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Something’s Gotta Give starring Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson & Keanu Reeves: How A Romantic Comedy Ought to Be

Posted on August 7, 2014 Written by ripitup

Something's Gotta Give movie poster — Image via movieposter.com.

I’m a huge fan of writer/director Nancy Meyers. It started with What Women Want (starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt), a blast of a romantic comedy with fantasy elements. It’s one of my favorite romantic comedies of all time, though if I had to talk percentages that movie is 80% hilarity and 20% romance. Something’s Gotta Give is a bit more romantic, though the balance is probably more 60% comedy and 40% romance.

It’s safe to call Meyers a superstar when it comes to romcom writer/directors. She writes great stories, directs while remaining honest to her characters and casts A-listers. She usually rocks the box office too. Other star-clad and hilarious Nancy Meyers romcoms include It’s Complicated (with Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin) and The Holiday (with Jude Law, Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet and Jack Black.) Both are recommended, though of these two, I prefer The Holiday. Something’s Gotta Give Premise: Erica Barry (Diane Keaton) is a beautiful, accomplished and divorced playwright with a house in the Hamptons. Harry Sanborn (Jack Nicholson) is a 60-something infamous rich bachelor with a reputation for not dating women over 30. Normally, these two would never meet.

But when Erica’s daughter Marin (Amanda Peet) brings Harry to her mother’s house for a weekend getaway, Erica also happens to be there with her sister Zoe (Frances McDormand), and hilarity ensues: Erica pretty much approves of nothing about him, and Zoe sees this as a fascinating opportunity to study the relationships of men and women, and why men tend to go for much younger women. Harry can’t wait to get out of there, but when he has a heart attack right before they can have sex, he is rushed to the nearest hospital where his doctor turns out to be the gorgeous, younger Julian (Keanu Reeves). All three women are pretty smitten by how nice and pretty he is, but he is taken by Erica, whose plays he is a fan of.

Harry is in a rush to go back to the city, but with his health at risk, Julian only allows him to stay at a nearby place for a couple of weeks, which to Erica’s horror, means her house. With everyone back to the city for work, she’s left alone with Harry, and quickly discovers he is a lot more fun, charming and intelligent than she gave him credit for. And to Harry’s dismay, she’s the most interesting and fun woman he has ever met. With a growing friendship and attraction, they will have to deal with their feelings for each other, as well as where Marin, Julian, and their outlooks on romance stand on all of this. After all, Harry doesn’t know how to be a boyfriend, and Julian is the ultimate catch. What does a woman have to do, especially with a play to write?

* Something’s Gotta Give is original, hilarious, honest and a little quirky. And if you pay attention, it’s also a fun, modern love story for any age. The movie makes astute observations on how we can’t help when, who or how we fall for, as well as what it means to be single (and dating) in the modern age of divorce and Internet. Of course if you want to get all cynical, you can call this movie superficial in many ways. Sure, there are health problems, but who doesn’t? Everybody is either rich, or making a decent living in NYC. Marin takes antidepressants because she’s an emotional “child” of divorce but her parents broke up when she was 23.

So apart from a couple of romantic and age-related health problems, everything is peachy. So if you do want a depressed outlook on life, go watch 21 Grams. It’s a very powerful, depressing and solid movie where no one is happy. And they deal with a lot of heavy stuff. If you want a more realistic romance where people aren’t rich, or all that healthy, watch Forget Me Not, which happens to be one of my favorite romances, by the way. It’s just not that light or optimistic. But if you are ready to dive into the typical (but extremely well-written) world of romantic comedy with a more dose of reality than most (Nicholson gets to lie on the gurney a lot, and being a lovely, smart person (Julian’s character) with brilliant looks doesn’t guarantee your happy ending) where the road to the happily-ever-after is just rocky (and funny) enough, don’t miss Something’s Gotta Give.

Fun Info About Cast and Movie:

– Diane Keaton was nominated for an Oscar for her role. She and Nicholson were nominated for Best Actress and Actor (in musical or comedy) at the Golden Globes; Diane won.

– The budget was 80 million, but the movie made$124,728,738 domestically, and a total of $266,728,738 (boxofficemojo.com.)

