Flashback Friday: Look Who’s Talking Now

On the surface, Christmas (or any holiday) is about family, food, and being with your loved ones. But, as we all know, this simple message is not always clear.

The final film in the Look Who’s Talking trilogy is Look Who’s Talking Now (1993). Taking place several years after Look Who’s Talking (1989) and Look Who’s Talking Too (1990), the family has grown. But so has their troubles. Mollie (Kirstie Alley) has lost her job due to the recession. James (John Travolta) has achieved his professional dream of becoming a pilot. Their children, Mikey (David Gallagher) and Julie (Tabitha Lupien) are now school aged.

The narrative kicks off with the arrival of James’s new boss, Samantha (Lysette Anthony). Samantha has eyes for James that go beyond the professional realm. Meanwhile, the family reluctantly adopts Rocks (voiced by Danny DeVito) and is forced to temporarily take care of Samantha’s dog Daphne (voiced by Diane Keaton). With Christmas coming, will they be together or will circumstances pull them apart?

I personally think that this movie is adorable. Though it fits neatly in the Christmas movie genre, it is neither too cutesy, schmaltzy, or over the top. There is just enough comedy and the message of being together for this time of year that makes it a pretty good watch in my book.

Do I recommend it? Yes.

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Throwback Thursday-Because I Said So (2007)

There is no more contentious or loving relationship than there is between a mother and a daughter. The mother wishes to impart the wisdom she has learned over a lifetime while her daughter is eager to go her own way, regardless of what her mother thinks.

In the 2007 movie, Because I Said So, Daphne Wilder (Diane Keaton) has three daughters. Maggie (Lauren Graham) and Mae (Piper Perabo) are both married. That leaves Milly (Mandy Moore) as the last daughter without a ring on her finger. Overanxious and maybe a little helicopter parent-ish, Daphne turns to the internet to find Milly a boyfriend. Enter Johnny (Gabriel Macht) and Jason (Tom Everett Scott). Will Milly’s love live ever satisfy her mother and will Daphne’s daughter have a chance of convincing their mother to back down, if only for a little bit?

I like this movie. I like this movie because while there are the usual romantic elements that make up a romantic comedy, the focus is the complicated and sometimes difficult relationships between Daphne and her daughters. I can say with a fair amount of certainty that I saw a little bit of my mother in Daphne, which was a little too close for comfort at points.

I recommend it.

Throwback Thursday- Bette Midler Double Feature-The First Wives Club (1996) & Then She Found Me (2007)

Actors try to stay away from being type cast in certain types of characters. Bette Midler has played many female character that are brash, bossy and outspoken. That is perfectly fine with me.

In The First Wives Club (1996), she was part of a trio of middle aged women that included Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton. They were best friends in college, but life, as it does, took them in different directions. Then a friend commits suicide when her husband left her for a younger woman. Brought together by the fact that all three of their husbands have dumped them for younger wives, they want one thing: revenge.

I am also including the video for the classic Lesley Gore song “You Don’t Own Me” because it is just so cool and is a perfect addition to this movie.

The story of the younger woman and the older man has been told time and again throughout history. But we rarely hear of the older woman who was with the man during their youth and has recently been shoved aside for a younger and prettier model. It is even rarer for that woman to become powerful in her own right and stand on her own two feet.

In Then She Found Me (2007) April Epner (Helen Hunt) is not having an easy life. Her husband (Matthew Broderick) has just left her as soon as she finds out that they are expecting. Her adopted mother Trudy (Lynn Cohen), is disappointed that April has not achieved more in life. Add in a flirtation with Frank (Colin Firth), who is the father of one of April’s students and Bernice (Bette Midler), the birth mother that suddenly returns to her life.

What I like about this movie that it feels real. The reality is that sometimes the floor falls down on us and everything comes down with the floor.  April’s journey is inspiring and a case of art imitating life.

I recommend both.

 

Throwback Thursday- Finally, A Good Rom Com- The Holiday (2006) & Something’s Got To Give (2003)

The romantic comedy genre (shortened to rom com) is a pretty basic genre. Two people meet and something sparks between them. But there are boundaries, acted out in a light and funny way, to what may be their happy ending. While there are many rom coms that are formulaic and predictable from the get go, thankfully there are a few movies within the genre that are not.

In The Holiday (2006), Amanda (Cameron Diaz), who lives in Los Angeles and Iris (Kate Winslet), who lives near London, are having relationship issues. Needing a break from their lives, they meet on a house swapping website and agree to live in each others homes during the holiday.  In England, Amanda meets Iris’s brother, Graham (Jude Law). In Los Angeles, Iris meets Amanda’s 90 year old neighbor, Arthur (the late Eli Wallach) who helps her to regain her confidence while she starts to fall for Miles (Jack Black), one of Amanda’s colleagues.

While I normally don’t care for Jude Law or Jack Black, both are charming in this movie. Jude Law, playing a Cary Grant-esque Graham and Jack Black, without resorting to his usual man boy clownish acting are genuine in their parts.

What I like about this movie is that it is simple and sweet without being too predictable. We can all agree that every genre has it’s standard plot markers. But this movie reaches those plot markers without the audience feeling like they saw it comes a mile away.

In Somethings Got To Give (2003), Erica Barry (Diane Keaton) is a successful playwright. Her thirty something daughter Marin (Amanda Peet) brings her much older boyfriend Harry Sandhorn (Jack Nicholson) to her mother’s Long Island home for the romantic weekend. Marin does not know that her mother and aunt Zoe (Frances McDormand) are there. After suffering a heart attack, Harry is rushed to the hospital where he is treated by Dr. Julian Mercer (Keanu Reeves) who develops a crush on Erica.

At the time of the movie’s release, there was a bit of a kerfuffle in regards to the brief frontal nudity of Diane Keaton. But it was so brief that the audience had to blink or they would miss it. That aside, what I like about this movie is that Keaton and Nicholson, for once, are age appropriate for on screen romantic couple. Adding Reeves and Peet to this very odd love square was a wise touch by the screenwriter.

I recommend both.