BEFORE: A day off today, after working a double yesterday - a normal shift at the animation studio and then a screening of an episode of "Lawmen: Bass Reeves" at the theater, with a reception after. Seemed a bit excessive for people to watch a show that they can see at home, if they have Paramount+, so I'm thinking that maybe most people don't have Paramount+. I have a way I can get it for free, because it merged with Showtime or something and I pay for Showtime already and now i found out there's a way I can get Paramount+ for free because I pay for Showtime, I just have to create an account and then sign in using my Spectrum cable information. I'll do it just for my wife, so she can watch the "Picard" series at long last, and then maybe I can watch "Star Trek: Discovery" season 2, because I only watched Season 1, which they ran on CBS at one point to try to get people like me to sign up for Paramount+, but now I WON'T do that, just to spite their stupid marketing techniques. Oh, sure, the first season is free but if you like it, now you have to pay for more. Umm, no I don't.
Out to Long Island today to hit a Chinese buffet for lunch, and then some old-fashioned mall-walking - it's free if you don't buy anything. But then I'm back to the theater tomorrow morning.
Paul Rudd carries over from "Over Her Dead Body".
THE PLOT: A mother falls for a younger man while her daughter falls in love for the first time. Mother Nature messes with their fates.
AFTER: Already I don't know how I'm supposed to judge one romantic comedy over another, and I'm only three days in, that's not a good sign. I'm already burned out on the topic - yeah, sure, they fall in love, that's great, I hope they learn to overlook each other's faults and come to accept each other as they are, which means then they also learn to accept themselves, that's great too. But I think I like ones that maybe have something new to say, something I maybe haven't seen too many times. I haven't seen too many films where there's a big age difference between the two lovers, and even if that's there, it's usually an older man and a younger woman, right? Not too many films have the older woman dating a much younger man.
AFTER: Already I don't know how I'm supposed to judge one romantic comedy over another, and I'm only three days in, that's not a good sign. I'm already burned out on the topic - yeah, sure, they fall in love, that's great, I hope they learn to overlook each other's faults and come to accept each other as they are, which means then they also learn to accept themselves, that's great too. But I think I like ones that maybe have something new to say, something I maybe haven't seen too many times. I haven't seen too many films where there's a big age difference between the two lovers, and even if that's there, it's usually an older man and a younger woman, right? Not too many films have the older woman dating a much younger man.
Rosie is a 45-year old TV writer and show-runner on the hit TV comedy "You Go Girl", and she discovers the young(ish) actor Adam in an audition, and realizes he's a natural on camera. She also develops feelings for him, though he's 28 and she's - well, she admits to being 40, it's a funny scene where she keeps admitting she's older and her age keeps going up, and he keeps admitting to being younger and younger. But she only gets to 40 and he's 28, but really, is she 12 years older than him or 17 years older? Won't he eventually find out that she's 45, not 40? How long can she keep that lie alive? Also, isn't age just nothing but a number, who cares if she's a few years older than him, in this day and age? Anyway, at the time this film was released, Paul Rudd was really 38 and playing a character who was 28, and Michelle Pfeiffer was really 49 playing a character who was 45. She's really only 11 years older than he is.
It was weirder for me to watch these actors make out because they both play characters in the MCU, he's Ant-Man and she's the original Wasp, but the mother of the current Wasp, who is dating the current Ant-Man. So it's like he's making out with his girlfriend's mother, and she's kissing her daughter's boyfriend, kind of, and that just doesn't seem right. Also, Paul Rudd doesn't seem to get any older, no matter what, at least not yet. And at least Michelle Pfeiffer is still working, a lot of actresses her age have given up on trying to get good roles, or they're waiting until they're old enough for the roles that Helen Mirren and Meryl Streep used to get. I don't know, I really don't want to get into the whole thing about there not being enough roles for older women - so more actresses should become producers and make sure there are roles for older women like them, I guess. Haven't the old sexist producers been forced out of the business by now?
Anyway, they all work on this fictitious sitcom, and this is supposedly based on director Amy Heckerling's experiences while directing the TV series "Clueless", which also starred some of the same actors, like Stacey Dash and Twink Caplan and Wallace Shawn. Paul Rudd was in the movie "Clueless" but not the TV show, and the movie came out way back in 1995, if you really want to feel old. And one presumes that if the female writer/producer of a sitcom should happen to fall in love with a younger actor working on that show, they should probably keep that relationship a secret, for fear of suggesting that one's sleeping with the other to get ahead in the business or worse, using their power or influence to have sex with the other. But if they're both into the relationship, there really should be no problem there, I mean, they're both consenting adults, one's just more adulter than the other.