– You can download the screenplay at sellingyourscreenplay.com

Your Sister’s Sister starring Emily Blunt, Mark Duplass and Rosemarie DeWitt: Funny, Heartfelt and Adorable

Posted on January 31, 2014 Written by ripitup

Your Sister’s Sister is a lovely low-budget drama/comedy written and directed by Lynn Shelton. This 2011 film stars Mark Duplass, Emily Blunt and Rosemarie Dewitt, and is funnier and more original than the trailer suggests. Oh, and it’s very emotional, naturally-acted and should not be dismissed as a chick flick (not that there aren’t some great chick flicks that I love, and I refuse to use it as a derogatory term, since I am a chick and I love certain romantic flicks).

Let’s move on the plot:

Jack (Mark Duplass) is still depressed a year after the death of his brother so his best friend Iris (Emily Blunt), who also happens to be the ex of the dead brother, tells him to go to her family’s remote cabin to sort himself out. The plan gets sidetracked when he finds Iris’ half sister Hannah (Rosemarie Dewitt) there, trying to get over the break-up with her girlfriend.

They get along fabulously, drink a lot, and end up in bed together. The next day Iris shows up, and a panicked Jack tries to convince Hannah to keep it a secret. Hannah can’t understand why they need to, especially since Jack claims to have no feelings for Iris. But when Iris confides in Hannah that she might be in love with Jack, she agrees.

But of course the secret will eventually come out, cause more secrets to be spilled and things will get very emotional.

As I said, the movie is extremely sweet, honest, entertaining and emotional. At times it’s funny too, but I’d say it’s more emotional drama than romantic comedy.

Give it a shot. It also has some hilarious, but very logical tips when it comes to how to handle your family and romantic relationships.

Awkward TV Series: Modern, Hilarious, Entertaining

Posted on June 8, 2013 Written by ripitup

Awkward's trio: Brett Davern, Ashley Rickards and Beau Mirchoff. — Awkward’s trio: Brett Davern, Ashley Rickards and Beau Mirchoff.

I don’t watch MTV. I am, however, on the constant lookout for a fun comedy, and I’ve caught this little gem thanks to IMDB’s suggestions (which sometimes work well.)

Oh, I used to watch MTV growing up, when it wasn’t all about reality shows and pop or rap music.

Jenna (Ashley Rickards) isn’t in the in-crowd. She’s just a normal (the meaning of which is open to interpretation) teenager living with her young parents who had her when they were in high school.

She has two best friends, Tamara (Jillian Rose Reed) and Ming (Jessica Lu), and a blog where she can share all of her angst and other feelings, along with her huge crush on the popular cutie Matt (Beau Mirchoff , Danny Bolen of Desperate Housewives, season 6).

So when Matt has sex her in the closet at the end of camp (and takes her virginity), she is over the moon.

But it seems like Mattie only hooks up with her in private, and this starts bothering her. Add the recent attention of Jake (Brett Davern), Matt’s best friend –who doesn’t know Matt is with her – and things get a bit more complicated.

Don’t worry. Awkward is hilarious. It has its cliches, but it has mixed those up with great humor. For instance popular bitch/cheerleaders’ captain, Sadie (Molly Tarlov) is an “overweight” girl who has “bought” her popularity.

The stupid blonde cheerleader, Lissa (Greer Grammer) is obsessed with religion and tries to be celibate while dating Jake.

While Matt is friends with Sadie, he sees her as the bitch as she is and he is into Jenna, and not the cheerleader squad.

Our lead girl loses her virginity at camp, under very unromantic circumstances – but Matt keeps hooking up with her. He likes her, but he doesn’t know how to go about dating an “outcast”, so he screws up things big time.

Jake is a total sweetheart. He’s nice, fun, romantic and a virgin. Not exactly the popular jock we’re used to seeing.

You’ve got to love Jenna’s parents, only 17 years older than her. Her dad (Mike Faiola) is pretty cool and mature enough, though her mother Lacey (Nikki Deloach) is obsessed with popularity and her daughter’s wardrobe.

