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Movie Review: Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)

October 17, 2011 in Movie Reviews, Reviews

Never been a huge fan of ‘romantic dramedies’ (thanks, Mr Judd Apatow) but Crazy, Stupid, Love is somewhat of an exception.  While it’s far too long and suffers from some of the tonal unevenness often seen in such films, I found myself thoroughly enjoying this clever meshing of different stories about the beauty, excitement, angst and heartbreak of love and life.

Crazy, Stupid, Love is driven by several damaged but very likeable characters.  There’s Cal (Steve Carrell), a middle-aged man who discovers his wife (Julianne Moore) has been cheating on him with a colleague (Kevin Bacon).  There’s Jacob (Ryan Gosling), a wealthy playboy and expert in the art of seduction who takes Cal under his wing until he meets Hannah (Emma Stone), a young lawyer stuck with a loser boyfriend.  And there’s Cal’s 13-year-old son Robbie (Jonah Bobo), who is obsessively in love with his babysitter Jessica, (Analeigh Tipton — who apparently was a high ranking contestant on America’s Next Top Model?!), who has a secret crush of her own.

It’s a ridiculously amazing ensemble cast that also features the always-brilliant Marisa Tomei (who almost steals the show) and everybody’s favourite husband from Fargo, John Carroll Lynch.  The performances really elevate the overall quality of the film, and I was personally surprised by Carrell’s drama acting chops as well as Gosling’s comedic acting chops.  For me, the standouts were Tomei, Gosling, Bobo and Tipton, but there were no weak links.

What impressed me most about Crazy, Stupid, Love was that the comedy side of it was genuinely funny (perhaps not gut bustingly so but amusing enough) and the drama side of it was actually romantic and emotionally effective too.  There aren’t many romantic dramedies I can think of in recent times that tick both boxes.  It also did a fabulous job of linking all the characters and stories together in a way many ensemble cast stories do but in a cleverer way.  This was not one of those sugar-coated, lovey-dovey movies with a predictable ending, even though it’s at times (bitter)sweet and full of heart.

I still don’t like romantic dramedies but if they can all be like Crazy, Stupid, Love (except a little shorter than its 118-minute-but-felt- longer running time) then I might be more willing to give them a try.

4 stars out of 5

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Random Graduation Thoughts and Observations

October 15, 2011 in On Writing, Study

I've attended three graduations and we've never done this

I’m back, baby!  I am slowly settling in after the big move and will hopefully be able to post regularly again.

Lost in the mayhem of recent weeks is the fact that I finally graduated from my writing degree.  It was my third graduation and I guess my excitement level was not as high as it should have been as I have become a veteran at these types of events now.  Nevertheless, graduating from anything is an achievement in itself, and it was a good opportunity to catch up with some friends I met throughout the course.

However, comparing this particular graduation to the first one around 6 years ago (also at the same university), it was interesting to see how some things have changed drastically while others have remained the same.  Here are some random thoughts and observations.

For starters, this time, I had to freaking pay a fee to attend my own graduation.  Isn’t that outrageous, egregious and preposterous?  Was it to pay for the gown hire or the venue or the guests?  Doesn’t really matter because there are no excuses for this atrociously dick move by the university.  One would have thought after the thousands of dollars in exorbitant fees collected from students they could have allowed those same students to attend a ceremony that is supposed to celebrate their graduation.  Just sayin’.

Secondly, everything is done online now.  You have to register online and even enter the phonetic pronunciation of your surname so there are no embarrassing mishaps on stage — no doubt a common occurrence with the plethora of overseas graduates.  And did you know that many universities now also have graduation ceremonies overseas as well?  That’s insane.

Thirdly, this particular graduation took place off campus at a function centre.  Renovations may have been the primary reason for the relocation but it felt strange to be graduating away from the place you studied.  No complaints from me though — it was a much better place for photos.

