, I thought this was about a comedienne, like a stand-up comedian. Turns out Fannie Brice was a "comedic" singer and dancer with the Zeigfeld Follies, which meant she was the girl in the chorus who couldn't dance as well as the others, and wasn't as easy on the eyes, so she got yuks from the audience with some Yiddish-accented asides.

This really isn't a movie meant for anyone with a Y-chromosome, as Brice spends half of the movie pining after gambling man Nick Arnstein (Omar Sharif), and after marrying him, spends the second half of the movie wondering when the marriage is going to fall apart.

There is a distinct similarity to "A Star Is Born", with the wife's career ascending as the husband's is floundering - but if you're playing a showgirl in the 1920's, there's only so much feminism you can inject into that role. You can't have it both ways, portraying Brice as both a starry-eyed romantic AND a fierce, independent trend-setter.

The movie was much too long, over 2 1/2 hours, and I found the songs to be truly horrible, with rhymes that were either too simple or way too unlikely. This was bad enough to make me re-think the idea that my wife's movies count as part of the collection, for purposes of my list. Maybe there's a Streisand exemption...

RATING: 3 out of 10 roller skates

A Star Is Born (1976)

Year 2, Day 15 - 1/15/10 - Movie #380

BEFORE: "The Rose" had a scene with a drag queen dressed like Barbra Streisand - so let's follow that with the real deal. This will be the last fame-oriented movie about musicians, then I'll move on to other types of famous people...

THE PLOT: A has-been rock star falls in love with a young, up-and-coming songstress.

AFTER: Today's self-indulgent stars could watch this movie and learn a lot...about how to be more self-indulgent.

I've never really cared for the music of either Streisand or Kris Kristofferson, but the songs in this movie were written by Rupert Holmes, Leon Russell, Kenny Loggins and Paul Williams, so they're at least a reflection of 70's rock/pop. Kristofferson plays John Norman Howard, front man for the band Speedway, at least when he manages to show up for their concerts. Most of the time he seems like he'd rather be anywhere else, drinking or driving very fast, or both.

But in a sleazy nightclub he sees a sleazy nightclub act, with Esther Hoffman (Streisand) and 2 black back-up singers, collectively known as the Oreos (I guess this was progressive thinking in the 70's) and after causing a barfight, he rescues Hoffman from her world and takes her into his.

He produces her record, and she introduces him to feminism, at least a watered-down version of it, and they head off to his ranch in the middle of Nowhere, AZ, building a tiny ranch house with a bulldozer in 2 days with the help of a montage, but eventually realize that their musical styles are not alike at all. They keep saying they're going to record a duet and go out on tour together, but they never seem to get around to it. So while her career is taking off, with Grammy nominations and media attention, he's sinking deeper into the bottle and a case of songwriter's block.

I don't know if this one has held up over the years - I remember it being popular, at least enough to warrant a Mad magazine parody - but now I think it just stands as the answer to the trivia question "What was the only film to star both Barbra Streisand AND Gary Busey?"

RATING: 4 out of 10 amplifiers