weekend reviews

Saturday, I watched American Dreamz, the Hugh Grant-Mandy Moore movie about reality television and terrorism. Yeah, it's as bad as it sounds. Not that I was expecting cinematic greatness, or anything, but I thought it had potential to be cute and funny. The storyline involving Omer, the undercover terrorist, was okay, but otherwise...awful. I expected more from a cast that included Willem Dafoe, Marcia Gay Harden, and that woman from Legally Blonde and Best in Show. Interesting side note, though: Shohreh Aghdashloo is in it. A week ago that name would've meant nothing to me, but I recently read that she's going to be in an upcoming episode of Grey's.



I also watched Psych. This was probably my least favorite episode yet. Although, I am bummed there won't be any new episodes until July. Psych is good mid-level TV: TV that's not too soapy (Grey's), or scary (Criminal Minds), and you don't have to watch every week (although I do), and yet isn't totally vacuous like reality TV.

I also finished reading Little Children by Tom Perrotta. The movie, starring Kate Winslet, was nominated for three Academy Awards (I didn't see it.). The book wasn't that great. I mean, it wasn't bad. If it had been, I would've stopped reading it. I'm not one of the many people I know who feel compelled to finish reading a book once they start it. The book kept me reading in the first half because I thought it had potential for a big payoff in the second half, but then it mostly disappointed. The storyline involving Ronald James McGorvey, convicted sex offender, took some interesting and disturbing twists, but otherwise nothing unexpected happened.

Little Children was depressing to me. It's important to note the difference between depressing, as in the case of Little Children, and sad, as in the case of The Time Traveler's Wife. For one thing, it's very easy for a book, movie, or show to make me feel sad. I'm a cryer. Also, I like to feel sad sometimes, especially about books, etc. It's very cathartic. On the other hand, I hate feeling depressed. In Little Children, there is not a single happily married couple. It focuses on 3 very unhappily married couples, but manages to highlight at least four other unhappy marriages throughout the course of the novel. I'm not just being a wide-eyed idealist here. I'm not looking for perfection; In fact, I find that in fictional characters imperfection is usually preferred. But, Perrotta seems to be making some greater commentary about marriage as the end of happiness, and I'm just not willing to accept that.

At first, I was going to give Tom Perrotta credit for making me feel something, even if it was just depressed. Generally, I think having an emotional response to a book is a sure sign of good writing, even if you don't like the book. Take, for example, Catcher in the Rye (That's right, I just said I don't like Catcher in the Rye. In fact, I hate it. What are you going to do about it?). If I ran into that punk-ass imaginary brat Holden Caulfield on the street, I'd trip him. But seriously, I've got to give it to J.D. Salinger for creating a character that irritates me so thoroughly. But, back to Tom Perrotta. By the end of the book, I realized it wasn't really anything in the book that made me feel depressed. In fact, I've got about zero sympathy for any of the characters. I simply find the idea that there is no such thing as a happy marriage depressing. The book itself was mostly just...m'eh.

There was one thing I really appreciated about the story at the end. SPOILERS AHEAD!! I like that Sarah and Todd don't end up running away together. I was rooting for them a little, I admit. But, in general, I'm not a huge fan of books or movies romanticizing adultery. As much as I get sucked into those fictional relationships, I'm always aware of just how distasteful I find them to be in real life. If Sarah were my friend, I'd definitely want her to leave Richard and to be happy. But, I'd want her to do it before she slept with someone else. And, I can't help but imagining myself on the other side: as Todd's wife Kathy. Working all day, supporting my husband while he has a summer fling with someone else. Anyway, I was glad it didn't work out. It seemed more true-to-life to me. (I know, I know, I was just griping about how Perrotta didn't give me a single "happily-ever-after" couple. And it's true, I probably would've liked it a little if Todd and Sarah had been that couple. But, I liked the way he resolved it.)

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