BEFORE: I don't know what happened with this film, it was on the list of films that I had either on DVD or on my movie DVR, those titles are underlined on my main watch list, which means that I have a copy in my possession, and I tend to favor those films when I'm scheduling, because for each film I watch off that main list, I allow myself to add one. Also, clearing the movies off my DVR whenever possible is favored, because then I allow myself to record one more on premium cable, to fill its space.
But I looked up and down the list of films on my DVR, and it just wasn't there. I looked through the document on my computer that holds all the names of the films I have on DVD, and it wasn't there either - I even kept an eye out for it as I re-alphabetized my DVD collection this past weekend, and I didn't spot it there either. So what happened to it? It's unlikely I'd burn the film to DVD and then misplace the disc, I file all the new DVDs away immediately, but then it's re-ordering them that takes time later. It's possible I mean to record this one on the DVR and forgot, or it's possible that I programmed it to record and then my DVR crashed whenever it was supposed to record the film. Come to think of it, my DVR was down for a few days last fall, due to some bad wiring juju in the neighborhood. It's possible that my DVR was supposed to record this film that week, and just couldn't maintain a connection. This is why I keep photos on my camera of what's recorded on my DVR, in case the whole thing crashes I would at least want to know what movies were lost.
Anyway, it's Roku to the rescue tonight, as the film is available there for free, provided I watch a few ads during the movie. Hey, it beats paying for movie rentals. And I'm sure it will come around again on cable sooner or later.
Cloris Leachman carries over from "The Wedding Ringer".
THE PLOT: A writer must turn out a novel in thirty days or face the wrath of loan sharks.
AFTER: Sorry, I'm late in posting today, because "Tournament of Champions" is back on Food Network, and I can't believe it's been a whole year almost already, but that's a must-watch in our household. Oh, sure, it's only the qualifier rounds, to figure out which 4 out of 16 chefs who didn't make the first cut will get those last spots in the bracket, but since this show combines the combatants we know from "Top Chef", "Chopped" and "Master Chef", among others, really, it's the all-star event of the week, there just couldn't possibly be another big sporting event this week that could out-do it, not a chance.
But let me get through this quickly so I don't fall behind, I've still got to watch tomorrow's film tonight, thankfully I'm not working tomorrow so I can stay up really late and sleep as long as I want, as long as I wake up in time to go out for bagels or heart-shaped donuts tomorrow. This is a very corny film, almost like a throwback, because it's set in a world where a writer would hire a stenographer to help him finish the manuscript for his book - just the presence of a stenographer alone should place this back in the 1960's or 70's, but then again I guess there's a thing that still exists, or did still exist in 2003, anyway.
The problem is, the writer has writer's block, which is something I think I've seen in just about every film about writers. I guess writers who have no problems coming up with creative fresh ideas and getting them down on paper just aren't very interesting, because every writer in movies seems to have the dreaded W.B. Sure, tennis players get tennis elbow, athletes get athlete's foot and writers get writer's block, but come on EVERY ONE of them? And they all seem to have such trouble getting started, they stare at that blank first page or they re-write the first sentence of their novel over and over again, implying that if they could only JUST START and get that first bit done, then the rest of it will flow more easily.
It doesn't help that Alex borrowed money from some Cuban loan sharks, and they're expecting to get paid when he finishes the novel and gets that big check from his publisher. Maybe he should have requested a contract where he gets paid in installments, but then again that wouldn't help if he can't even get the novel started, he can't turn in the first chapter if he can't even write the first liine, right? So maybe that explains why he borrowed money from loan sharks? No, actually it doesn't at all. When the two burly guys come around, they hold him outside his window over the sidewalk below (also very stereotypical) and they break his TV and his phone - well, as they point out, now there will be no distractions to keep him from finishing the novel.
Now, it also seems like it wouldn't make much difference whether he types the novel or dictates it, like it's just as hard to think up the plot either way, but no, I'm going to allow this one. If he tells the story to someone else, I could see how it might flow better, like he's just telling a story to another person, or relating an anecdote as part of a stand-up routine to an audience. He can gauge her reactions and alter the story, use her as an instant sounding board, and she also might notice something that doesn't seem to work right off, and he can make alterations. Sure, it makes perfect sense except for the fact that nothing here really does.
