BEFORE: We interrupt this romance chain for a quick check-in on political and pandemic matters. Trump's second impeachment trial started today, and I watched for several hours, then I'll probably catch the re-cap on MSNBC after tonight's movie (which is really tomorrow's movie, of course...). The opening debate on the constitutionality of the proceedings seemed like a slam-dunk to me, that 13-minute video of the January 6 Capitol invasion, along with precedents set by previous impeachment trials from the 1800's was quite compelling. By comparison, Trump's lawyers looked like complete nincompoops, their arguments against the process were basically, "Hey, wouldn't you Congressmen rather be verifying new cabinet members?" and "Haven't there already been ENOUGH impeachments over the last couple of decades?" Those don't exactly strike me as valid legal arguments, but, hey, I'm not an expert. It might be interesting to see how far this one goes, assuming it goes somewhere.
As for the COVID update, things seem to be going well, statistics are going down in many places, and NYC restaurants are going to open up again for indoor dining in just three days, to get that all-important Valentine's Day weekend business. We live in Queens with a car, so driving out to Long Island is fairly easy for us, so we've been able to eat inside a restaurant about once a month - it will be nice when we don't have to cross county lines to do that. But there could be another bump if too many people gathered together to watch the Super Bowl, and then there are those tricky variants to deal with, so the future is still uncertain.
My wife and I will both be eligible to get vaccinated as of February 15, meaning we can try to book appointments starting on February 14. I think it makes more sense to try a large-scale venue like Citi Field, which has thousands of appointments per day, but she would prefer a smaller pharmacy that we could walk to - but we agree we should book the earliest appointments possible, so we'll find out which of our theories is correct. I admit that if more people try to book at the larger venue with the most appointments to improve their chances, then that becomes the worst place to get an appointment - this is based on the "Closest bathroom is probably cleaner" theory. (Some people prefer to use the furthest bathroom because they think it's less used and cleaner, but if everyone in the building believes this, then it becomes the most-used and therefore potentially most un-clean bathroom.)
In order to qualify next week and book an appointment, we will need to bring proof of underlying medical conditions - for me, that's high blood pressure and a high BMI - basically, obesity. I'll have to allow New York State to certify me as fat in order to get a vaccination sooner. I think it's probably worth it, plus it is technically true, I just hate that this is the hoop I'll have to jump through (OK, step through) in order to get protected from COVID-19 as soon as possible. But I'm all for reading all the fine print and following the rules when it's to my benefit to do so.
Malin Akerman carries over from "The Giant Mechanical Man".
THE PLOT: Young people on the cusp of truly growing up, tiring of their reflexive cynicism, each in their own ways struggling to connect and define what it means to love and be loved.
AFTER: This is sort of in the same vein as "The Female Brain" and "The Giant Mechanical Man", in that every character in the film is screwed up romantically, nobody's got it all figured out for sure, and we're seeing them all at some kind of momentous personal crossroads, when they realize that they SHOULD have this part of their life figured out, and end up taking desperate steps to resolve things in some manner. They're all connected somehow, even if those connections are somewhat tenuous - Sam is the main character, and he's close platonic friends with Annie, he's also "cousins" with Mary Catherine - but the kind of cousins where their mothers were close friends and they sort of grew up together. Seems a lot like an excuse to have three main characters, plus their romantic partners, equalling six people with various personal problems, aka a hipster version of "Friends".
AFTER: This is sort of in the same vein as "The Female Brain" and "The Giant Mechanical Man", in that every character in the film is screwed up romantically, nobody's got it all figured out for sure, and we're seeing them all at some kind of momentous personal crossroads, when they realize that they SHOULD have this part of their life figured out, and end up taking desperate steps to resolve things in some manner. They're all connected somehow, even if those connections are somewhat tenuous - Sam is the main character, and he's close platonic friends with Annie, he's also "cousins" with Mary Catherine - but the kind of cousins where their mothers were close friends and they sort of grew up together. Seems a lot like an excuse to have three main characters, plus their romantic partners, equalling six people with various personal problems, aka a hipster version of "Friends".
