...Madness takes its toll...
Well here we are...one year later....
The wife and I watched two movies last night, the first was Serendipity and the second was Amelie.
Serendipity was very cute, very romancy and the comedy was good. I've always been a big fan of Jeremy Piven and Eugene Levy, so I really enjoyed their comedic additions and I think that without them this movie would have really bogged down. I've also always been a John Cusak fan too, though I have to agree with the review in that this movie doesn't allow him to do his best.
My biggest problem with this movie is the absurd premise that it's based on. It's no wonder that so many romantic endeavors fail and that the divorce rate is so incredibly high. While cute and endearing, this movie reeks as a model for promoting healthy relationships and this is in the end what made it hard for me to enjoy. Outside of a few cliché romantic quips I never really saw what was so great about their first encounter. In fact John Cusak's character is deplorable in that he's actively pursuing another woman while already involved with another.
We watched the deleted scenes and the thing that bothers me about that was that the film makers evidently felt they had to dumb down an already unsophisticated movie. While most of them were obviously good cuts, others at least would have added a little more substance to the first meeting. Just once I'd like to see a major film promote a solid well based relationship model, I think you can do that and still have all the qualities that this film had.....but then what do I know.
The second film was Amelie, which I didn't/don't know much about. To be honest I picked it up because the bright green box kept attracting my attention at the video store, so last night I finally gave in and rented it. It was evidently (obviously) French and had subtitles...which are always swanky. To me this film sort of defies explanation, though it is a romantic comedy of sorts...all I can say is you just have to experience it....it really is a delightful little movie....it did seem to be really long though, but maybe I was just getting tired. If you enjoy different or adventurous cinematic experiences, I think you'd like this one.