The Film Junkie

I am actually shocked at how much I didn’t hate this movie.  I mean, sure the ending is totally predictable and you have to suspend your disbelief in many ways.  First you have to accept that two people can communicate through time 2 years apart with the help of a magic mailbox and second you have to assume that Sandra Bullock’s memory really really sucks, in fact it sucks so hard that she can’t remember the name of a man she kissed in a moment of passion or the name of a patient who changed her life.

But all in all there is some serious chemistry between Bullock and Keanu Reeves, maybe I just have a serious ‘Speed’ hangover, but I love these two together.  I don’t like Reeves in too many things, but he is hot as hell here and I really believe his character.  Bullock has some serious hair issues, but she is sweet and romantic in this role.

Sure the film is slow and you see it coming a mile away, but there is something to be said for a quiet little romance.

Grade: B

I have never really understood the appeal of Rita Hayworth.  She is certainly a pretty face and I suppose she represents the first in the redhead sex symbols that would follow with Ann-Margaret and Lindsay Lohan (with an arguable Molly Ringwald thrown in the middle there).

In this film Hayworth plays the Rusty, a chorus line dancer turned cover girl who must find a way to reconcile her love for Danny (Gene Kelly), her boss and boyfriend, with the new opportunities she is being offered due to her new fame.  Hayworth’s acting is flat, her dancing is pretty good and all her singing is dubbed.  She does sparkle, but mainly in scenes where she doesn’t have to say much, and her legs are indeed as impressive as her pin-up status would dictate.

Thank goodness her dull performance is not the only thing in the film or this would be a truly terrible musical.  Gene Kelly dazzles as usual as Danny Maguire.  He is brooding and sexy, though he is playing the same role he always plays.  The best part of the film just might be when Kelly dances with his subconcious self.  Like his classic ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ scene, this is a fresh and fascinating manipulation of the medium that only he could pull off.

This film also boats the great Phil Silvers as Genius, Kelly’s right hand man (just as he was in ‘Summer Stock’ (1950)) and they make a great team.  Silvers is comic gold, constantly cutting through Hayworth’s blah with a quip or a sly look.

And don’t forget Eve Arden.  What a woman!  I don’t think there will ever be a voice in the history of film that I will ever love as much as her smart-ass sly tone.  She plays a magazine editor with panache and though her part is small she is memorable.

This film gets caught up in its own nostalgia and histories, forgetting that we need joy to lead up to the songs, not just the songs themselves.  A great musical needs every emotion and every kind of song, and though the music here is great, there just aren’t the moments to back it up.

Grade: B-

This very short little Harold Lloyd film concerns The Boy (Lloyd), a rebellious young man who has been kicked out of too many pubs in New York and is thus sent to the ‘wild west’ by his father to straighten up.

The Boy inevitably meets The Girl (Mildred Davis) and must help her out of a scrape while silmultaneously involving himself in someone else’s battle.

Lloyd performs some classic bits in this flick.  From disguising himself inside of a coat to a great poker scene where he disguises himself as the barkeep to check out the cards of the competition.

Overall this film is a great introduction to Lloyd’s brand of silent comedy.  Where Keaton was the great stone face and Chaplin was the tramp, Lloyd is the dorky everyman who will always find his way out of a tough spot.

Grade: B+