Sam is trying to work up the nerve to talk to that attractive waitress at the bar, but can't seem to do it. Enter Rasheen, a young boy who gets separated from his foster mother on the subway, and Sam decides to help him out, get him home, or bring him to the police or something. Only he doesn't do that, he takes him home and lets Rasheen stay in his apartment, even brings him to the bar so he can break the ice with that waitress. This is wrong on several levels, probably even illegal, and his friends keep urging him to do the right thing and bring the kid to social services, only he doesn't do that, just gives the kid crayons and colored pencils and encourages him to draw. Then he invites Mississippi (the waitress) to live with him for three days, even though they just met. Only he won't go and see her sing on stage, because of some bad experience he had during college dating an actress who wasn't very good. This is kind of a problem, having Sam as the main character, because he did several things that made me not like him.
Annie, meanwhile, works for a non-profit organization in the donation department, and gets back together with her ex-boyfriend, against her better judgment, and it does not go well. However, this prompts her to believe that she may be continually drawn to the wrong sort of partner, the "bad boy" theory, and so she decides to date a totally different kind of person, a lawyer who works for the same company who seems to be really into her, only he's very nerdy and a bit awkward. He's also named Sam, and she's avoided dating him because her best friend has the same name, and this could be too confusing. Her solution is simple, though, she just calls the new Sam "Sam #2". Also, Annie is suffering from hair loss.
And Mary Catherine is living with Charlie, but Charlie has received a business opportunity, to move to L.A. and run some kind of business with Dave. But Mary doesn't want to leave NYC, because of all the great culture - restaurants, museums, theater, etc. Charlie points out that they never go to museums or shows, so it makes more sense to leave New York and visit once in a while, which could impel them to do all of those fun things. I kind of see both points - I've lived in NYC for 35 years, and I have done a lot of fun cultural things, but it's also impossible to do them all or even many of them on a regular basis. Still, it's comforting to know that they're THERE, and that I could visit a great museum or a fancy restaurant or see a play if the mood strikes. After they all re-open, that is. And their situation gets more complicated when Mary Catherine suspects that she might be pregnant.
It's another festival-favorite film tonight, this was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2010 Sundance Festival, and did win an Audience Award there for Josh Radnor's performance. (Radnor also wrote and directed this, two years before directing "Liberal Arts", which I watched last year.). In a film festival fave, there's no real guarantee that things will work out for the best, so it's a bit surprising that this is also a romantic comedy where things manage to work out (more or less) for the best. Festival films tend to be a bit on the darker side, but then again, this is about a bunch of hipsters with personal problems, so I guess it all fits.
There are still lingering questions, of course, like if Sam hasn't had much success as a writer, then how does he afford that Manhattan apartment? And why didn't Rasheen's foster family try to track him down, go to the next subway stop looking for him, or report him missing to the police? What did Annie's non-profit organization, you know, DO? And did anybody ever fall for that "Three night stand" trick? More to the point, when will NYC museums, cabarets and bars be able to open up again? In the meantime, hipsters, remember that you can still buy beer and drink alone at home - in fact, it's a lot cheaper!
Also starring Josh Radnor (last seen in "Liberal Arts"), Kate Mara (last seen in "127 Hours"), Pablo Schreiber (last seen in "Den of Thieves"), Zoe Kazan (last seen in "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"), Michael Algieri, Tony Hale (last seen in "The 15:17 to Paris"), Peter Scanavino (last seen in "Frances Ha"), Bram Barouh, Dana Barron, Sunah Bilsted, Jimmy Gary Jr., Richard Jenkins (last seen in "The Cabin in the Woods"), Mama Kohn, Maria Elena Ramirez, Maryann Urbano (last seen in "Norman"), Fay Wolf.
RATING: 5 out of 10 celebrity photos at the Carnegie Deli
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