When the MO is away, the Magpie will play. Usually this means watching a movie. (The MO hates movies. Consequently I am soooo far behind the cinematic times that it is usually very easy to find something to watch on the cable pay-per-view.) Last night I chose Bridget Jones. I vaguely remembered reading the book and thinking it was at least passably entertaining, and I like Colin Firth and Hugh Grant is dreamy, so it seemed like a safe choice. Oh. Well.
This is a spectacularly bad movie. Renee Zellweger's character is absolutely insufferable. I was ready to reach into the screen and throttle her. Apparently her entire acting directions were:
"Every five seconds assume a new facial expression chosen from this list:
Oh, and walk like a duck, stick out your fanny and your tummy at the same time, and never display a particle of grace when wearing heels."
If those were her directions, she did a great job. The utter vacuousness and doormatness of the character was unbearable. I watched about fifteen minutes of it and gave up when I realized I was clenching the remote and hollering cuss words at the tv.
Back to the iControl menu. Second go-round I found DeLovely. And it was DeLightful (had to do that, doncha know). It felt uncomfortable at first, because it's quite a contrived presentation but I got into it fairly quickly. (You'd have to like musicals, certainly.)
I didn't really know anything about Cole Porter other than his music. Turns out he was rather a grade-a bastard in some ways, but I didn't hate his character the way I hated the Bridget character. (Does that mean I tolerate cruelty more willingly than stupidity? Hmmm.) My only real beef with the movie is that I just don't like it when they try to use makeup to age people. It doesn't work. I think I can handle the "willing suspension of disbelief" myself. Just slap a white wig on the guy and we'll get the idea.
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