BEFORE: This is that film I was talking about a few weeks ago, it seems kind of relationship-ey, so logically it should be saved for February - but it doesn't seem to link to much of anything else in that category that's on my list, certainly not to any of the 41 or 42 films I've linked together for February 2022, and not to the 9 (so far) that could link together for the year after that. So, do I really want to wait two years to MAYBE watch this in February, when I've got a chance to link to it tonight? Well, not every horror film ends up in October, a few this year got watched in August because they linked to "Black Widow", so maybe not every romance/relationship film needs to be watched in February. I'm putting it here and that's the last I want to hear about it.
John Ortiz carries over from "Peppermint". And tonight I'm issuing an ever-rarer Birthday SHOUT-OUT to Daphne Rubin-Vega, born on November 18, 1968. She's also in "In the Heights", which is on my list, but I'm not going to follow that path tomorrow, I've got other plans.
THE PLOT: A limo driver's blind date sparks a tale of love, betrayal, friendship, and grace centered around two working-class New York City couples.
AFTER: See, I've learned that I need to follow my instincts - yesterday part of "Peppermint" was set at a winter carnival, clearly during the pre-holiday season. "Jack Goes Boating" is also set sometime in late fall or early winter, everybody's wearing coats and wool hats and talking about maybe going boating some time in the summer, which is months away. So if I just don't think too much about it, and let the linking lead me where it may, sometimes these films just find their way to the right month, I can't really explain my process any better than that. It just works out.
Jack is a NYC limo driver, and since he's being played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, he's a bit of a schlump, a loser, a f*ck-up. Hoffman planted his flag long ago in this territory with films like "Next Stop Wonderland", "Boogie Nights" and "Happiness", and then, really came to own that space with appearances in "Love Liza", "Owning Mahowny" and "God's Pocket". Once in a while he got to play somebody understated but powerful, but mostly he lived in the "lovable (?) loser" character spot, and I can't name any actor who's taken up residence there since he passed on.
He also had an affinity for stage work, and plays that got turned into movies, like this one - "Jack Goes Boating" started out as a play, and you can kind of feel that since it mostly takes place in one apartment, with just four central characters. It's the apartment of married couple Clyde and Lucy, after they set up their friends Jack and Connie on a dinner date, which doesn't go THAT well at first. But Jack resolves to better himself, and takes swimming lessons so that he can take Connie boating in the summer, and also cooking lessons so he can cook a nice meal for her, something she says nobody has done for her before.
But the cooking lessons come from a chef nicknamed Cannoli, and it turns out that Cannoli had an affair with Lucy, which Clyde says he's gotten over, only he clearly hasn't. Clyde keeps telling Jack about what's it's like to be married for a long period of time, how it changes you and allows you to grow as a person by overlooking your mate's faults, or that time she cheated on you. Yeah, that seems to be going just fine. There's that play-like structure again, I guess we're supposed to be impressed that one couple is coming together while the other couple is falling apart. Dude, that's just life. Ah, but that's exactly the point, I see what you did there. Still, it all seems a bit obvious.
That's it, there's really not much more to discuss here, it's great that Jack's trying to better himself, I suppose. Cooking lessons are great, it's a fine skill to acquire, but I've never been able to learn how to swim, and I've been on boats with no incidents (so far, anyway). See, they have these things called lifejackets, so I just wear one if I'm on anything smaller than a cruise ship, just to be safe - because I doubt I'm ever going to learn to swim at this point. With the aid of lifejackets, I've been in rowboats and even canoes when I was a teen, I was just extra careful to not let the boat tip over. Now I just don't go camping or boating, so it's not really an issue.
Some scenes in this film were shot at the Clinton Diner in Maspeth, Queens (close to where I live) - this diner has also appeared in "Goodfellas", "The Irishman", "Going in Style" and "Chuck" (the movie, not the TV show) along with a whole host of CBS shows. I swear this diner closed after a fire in 2018, but I guess nobody's ever going to tear it down if it still makes such a great set piece for movies and TV shows. "Jack Goes Boating" might have filmed there in its prime, but I think maybe after "The Irishman" the diner's career in movies is probably done.
Also starring Philip Seymour Hoffman (last seen in "God's Pocket"), Amy Ryan (last seen in "Spielberg"), Daphne Rubin-Vega (last seen in "Rachel Getting Married"), Tom McCarthy (last seen in "Fair Game"), Salvatore Inzerillo, Richard Petrocelli, Lola Glaudini, Stephen Adly Guirgis (last seen in "Motherless Brooklyn"), Elizabeth Rodriguez (last seen in "Logan"), Isaac Schinazi, Mason Pettit (last seen in "You Don't Know Jack"), Trevor Long, Count Stovall
RATING: 5 out of 10 reggae songs
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