BEFORE: I had a decision to make here, because my original plan was to have Kathy Bates carry over from "P.S. I Love You", from a major role in that film to an uncredited role as "Aunt Mitsy" in this one - which could mean she's in this film for just a few seconds, like in a family crowd scene or something. Taking a step back, there's another film that's an obvious connection between a film starring Gerard Butler and a film starring Jennifer Aniston, and that film is "The Bounty Hunter". Which is running on premium cable right now, only I'm not sure if that comedy also qualifies as a romance film, and I'm also not sure if I want to add it to my chain at the last minute and throw off my count. I have been looking to make a couple of additions, just in case I don't get to see "Avengers: Endgame" on opening day. But I'm not sure if slotting in "The Bounty Hunter" here is the best way for me to get there. Decisions, decisions.
OK, here's the verdict. I don't want to extend the romance chain any further, because I'm dying to get to something else, anything else - and the chain's going to run a week into March already, so I'm not adding another new film in this week. But I'm going to record "The Bounty Hunter" later this week, and probably dub it to DVD with tonight's film, and then save that for next year. Taking an advance look at the romance films I won't be able to get to this month, I can see that a film starring those two actors MIGHT come in very handy for linking purposes. So I guess I'm hedging my bets, saving that film for next year keeps a couple of options open, and I'll reassess in a few months anyway to see if it makes sense for that film to be part of next February's chain. The original plan stands, with Kathy Bates carrying over from "P.S. I Love You".
The theme for tomorrow's "31 Days of Oscar" daytime line-up on TCM is "Adventure", followed by the primetime face-off of "Favorite Version: A Star Is Born" and the match-up of "1948 Winning Performances Directed by John Huston":
6:15 am "The Prisoner of Zenda" (1937)
8:00 am "Robinson Crusoe" (1954)
9:30 am "Captain Blood" (1935)
11:45 am "The Black Swan" (1942)
1:30 pm "The Three Musketeers" (1948)
3:45 pm "Knights of the Round Table" (1953)
6:00 pm "Ivanhoe" (1952)
8:00 pm "A Star Is Born" (1937)
10:00 pm "A Star Is Born" (1954)
1:15 am "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948)
3:30 am "Key Largo" (1948)
Hmm, since it's Oscar weekend 2019, it feels kind of appropriate for TCM to focus on "A Star Is Born" - I bet they're secretly hoping the new version will take home a bunch of statues, maybe even Best Picture. I guess we'll see. I think I've only seen three of tomorrow's films - "Captain Blood", "A Star Is Born" (1954), and "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" - but two more are currently on my list, "The Prisoner of Zenda" and "Knights of the Round Table". It's nearly impossible to link to them, though, since most of my list's film were released after 2015. I don't know if I'll ever find a way. Another 3 out of 11 brings my total up to 103 seen out of 261, or 39.5%.
THE PLOT: An engaged woman learns that her family was the inspiration for the book and film "The Graduate" - and that she might be the offspring of the well-documented events.
AFTER: Now I know that I've got to get off of this topic very soon, because I believe that I'm losing the ability to judge these romance films objectively. Like, what basis am I judging on now, believability? How come I can take a sci-fi film with an outlandish premise about cloning or an alien invasion more seriously than some of these romantic comedies? Am I judging them by how warm and fuzzy they make me feel, or whether things work out for the best for the couples portrayed? Is that the goal here, to match up every fictional character with another one so that everyone is happy? They're not even real, why should I care if they're happy or not? And I've still got 13 romance films to go? I don't know if I'm going to make it...
But believability is the key point today, because the jumping-off point is a work of fiction, and a suspicion that every work of fiction was possibly, probably inspired by a real-world event. As if every book were a thinly-veiled roman a clef, and if you just dig around a little bit into the author's list of friends, neighbors and associates, you can figure out exactly WHO every work of fiction is really about. Because an author couldn't POSSIBLY create a set of characters and circumstances out of thin air, or his own imagination. See, the truth is that screenwriters who cheat naturally assume that every other writer does the same. If you're the kind of screenwriter who rips off a classic film like "The Graduate", it's safe to assume that the writer of "The Graduate" probably got his story ideas from someone else, somebody who managed to sleep with both a girlfriend and also her mother.
I feel it only fair to raise the point that there's a lot more TO "The Graduate" than just the sex, and the unique love triangle, but that seems to be all that anybody wants to talk about, so that's all that this movie wants to focus on. The real truth is that Charles Webb based Mrs. Robinson on a business associate of his father's, so most likely it's just a wish-fulfillment story based on a sexual fantasy he had about this older woman. But that doesn't fit with the purpose of this movie, so the lead character here figures out that Webb had a friend in high-school with the initials "B.B.", same as Benjamin Braddock, so that must be the guy who slept with her mother and grandmother.
It's a large mental leap, and probably if we were to psycho-analyze the main character here, her desire to learn about her mother's possible fling, before getting married, is related to her own insecurity about her relationship and engagement. So she feels the need to track down this mysterious "B.B." because there's a slight chance that he might be her biological father. She also feels disconnected from the man she's been told is her father, and that they don't have a lot in common, like with politics, but who the heck agrees with their parents on politics, especially these days? Come on, it's not like there's some kind of genetic test that someone can take to prove their parents are really their parents, right? Um, wait...
Also, the premise doesn't work because Charles Webb did eventually publish a sequel to "The Graduate" in which Ben and Elaine are still together and have two sons, but this film ignores all that and claims that the "Elaine" character didn't stay with Ben and instead went and married someone else. So any analogy between the Braddock/Robinsons and the Huttingers has to break down at some point. This only really works if you take the connection to "The Graduate" as a very loose one, just treat it like a jumping-off point for the main story here to start. What you're left with is the lead character who's unsure about her relationship, and tracks down her mother's old boyfriend to find out more about the fling she had.
I think this could have worked without any mention of "The Graduate" at all, in fact I think it might even have been stronger without relying on that as some kind of narrative crutch. If she just looked up her mother's old boyfriend, for no other reason than to confirm her possibly paternity, then you'd still have a story. The thought of a man sleeping with 3 generations of women in the same family is a little too creepy-icky, though. So that's a little questionable in my opinion. For that matter, asking any details of a parent's sexual history is a little questionable too - knowing too much about one's parents or grandparents should cause a definite need for mental floss.
Also starring Jennifer Aniston (last seen in "Office Christmas Party"), Kevin Costner (last seen in "Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives"), Shirley MacLaine (last seen in "Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall"), Mark Ruffalo (last seen in "Avengers: Infinity War"), Richard Jenkins (last seen in "The Shape of Water"), Mena Suvari (last seen in "Factory Girl"), Steve Sandvoss, Christopher McDonald (last seen in "The Faculty"), Mike Vogel, Jennifer Taylor, with cameos from Clyde Kusatsu (last seen in "The Singing Detective"), Colleen Camp (last seen in "A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III"), George Hamilton and archive footage of Anne Bancroft (last seen in "The Elephant Man"), Dustin Hoffman (last seen in "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium"), Bill Clinton (last seen in "12 Strong") and Barry Goldwater.
RATING: 4 out of 10 yearbook photos
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