Rosie also is divorced and has a 13-year old daughter. She's still friends with her ex-husband, who's had at least one other wife, but he left Rosie for a younger woman, which I'm sure happens a lot. but still, it's a NITPICK POINT to me. If a guy who looked like Jon Lovitz was married to a woman who looked like Michelle Pfeiffer, it doesn't make much sense that HE would leave HER, based on their looks alone, I'd say SHE would be more likely to leave HIM. A guy who looked like Lovitz should thank his lucky stars if he found himself married to a woman that beautiful. Right? Just me?
Rosie's daughter, Izzie, meanwhile, just got her period and is attracted to a boy for the first time. Naturally, she's wise beyond her years, but also is completely clueless when it comes to matters of the heart, and unfortunately her divorced mother is so cynical about love that her advice toggles between being dismissive and useless to a girl in middle school. Still, she's trying to be supportive and point her in the right direction, knowing that the first cut is the deepest, or something like that, so she's bound to get her heart broken by Dylan, but at least it will be a learning experience, and everyone's heart needs to build up some scar tissue, to some extent.
Izzie does have a talent for writing parody songs, by changing the words of say, Britney Spears' "Oops, I Did it Again" to reflect a more modernist take-down of Spears' outdated image and the sexist motifs present in her music videos. Later she performs the song "Moronic", a parody of Alanis Morissette's "Ironic", which takes aim at George W. Bush and Michael Jackson. She is, in her own way, like a teen girl Weird Al Yankovic. Which leads to an obvious question, why is there no teen girl version of Weird Al Yankovic? Why is there no one else who ever tried to follow his career path, who, if anyone, is the number 2 modern song parody artist in that genre? There's nobody, he's like a unicorn or something, and he's never had any competition in the marketplace. Sure, there's Richard Cheese and also Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, maybe you can consider the Dan Band (seen in the film "Old School") but all of these acts just perform well-known songs in different styles, whether that's rock songs in lounge style, or soft songs in a punk style, but I'd hesitate to call any of their work parodies, they're just fun cover bands.
Anyway, we're here for the romance tonight, and I'm down with Rosie and Adam getting together, despite their age difference. The only real problems are caused by Rosie's insecurities, and also her secretary planting fake evidence on Adam's phone that he's been cheating on Rosie with Brianna, the star of "You Go Girl". Once Rosie realizes that she's been punked, it should be smooth sailing, even if that show gets cancelled and Adam gets cast in a pilot for a new sitcom, he would at least get his favorite writer hired on that one.
This film was never released in theaters, and went straight to video release in 2007, but then later it found a second life on premium cable, which is where I discovered it. Apparently it was mostly filmed in the U.K., not L.A., well it does have a number of cameos from British TV actors. Tracey Ullman plays Mother Nature, for example, the embodiment of Earth goddesses and fertility, who has imaginary conversations with Rosie about aging and dating issues. And it's Saorsie Ronan's debut film. It seems like some parts were also filmed in Pasadena, CA, which is where "Over Her Dead Body" was also filmed.
Also starring Michelle Pfeiffer (last seen in "De Palma"), Saoirse Ronan (last seen in "See How They Run"), Tracey Ullman (last seen in "Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me"), Jon Lovitz (last seen in "Trapped in Paradies"), Sarah Alexander (last seen in "Bridget Jones's Diary"), Fred Willard (last seen in "Salem's Lot"), Stacey Dash (last seen in "Clueless"), Yasmin Paige, O-T Fagbenle (last seen in "Black Widow"), Twink Caplan (last seen in "Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie"), Rory Copus, David Mitchell (last seen in "Greed"), Mackenzie Crook (last seen in "In Secret"), Steve Pemberton (last seen in "Birthday Girl"), Phil Cornwell (last seen in "Alan Partridge"), Simon Kunz (ditto), Graham Norton (last heard in "Soul"), Ed Byrne, Jayden Berry-Garvey, Iddo Goldberg (last seen in "Driven"), Noah Lee Margetts, Archie Panjabi (last seen in "The Constant Gardener"), Ben Bennett, Chike Chan (last seen in "Everest"), John Paul Horsley, Peter Polycarpou (last seen in "Evita"), Ashley Luke Lloyd, Troy Gentile (last seen in "Good Luck Chuck"), Cassandra Bell, Joe Montana, Victoria Chalaya, Jed Bernard, Mike Knox (last seen in "The Object of My Affection"), Melanie Martin, Owen Stanley,
with cameos from Olivia Colman (last seen in "Empire of Light"), Sally Kellerman, Wallace Shawn (last seen in "Maggie's Plan"), Henry Winkler (last seen in "Black Adam"),
and archive footage of Anne Bancroft (last seen in "Becoming Mike Nichols"), David Cassidy (last seen in "Mr. Saturday Night"), Dustin Hoffman (last seen in "What's My Name: Muhammad Ali"), Madonna (last seen in "Nothing Compares"), Benito Mussolini (last seen in "Amsterdam"), Richard Nixon (last seen in "The Special Relationship"), Jaleel White (last seen in "Hustle").
RATING: 6 out of 10 prank calls made to celebrities
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