I Love You, Awkward Silences

Laughing out loud is not something I do with tremendous regularity.

Not that I'm not a happy person or anything, it's just that it takes something genuinely, unexpectedly, refreshingly funny to get me to break my otherwise Victorian stoicism and let loose with an audible chuckle or two. If it's predictable, or run-of-the-mill, or in the category of "I'm pretty sure they hired a chimp to write that," then I probably won't find it humorous in the least. But keep trying, Comedy Central...I'm sure you'll find a new idea for a show that's worth watching some day. Thank goodness for Stephen Colbert and Futurama reruns in the meantime.

But after smirking my way through a series of underwhelming comedies in recent memory, I was refreshed and delighted by I Love You, Beth Cooper. For a movie that centers around a high school graduation, this movie surprised me. Usually, you expect to see a lot of toilet humor (translation: easier than clever humor, and therefore not nearly as funny) and just as much sexuality of a gratuitous nature throughout the film.

Not so with this movie. Well, not entirely -- there is a subplot about the best friend and his assumed homosexuality, and there is a shower scene -- but in comparison to most teen comedies, these are handled relatively well on the shadiness meter and really don't distract from the overall feel of the movie.

And the overall feel is the key -- somehow, director Chris Columbus (I love that his company is 1492 Pictures -- he pretty much had that one mapped out for him at birth) finds a way to give the characters a depth that is usually lacking in these kinds of movies. Amidst the hilarity and the absurdity of what's happening to these people, there exists a reality that isn't just mushy or contrived. You find yourself laughing with the characters, not at them.

At least I did. Movies like this are always personally fun for me because...well, without going into too many details, I wasn't the most popular in high school. I'm sure there are many of us out there in the world, living normal adult lives now, but looking back at our prep days and just shaking our heads.

What's great about this movie isn't that the dorky kid gets the hot cheerleader (please, like you didn't know what was going to happen), or that the hot cheerleader finds some deeper truth to life besides being popular (again...nothing spoiled there).

The great thing is that you know what it's like to be there -- to be hopelessly awkward when the girl of your dreams finally talks to you, or to be swept up in the craziness of the moment and end up driving your ex-boyfriend's Hummer into the living room of the skank he was cheating on you with, or to be forced to pretend like you're calm and collected while you're so freaked out that you're wondering if it's possible to throw up your spleen.

I Love You, Beth Cooper is full of those awkward pauses, those moments between the moments, those silent hiccups in the flow of normalcy that can take your breath away. And it sticks with you on your way out of the theater because it's so unswervingly authentic. In a word, I think I might call this movie precious -- partly in a sarcastic way that refers to the inherent cuteness of these little high school kids having all this drama and craziness, but also partly in a way that means that it's something personal, something unique that each of us experiences by way of recalling our own youthful exploits.

And just to clarify, I'm not saying that this movie is going to rewrite Shakespeare, or that it's going to win major awards. But for what it is, it's really well done and genuinely funny to boot.

Some personal notes that you may or may not find helpful:

-- The main character (Dennis) totally reminded me of my brother Nate. He looks a little (just a little) like him, and I think the striped rugby shirt added to the overall picture, but even his mannerisms were enough like my bro that it was that much funnier for me.

-- Hayden Panettiere does a great job, and not just because she's absolutely adorable. She plays Beth Cooper in a way that is alternately confident and self-conscious, which totally rings true of what I see in high school kids, especially the popular ones. Given that she's only a few years removed from high school herself probably helped. But her performance just draws you to the character and adds more and more layers of authenticity to the film. Great work.

-- The blond friend of Beth's, Treece I guess her name is (had to IMDB that one), totally reminded me of this girl I just met recently. My friend Kaitlynn totally agreed. We're not exactly sure we should tell this girl though. I'll let you know how that turns out.

-- Another great performance by Dennis Cooverman's father, played by Alan Ruck (aka Cameron from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, among many other films) as well. He added another layer of humor and novelty that most actors in that role would not have acheived. And he's just a fun actor to see anyway. We were a little disappointed that he didn't have a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California in his garage.

-- I will go see this movie again. If you want to come with me, let me know. It will be fun.

So, long story short, go see I Love You, Beth Cooper. It's funny, it's clever, it's deep but not too deep, and if your heart isn't at least a little warmed by the end, then you just shouldn't watch movies at all.

Run, Megan, Run!

Even when you're only 12 feet away from a gigantic screen, Megan Fox is still really, really cute.

I was reminded last night that I very much dislike seeing a movie on opening night, especially when that movie is the most highly-anticipated nerd movie of the summer...or in the top three at least.

I figured that showing up 30 minutes early for the midnight showing would be plenty of time to at least have a reasonable seat. Apparently nerds have an affinity for waiting in ridiculous lines and saving seats for more than two hours, because getting there half an hour early still left me and my friend Lindsay relegated to the very front row of the sweaty, acne-riddled theater.

Even from such an inconvenient viewing angle, the movie was exactly what it was supposed to be: entertaining. I knew from the first one that the plot wasn't going to be anything special, and that the acting would be reasonable. And in these expectations I was not disappointed. But the special effects, the action sequences, and the amount of running that Sam and Mikaela had to do made for an exciting 150 minutes that I will no doubt revisit in the near future.

I hear that some viewers were down on the movie for having a weird plot, bad acting and...well, just too much stuff going on. But that's what happens with every sequel, especially if the first movie was really good. The Matrix trilogy is the best example; the first movie was so mind-bottling (it was so great, it was like my mind was trapped, like in a bottle) and excellent that they had nowhere to go but down. And down they went, with successive movies that overloaded us with weird terminology, way-too-out-there characters and a plot that seemed to be pulling crap out of thin air whenever it needed to explain something.

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen did a little bit of this. Without ruining anything, there's a few instances where the writers seemed to be making stuff up as they went. It all kind of made sense, but it's almost as if the studio allotted the writers about 10% of the pre- and post-filming schedule and gave the other 90% to the post-production CGI team.

But even so, it's not like there were plot holes or things that were left unexplained. Well, not anything that normal people would notice, although I'm sure the nerd crowd will find a whole bunch of minuscule details to whine about on the internet. Which will clearly and finally solve the problem in the best possible way, as it always does.

My point is, this is a fun movie, and when treated as such, it's a very entertaining way to spend an evening. There are even a few truly genuine moments, including the psychologically intriguing relationship between Optimus Prime and Sam, which has the elements of a father and son, brothers in arms, and the dynamic of coming from different worlds but still finding a connection. Sam and Mikaela are also an interesting take on modern dating relationships; she's working in a garage while he goes off to college, they set up a webcam date...and they're still dealing with going back to "normal" life after getting sucked into an intergalactic war between giant transforming robots. And then they get sucked back into that same war between those same giant transforming robots, and have to deal with a relationship in the midst of all of it.

Quick side note, best line of the movie:

Sam: "You said it first."

Go see it to find out what that's all about. It's totally worth it.

I guess that's what I'm getting at; this movie isn't going to take the place of Gone With The Wind or anything like that, but all the nerds in the theater last night gave it an enthusiastic round of applause as the credits rolled, and I left feeling like I would like to have a giant transforming robot with two glowing red swords for a friend. Either that or Megan Fox in those boots running around with me. Yowza.

And after all, isn't that what we all really want, deep down inside?