I get cravings for movies like I get cravings for food. I know that whole grains and steamed vegetables are good for me, but sometimes I just need grilled cheese, you know?
Take Bridget Jones’s Diary, for example. Maybe it's not a classic, but it’s the movie I want to watch on a rainy day off when the house needs cleaning and the dishes are still piled in the sink. Colin Firth, so grumpy and aloof, and Hugh Grant, so foppishly, annoyingly charming. It does the trick, reminding me that love, declared on a street, sealed with a movie kiss, is what we all want, what our romantic dreams are made of.
Or Strictly Ballroom (I do think this is a great movie). That’s the movie for when I need inspiration, when I’m not sure about what I’m doing, if I’m still headed the right direction. It's the classic Cinderella story, ugly duckling turns to beautiful swan, capturing the prince’s heart along the way. When she calls him a gutless wonder and cusses him three ways to Sunday, all our hearts rise to meet her. We want to be her. We are her.
Practical Magic is my go-to movie for feeling connected. It’s a sister movie. Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman—there aren’t two better examples of heroines we want to watch side by side, are there? Sandra, so girl-next-door; Nicole, so glamorous-siren. Even if Aiden Quinn weren’t the hero, we’d watch, but since he is, we swoon.
And Breakfast at Tiffany’s is always right, for every occasion. I can’t think of a moment that it isn’t appropriate to watch Holly Golightly whistle, shrug expressively, and say, "It's easy."
I can enjoy a highbrow indie movie, just like I can enjoy expensive cheese. I’ll get into a soul-crushing documentary with the best of them. But when I’m tired, sleepy, or just plain worn out by the everyday grind, give me a romantic comedy that melts my heart while the American cheese melts into my buttered sourdough.
5 comments:
One of my oldest friends watches "The American President" the same way. It's definitely her go-to film.
Perhaps I'm strange** in that I don't have one of those. I mean, there are films of varying quality that I love and will watch if they're on, but I almost never pull out a DVD and watch a movie.
** OK, I am definitely strange, but for many other reasons, too. Good thing I'm so cute!
I couldn't agree with you more about needing some "brain candy" movies. I have had a good-for-me classic DVD from Netflix sitting next to my TV for weeks now, but what I really want to watch is the "fluff" lined up behind it in my queue.
Bridget is my go-to movie when I'm longing for a flat in the city instead of my house in the suburbs. It reminds me of living in Chicago and having a lot of fun. :) My fav scene--"it's raining men" fight scene
ohhhh, bridget jones....colin firth in the snow, a total guilty pleasure!
LOVE Practical Magic! I could live in that house, and work in that store. And Sandra is so cute in the movie in her shorts and cowboy boots.
My all-time always watch, for some reason, is "Rock Star". Maybe because I can relate so well to the scenes where the exiting lead singer is told off by the band... "save it for your solo album". HA!
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