Speaking of photos — man — they are another rip-off scheme.  Most packages are hundreds of dollars and only include a few photos and no frame.  I of course went with the cheapo option and chose an online package where they send you the photos online and you choose which ones you want to save and print.  I’m still waiting for that email…

A lot of universities now also have a semi-compulsory student survey they force you to fill out as soon as you step out of the gown fitting room.  There’s a dude standing at the exit and you pretty much have no choice but to do it on the spot, in exchange for a piece of chocolate of your choosing.

As for the ceremony itself, not too bad.  I expected myself to doze off at regular intervals but for the most part I remained attentive.  I always find the occasional speaker quite boring, and this time it was no different.  I started wondering how much the man got paid for the gig, and whether it was something that deserves more research — surely he must recycle the same speech from ceremony to ceremony, from university to university.  It could be quite a lucrative thing to do.

And what is the deal with the students?  Prior to the ceremony they always have this mini-rehearsal there they tell you where to line up and where to stand once you get up on the stage.  You only need to pay half-attention because you just have to follow the person in front of you.  There are visible markings on the floor so it’s not all that difficult, and all you have to do is tip your hat towards the chancellor or whoever when your name is called — and yet for some inexplicable reason some morons always get it wrong and either stand too close or too far away from where they are supposed to or forget the hat tip.  Makes you wonder how they managed to graduate in the first place (well…let’s face it, it’s not that hard…most students I see when I walk past the computer labs are on Facebook or YouTube anyway)…

Lastly, there is one constant that I have noticed throughout all the graduations I have attended: I have a massive head.  One look at me and the fitters head straight to the last rack of hats, and usually it takes a couple of fittings to find the right one.  And often they are still so tight they leave a V-shaped mark on my forehead.  This time I took the liberty of telling the dude upfront that I had a massive head (like he couldn’t tell) so he got me a cushier one.  Still left a tiny mark though.

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News: I’m still alive

October 8, 2011 in Blogging, Misc, On Writing, Study

It’s been crazy around here lately.  Cray-zee.

No.  Not this crazy.

Or this crazy.

But just crazy in general because of the BIG MOVE, cleaning up, family affairs, catching up with friends and other miscellaneous crap (like graduation).  Writing, reading and blogging has been put on the back burner for now, and probably will be for a few more days.  And yet I have so many writing projects, books and posts still lined up.

Here’s to getting through the next few days!

I’ll be back.

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Arrested Development is coming back, baby!

October 3, 2011 in Entertainment, Misc

I think I just blew my mind.  I just hope they haven’t made a big mistake.

In by far the best entertainment news I have heard this year (celeb photo scandals included), one of my favourite shows of all time, Arrested Development, is coming back to the small and will eventually reach the big screen!  In a shock twist, series creator Mitch Hurwitz announced (at the 2011 New Yorker Festival) after years of speculation that the show (which was cancelled in 2006 after three critically successful but commercially unsuccessful seasons) will not only have the big screen send-off foreshadowed by executive producer/narrator Ron Howard in the series finale, but it will also have a 10 episode run in the lead-up to the film to bring everyone up to speed.  It might even be an episode per character.

Yes!  Ten full episodes and a full length feature film!  Every member of the original Bluth family will be back!

The goal is now apparently to start shooting them all together next US summer for an early 2013 release.  Let the new speculations begin.  Will it finally happen as planned?  What will the film and the episodes be about?  Which recurring characters will be returning?  And most of all, will the magic remain alive?

Like many AD fans, I arrived late to the party, having only discovered this utterly brilliant show after its short-lived three-season run.  To me, it’s the most genius comedy series since Seinfeld, and it was a criminal shame that it never really found widespread acceptance until it was too late.  This new series and film will hopefully reward old fans and new fans alike.

My own personal wishlist?  At least one Gob (Will Arnett) ‘Final Countdown’ sequence.  An ‘Analrapist’ reference or two.  Steve Holt!  Franklin ‘It ain’t easy being white!’ Bluth.  And of course, Barry Zuckerkorn, Lucille 2 and my own personal favourite, Bob Loblaw (‘You don’t need double talk!’).  Annyong, Ann ‘Her?’ Veal, Kitty ‘Spring Break’ Sanchez, Carl Weathers — the list goes on and on.