There’re the typical gatherings, but also some decent plot “twists”, like the author of the letter (-a mysterious anonymous letter listing all Jenna’s faults and tips on how to improve them.)

There have been a lot of shows set in high schools, but none really went out of their way to use uncensored language this much. Sure, it gets beeped a bit – but the stuff they talk about and how they talk about tend to sound more natural than other “teen” shows out there.

The great thing about Awkward is that it is unpretentious, honest, light and pretty funny with lots of laugh-out-loud moments. And it’d be a shame to dismiss it as a teen/MTV show.

And you’ve got to love the way Jenna blogs…

Awkward is currently in its 3rd season, and rated at 7.6 on IMDB (voted by over 17,800 users).

Other Comedies I Recommend:

3^rdRock from the Sun (first season)

Magic Mike starring Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Matthew McConaughey & Cody Horn

Posted on November 4, 2012 Written by ripitup

Magic-Mike-Movie-Poster — Image via seat42f.com.

Loosely based on Channing Tatum’s year as a stripper, Magic Mike tells the story of a star stripper (Channing Tatum), trying to build a different future for himself while not being quite able to stay away from the fun his profession comes with: lots of cash, easy pretty women and great parties. But he doesn’t question his choices more than he has to until he meets Brooke (Cody Horn), the older sister of Adam (Alex Pettyfer), their newest stripper. She isn’t happy with her carefree brother’s job, but he seems to be having a blast, and Mike promises to take care of him.

Of course in between trying to teach Adam the ropes, dealing with his own life crisis, keeping his promise to Brooke and his attraction towards her…he just might be in over his head.

Magic Mike is a Steven Soderbergh movie. And even though it might not seem so from the subject matter or the trailer, it is typically him-from the camera angles to the pace, from the characters that start to grow on you to the scenes you find yourself laughing along with, despite yourself.

Granted, it is lighter than Erin Brockovich or Sex, Lies and Videotape- but to me, it carries more substance than the Ocean’s series. For some reason, despite the allure of the cast, and having been somewhat entertained, I was just not that into them. And while Magic Mike has way too many stripping scenes, it comes with the territory-and it is efficiently used for laughs.

I have to confess that I’m a straight girl who finds Channing Tatum really attractive, and looking at Matt Bomer or Matthew McConaughey didn’t hurt. But pushing dollars into men’s g-strings while they give you lap dances or fake-hump you… It’s not my scene, and I’d rather women went into clubs and hook up with strangers rather than watching strippers and sleeping with them later. Yep, I am not a fan of men going to strip clubs either.

Though I have to say, Magic Mike’s stripping scenes carry theatrics, decoration and a good set of laughs-so I have a feeling straight men with open minds will have a better time with watching them than women would have watching movies’ women stripping scenes where it is just about….getting naked.

But it is definitely easy to relate to Brooke’s attitude towards Mike- her not flirting with him or not being ready to offer more than a cautious friendship. As charming and likeable he is, his profession? Not a turn on. Not for your normal girl that preferred her boyfriend got naked just for her, that is.

All in all, Magic Mike is a fun dramedy, and if anything, you should be impressed by this Soderbergh effort shot with 7 million dollars and made about $100 million more than that. You might complain that there is too much stripping, or there are scenes that contrast the happy-go-lucky/the ultimate male fantasy nature (women/cash/parties-all the time), but that is exactly the point.

And hey, McConaughey couldn’t have been further away from his romantic comedy roles, and Tatum is endearingly natural. Pettyfer proves that he really can act. Matt Bomer? Sorry, but he just serves as a pretty ornament. But he couldn’t have been bored shooting this movie…

Other Channing Tatum Movies

The Vow starring Channing Tatum, Rachel McAdams and Jessica Lange

21 Jump Street starring Channing Tatum & Jonah Hill: A Silly Yet Funny Ride

Also on Matthew McConaughey

The Lincoln Lawyer starring Matthew McConaughey, Marisa Tomei & Ryan Phillippe

Matthew McConaughey : Wanna see him act? I have the movie for you…

Sex and The City TV Series – guest appearances feat. Matthew McConaughey