Confessions of a Shopaholic
Mel actually watched this without me while I was at work. No worries - I watched it a couple months back while recovering from a sore throat. Mel loved it, I thought it was annoying. The male lead was stupid. And poor John Goodman deserves so much better. I will say this - CoaS had the best attitude and sense of fun of all the movies we watched.
The Ugly Truth
Katherine Hiegl is uptight, Gerard Butler is a pig. Shit gets a little wacky. This movie would have made for perfectly fine ladyfest viewing if not for a super stupid vibrating panty scene and various other moments that require a bit too much suspension of disbelief. I feel like I've heard Katherine Hiegl complain before about her characters, particularly her character in Knocked Up. But the woman brings it on herself. Every role she takes is a hot but uptight lady in the media biz who just needs some misogynist schlub to come along and teach her how to unbunch her panties. It's time to set yourself free, Hiegl!
About Last Night
Netflix lies. Not all the time, but often enough to make me wonder if Netflix and I are right for each other. Case in point: About Last Night. This is a mid-80's Demi Moore/ Rob Lowe movie that Netflix says is a rom com. No, no it is not. Mel pointed out that the script is by David Mamet, so it's "just a lot of people yelling at each other." Also, there is very little romance and no comedy in this movie. (Unless the Jim Belushi character is supposed to be comic relief - that's right, this movie has Jim Belushi in it as an hollering jerk who calls all the women broads.) Demi Moore and Rob Lowe play a couple of cardboard cutouts who meet, roll around naked, and then proceed to have the most joyless and dramatic short relationship ever. Each one only has one friend - Jim Belushi is Rob's bro and Elizabeth Perkin's is Demi's BFF - both friends are complete asshats. Rob and Demi move in together immediately, despite knowing nothing about each other. She redecorates the place, they get naked a bunch, and then it goes down hill. They fight constantly, cry, whine. They break up after dating six months, and at that point no one really cares. But we are supposed to believe that they are really in love and meant for each other. Oh yeah - and Demi Moore is a big liar. I recently read an interview with her talking about how she has not gotten boat loads of work done. Why bother, when there is filmed evidence of your old nose/boobs/jaw/everything?
This was by far the worst movie we watched all night. I feel like it is the kind of movie that crazy sex-and-fun-hating christians might show to kids to prove that sex before marriage will only ruin your relationships and any chance of happiness. Also, Demi's wardrobe is terrible.
Now and Then
I guess this is more of a gimmick than a movie - hey, what would it be like to pair some famous actresses with child actresses who kind of might sorta look like them as children? The main plot follows the 12-year-old versions of the characters, with the adults merely bookending the story. Demi Moore executive produced this project (in addition to starring and doing the voice-over narration) and it's funny to think that this is her choice for a vanity project.
The only thing separating this movie from a Lifetime movie (aside from the names on the marquee) is the wall to wall 1970's hit parade soundtrack. It's good to know they spent their money somewhere. Christian Ricci and Rosie O'Donnell (???) play motherless tomboy Roberta, who hates her boobs and becomes an OB/Gyn. Rita Wilson and some unfamous girl play annoying chubby Chrissy, who grows up to be an annoying pregnant lady. Gabby Hoffman and Demi Moore are Samantha, a future sci-fi writer who struggles with her parent's divorce and dresses really butch. And Thora Birch and Melanie Griffith play Teeny, a drama queen who grows up to be a Hollywood star.
All four women return to the town of their youth to be there for Chrissy to have her baby. Chrissy is, for some reason, the first of the four women to have a child, even though they are all in their late thirties. One would think that a movie so full of stock characters would recognize that a career homemaker like Chrissy surely would have popped out a kid right out of high school. No worries. They gather and reminisce about all the crazy shit that went down the summer they were twelve. Remember that sexy Vietnam vet? Hells yeah! And he looks like Brendan Fraser, too! Remember that crazy creepy guy that only comes out at night? How about that moody Wiccan waitress? Getting boobs? Solving a murder mystery? Neighbor boys to hate/flirt with? Shit's all here. Except that no one got their period. I guess they can't cram EVERY coming of age cliche into one movie.
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