I am super excited but also slightly wary.  The three seasons of AD was something truly special, and the lack of attention it received certainly played to its advantage.  Will this return stuff things up, or will it add to it?  Either way, I can’t wait to see.

PS: Interestingly, fans were blaming Michael Cera (who plays George Michael Bluth and was present at the announcement) for the delays in the film getting made, but as Hurwitz explained, it was actually an inside joke that got out of hand and that Cera had always been in it from the start.

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Book Review: ‘Pride and Prejudice: Hidden Lusts’ by Mitzi Szereto

October 1, 2011 in Book Reviews, Reviews

There has been a recent influx of books which are essentially rewrites of out-of-copyright classic books and characters — but with a wacky twist, usually involving zombies and vampires. The most successful one is based on Jane Austen’s period romance, Pride and Prejudice (ie, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which has apparently been adapted into a film with Natalie Portman).

And so I guess it was only a matter of time before someone took Jane Austen’s enduring classic and turned it into an erotic farce. That’s exactly what Mitzi Szereto has done with Pride and Prejudice: Hidden Lusts, an ‘erotic parody’ detailing the sexual escapades of beloved literary characters such as Elizabeth Bennett and Mr Darcy. It’s a wild and hilarious ride that will likely polarise readers — those who believe Austen’s masterpiece has been defiled in the worst possible way (even worse than zombies), and those who think it’s a bloody brilliant idea.

Szereto is an experienced erotic fiction writer and editor, and it’s abundantly clear that she is also a skilled writer and Austen fan. Hidden Lusts may follow the plot and progression of the original and contain all the same characters, but the actual text of Austen’s work is used sparingly. A page by page comparison of the first chapter of the two books showed only a couple of short verbatim passages. The language used is genuinely Austen-esque, with none of the overtly sexual or crass vocabulary you would expect from an erotic novel. Szereto has captured Austen’s voice and tone and the essence of her characters so well that you might’ve believed that it was written by Austen herself — but for all the lustful thoughts and naughty shenanigans that appear in just about every chapter!

Bear in mind, Hidden Lusts is more parody than erotica, as just about everything is written with tongue firmly in cheek (and sometimes other things in cheek — literally), so chances are you’ll be finding yourself laughing out loud at the outrageous thoughts and actions of these traditionally uptight characters rather than feeling a bulge in your ‘breeches’ (which tends to happen in the book whenever characters cross paths!).

The kind of devilishly filthy stuff Szereto’s imagination conjures up is impressive. Every character is either a closet homosexual or sexual deviant or both. A few characters are given particularly harsh treatment. Have you ever wondered what Mr Bennett was doing locked away in his study all day? Have you ever wondered if Lydia Bennett was a nymphomaniac? Have you ever thought Mr Collins was a little gay? Have you ever been suspicious of the close relationship between Mr Darcy and his close friend Mr Bingley? Hidden Lusts has the answers.

You will probably need to have read Pride and Prejudice (or its ‘rewrites’) or seen one of the many film or TV adaptations to be able to fully appreciate the humour and wit of Szereto’s work.  My last memory had been the 2005 film adaptation starring Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennett, Matthew Macfadyen (soon to be one of the Musketeers) as Mr Darcy, Donald Sutherland as Mr Bennett and Jena Malone as Lydia Bennett — which made it both hilarious and disturbing to be picturing these actors as I read the book.

Some of the erotic sequences do get a little repetitive after a while despite Szereto’s best efforts to keep them fresh and varied, but it’s hard to avoid in a 266-page book.  The upside is that you’ll be giggling along with all the lewd craziness in anticipation of the glorious final hurrah between Miss Bennett and Mr Darcy.  This is my first erotic parody and provided it’s as well written as this one I’d certainly be open to reading more.

3.5 out of 5

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