a supposedly dumb movie i'd love to see again

Hi. I haven't written in a long time. See, I was trying to come up with a way to make the blog work better. A way to make it more interesting for me and for you. So here it is. I have decided to have theme posts. I don't know how many themes there will be, but probably no more than 5. Gonna keep it simple. All my posts will have to fit into one of the themes. That's gonna be the rule.

You may wind up with some favorite themes and some others you skip. That would make more sense than just having to read about every movie I see. Also, I don't feel like writing about every movie I see.

So, Introducing Theme #1: A supposedly dumb movie I'd love to see again. Yes, of course I'm riffing off the late great David Foster Wallace's book. Apologies, RIP, David.

Recently I saw a couple movies that fit this category perfectly. One was 27 Dresses with the fun-to-watch Katherine Heigl. Oh! This gives me a chance to share with you that I have categories of actors, too, btw. Already in place but nowhere written down. The categories of actors are (roughly in order of highest to lowest): Capable of Anything; Extremely Gifted; Very Talented; Fun to Watch; Those I'd Love to Know; Always Seems the Same; Semi-Talented; and Not Talented. Only a couple of these categories contain an actual judgment call. The others are fun ways to talk about acting.

So, Katherine Heigl is in the fun-to-watch category. One of the categories I don't have to explain. She's fun. I loved seeing her parade through one garish bridesmaid dress after another.

But seriously. What was great about the movie was, it was supposedly just a romantic comedy, but it really touched on something many of us single gals feel deep inside and can't talk about. We can't talk about it because, well, it's so trite and we're supposed to have overcome it. The Wedding Dream. And the fact that we're supposed to have overcome it is part of the problem that the movie touches on. Jane (the main character) believes in love, but not in a silly way. She just does. Period. She still holds on to the Wedding Dream - the idea of marrying someone for love. Real love. And the great thing about Jane is, she doesn't mind talking about it. And the movie doesn't mind. And it's all normal and OK, and - even better! - the movie takes a gentle approach introducing the big problem we all face. The problem slips into Jane's consciousness in a subtle way, slowly coaxing her to give up her dream. That's how it happens to most of us in real life, too. The problem is, relationships are hard and flawed, so having high expectations for love is therefore naive, and when you're a grownup you're supposed to be realistic. Etcetera. These are all the reasons that many single gals can't talk about their unrealistic, naive, but still passionate feelings about marriage. "27 Dresses" is sweet, heartfelt, and honest. All without being too serious. It's a romantic comedy, after all. You get to watch Katherine Heigl singing "Benny and the Jets!"