Movie Review: Something's Gotta Give

My DSW and I went to see this movie over the weekend with some friends who also said "to heck with it" about Christmas shopping.

We found it enjoyable, perhaps because we were literally escaping the whole Christmas prep thing and the listening to our respective DNA replication experiments do the me-me-me thing, but also perhaps because it's a fairly decent movie.

I've seen Jack Nicholson in better movies and I've seen Diane Keaton in worse, so no great shakes there. I did have a lot of trouble trying not to picture Bill S. Preston, Esquire popping in to leer at Amanda Peet and say something like "Whoa Ted, you're poochin' an egregiously old chick, dude!" as Keanu Reeves' character's antics progressed. That thread was a little bit cheesy.

The old-people as leopards-changing-spots mechanics were tolerable and the conclusion was developed in a way that tweaked the standard formulas. I do wonder what the intent was to have Ms. Keaton's character be the famous playwright - was it some sort of jab at Woody Allen or a tribute? A coincidence?

Last but not least, Nicholson has aged into the point where he's reminding me of my Old Man - the resemblance starts with his overall looks (hair, belly, facial expressions) and his general antics - not of his character in this movie, mind you - just his zaniness (especially as the Alpha "Dancing Henry" which was a complete and total hoot).

Once in the theatre was enough. Would I rent it? Maybe.

Would I buy the DVD? No, but I'm a guy and it's a chickflik and my house is fulla chicks, so it might just get bought without my sayso.

Comments

[Bruce]

I see who where's the pants in the Jostikovitch house. I bet you saw Ya-Ya-Sisterhood too.

[schmed]

No, but while my DSW wouldn't have to twist my arm much to convince me to leer at Ashley Judd, *pants* she 'bout twisted it off making me watch "My Great Big Woolly Mammoth Wedding."

[The Soup Lady]

I mean taht I should have been more observant. I'm absorbent enough.

[The Soup Lady]

Jack Nicholson - eh. Frankly, I don't see what the fuss is all about. However, I went to see that last one with the naked Kathy Bates in it and was pretty unimpressed. A few months later, I was treking through an old cemetary on Houston and came across too many old headstones shaped like logs to ignore. Close investigation revealed that they were all members of Woodmen of the World, and in that naked Kathy Bates movie, Jack was supposed to be a retired Woodman. That made me realize that I had missed a large part of the subtext of that movie and I should be more absorbent in the future.

I am left with an obsession with the Woodmen of the World.

[Suzette]

I must be tired. Chalk up two comments to Suzette and forget about the Soup Lady.

[schmed]

Duly chalked. Step away from the stove and get some sleep.

[TigerGrrL]

I had NO desire to see that movie. Doesn't Nicholson start out with a thing for Keaton's DAUGHTER? That is just gross. I want to throw up everytime I see a really old actor scoring with a chick in her 20's. Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones in that movie, Entrapment, is a perfect example. And there are WAY too many movies like that - the actors can be old as the hills and still score with the 20-somethings, but only Mrs. Robinson has been able to pull a switch on that theme.

[schmed]

I don't guess Summer of '42 qualifies...nah, Dorothy was way young compared to Mrs. R.

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone will just make you madder because it shows the pathetic side of the older woman/younger man (in this case Warren Beatty) scenario. Good movie, but depressing.

[TigerGrrL]

As long as there are no Clint-Eastwood-age actors who take off their shirts (showing us a glimpse of their grey haired chests with sagging man boobs) getting it on with a chick younger than me - I may be willing to give it a try.