I've been throwing myself in front of a wide assortment of movies over the last week. The last two I watched were horrifying, albeit in very different ways. First, Sweet Home Alabama. Now this wasn't as bad as Serendipity or The Wedding Planner , but it came very, very close. The build-up of cliche upon cliche upon cliche was almost stroke-inducing. I loathed this movie. The only saving grace was that the cast was really quite enjoyable from Reese W. and Josh Lucas down the list to Jean Smart, Mary Kay Place, and Ethan Embry. Well, aside from the characters that were such stock bores (the gay fashion designer friend, the heart-of-gold Civil War renacting father, the tough, rude politician from New York) that not even bringing Cary Grant or Ingrid Bergman back to life could have saved the part. And sadly there were too many characters like that. Still some of the actors made valiant attempts with what they had to work with. I just wish they'd been in a better movie.
The much more interesting movie was Grey Gardens, the famed 1970's documentary about Big Edie and Little Edie Beale - faded socialities living with racoons in their dilapidated mansion in the Hamptons. If you like tales of the wealthy gone to seed - this is must viewing. And generally it is a rather interesting exposition of their personal stories, while at the same time touching upon the difficulties of mother-daughter relationships and the limited choices women like this had during the first half of the 20th century. And of course the fact that Little Edie borders on being unhinged has added to this film's standing as a camp/cult classic.
Posted by armand at August 22, 2004 04:52 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Movies