BEFORE: Well, this is embarrassing - just two days into the February romance chain, and I don't have a direct link to connect Film #1 and Film #2. What the hell? I think because I planned the order months ago, then flipped the order around, (Bruce Willis was the original lead-OUT for February...) my guess is that I failed to connect all of the films, I must have given up at some point. Or perhaps I had some linking in mind and forgot to check it out.
Indirect link? Sure, no problem - Bruce Willis was also in "Ocean's Twelve", playing himself, with Andy Garcia (last seen in "Twisted"). But that's just not good enough - you expect better. You DESERVE better. I'm looking at my February watchlist now and I'm wondering how many other gaps there are between films. Could I find more links if I just went deeper into the cast lists? I'm thinking I could.
So, tonight's film is set, and tomorrow's film logically connects from there - but what about after that? Do I have the other 25 films in the proper order? Am I willing to tear down the proposed plan and rebuild it, brick by brick, movie by movie, until I'm sure that it all connects together in a logical way? I'm going to take the next two days and really look at the plan.
I can also take the opportunity to make a last-minute substitution - there's one film I got from TCM's recent tribute to Neil Simon that counts as a romance film, and this gives me the opportunity to give it a slot here, and maybe move a film that might be difficult to link to a bit further down the chain. That could help me out in the long run, and allow me to sleep at night. Hey, I can't call myself a compulsive organizer unless I live up to that name.
THE PLOT: An airline pilot and his wife are forced to face the consequences of her alcoholism when her addiction threatens her life and their daughter's safety.
AFTER: Honestly, I was a little unsure about including this one in the romance chain to begin with - is it a film about a relationship, or a film about alcoholism? Turns out, it's both. It's a complex relationship when one person drinks and the other person is - well, not really an enabler, he's more like a guy who wants to help her, but that's part of the problem. As long as she can rely on him to make things better, then she's not making things better herself, and she's not becoming a stronger person. As they say, she's got to bottom out before she can climb out of the hole she's in, and people pretending that everything's going to be OK just isn't helping.
And she comes back from rehab clean - OK, so she's not drinking, but she's smoking cigarettes again. Is that better? Or is that just trading alcohol addiction for nicotine addiction? Look, I don't know much about A.A. but if you believe the movies and TV shows, a lot of smoking and drinking coffee takes place at the meetings. So, congratulations, you kicked drinking, but now you're addicted to two other things. Make that three if you count the meetings themselves.
It took me a while to figure out that the husband wasn't the biological father of both girls - I think he was the father of the younger girl, and the stepfather of the older girl. Points for not making this fact blatantly obvious, but points off for being obtuse. There must have been a way to subtly point out this fact, which come to think of it, is sort of what they did - you had to infer it from the dialogue.
I'm accepting the fact that this ended up next to "The Story of Us" because they both have the same story arc - things seem fine between two people, but they're not, and then there's therapy/rehab, and things have to get worse before they get better. That's how it goes in Hollywood - people separate and get back together, it's always darkest before the dawn. I'm not saying that doesn't happen in the real world, I'm just betting it's a lot less common.
But before we get there, things are going to get screamy - lots of grown-ups fighting in yesterday's film, too. I promise we'll get to a better, more romantic mindset before Valentine's Day - but I have a feeling it will be a slow build.
Also starring Meg Ryan (last seen in "Courage Under Fire"), Ellen Burstyn (last seen in "Same Time, Next Year"), Lauren Tom, Philip Seymour Hoffman (last seen in "25th Hour"), Tina Majorino (last seen in "Waterworld"), Mae Whitman (last seen in "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World"), LaTanya Richardson, with cameos from Al Franken, Ellen Geer.
RATING: 4 out of 10 hidden vodka bottles
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