But we see the novel acted out, it's kind of a period piece like "The Great Gatsby", set in the late 1800's or early 1900's perhaps, as a man named Adam Shipley travels to a small Maine island to be a tutor for a rich woman's children, and of course he meets a man on the train journey there who is also loaning that woman money, with the intent of also marrying her. But Adam also falls in love with this French woman, however there's a love quadrangle set up her between Adam, Polina (who hired him), John Shaw (the man he met on the train) and the au pair who helps raise the children. When Adam asks the au pair (Ylva, Elsa, Eldora, her name keeps changing) for romantic advice, she assumes that Adam is interested in her, not Polina.
Ot course, the same actors who play the writer and the stenographer appear in the acted-out fictional story, too, so their budding romance in the real world ends up getting reflected in the story, or perhaps vice versa. So Emma, the stenographer, starts to wonder if there is a real-life analog for Polina, perhaps an ex-girlfriend of Alex that he is still in love with, or pining for. Of course she's right, because every actor's playing double duty in this one, this must be cheaper according to SAG rules to structure the story this way. This is a classic technique to represent the "real" fictional world in the film-within-the-film, it goes all the way back to "The Wizard of Oz" and probably further back than that. But sure, it also represents that the fantasy world has its roots in the real world, as things in our dreams are based on things that happen to us during the day. But more importantly, it must be cheaper to hire each actor to play two roles.
(EDIT: The classic film this one most resembles, though, is "Paris When It Sizzles", which feaured a screenwriter hiring a secretary to type up his script as he dictates it, and we also see them footage of them acting out the scenes in a film-within-the-film.)
Alex & Emma do grow closer together over the 30-day marathon novel writing and dictation session, by the end they're not just author and stenographer/sounding board, but they're bedmates and they've probably shared many meals together as well, all of that quality time should translate easily into a relationship, except that's when the real Polina shows up, and she's between relationships and wants to take Alex with her back to Paris. (Damn, it's even a bigger dilemma than trying to choose the perfect woman he met at the airport over the one he had a bad blind date with.). While he still might be in love with Polina, he's now grown accustomed to spending time with Emma - however in the novel Adam ends up alone, he managed to bungle things with both women because he wasn't ready to settle, or had fear of commitment, whichever.
Life nearly imitates art, and Alex turns down Polina to be with Emma, however he took too long to make the decision, and nearly lost both opportunities, like the character in his book. Ah, but the solution presents itself, just hire Emma to help him change the ending of the book, and in doing so perhaps convince her that both he and his character deserve a relationship with the more down-to-earth, reliable person who makes them laugh and feel special. There's nothing wrong with that intention, what's more important is making that decision quickly and without hesitation, because your life partner (whichever one you choose) deserves that, at the very least. If you can't make a decision in due time, you just may end up alone for a while longer. Well, that's the "good advice" love tip of the day, anyway.
I didn't know that a similar set of events happened to Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who dictated a novel titled "The Gambler", which he wrote in 26 days with the help of a stenographer. He fell in love with Anna, the stenographer during the process and they married and had four children.
OK, that's the first full week of the romance chain down, now just five more weeks to go.
Also starring Kate Hudson (last seen in "The Four Feathers"), Luke Wilson (last seen in "Berlin, I Love You"), David Paymer (last seen in "Horse Girl"), Sophie Marceau (last seen in "A Midsummer Night's Dream"), Rob Reiner (last seen in "Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You"), Chino XL, Lobo Sebastian (last seen in "The Mule"), Paul Wilson (last seen in "The Goodbye Girl" (1977)), Alexander Wauthier, Leili Kramer, Rip Taylor (last seen in "The Dukes of Hazzard"), Gigi Bermingham (last seen in "Amsterdam"), Jordan Lund (last seen in "Species") Francois Giroday (last seen in "Permanent Midnight"), Robert Costanzo (also last seen in "The Goodbye Girl" (1977)), Earl Carroll (last seen in "The Lincoln Lawyer"), Jordi Caballero, Michael St. Michaels, Danica Sheridan (last seen in "The Great Buck Howard").
RATING: 4 out of 10 Boston tourist attractions
No comments:
Post a Comment