Feel-Good Films

Okay, since I've been feeling anything but good lately (academic crap is smothering me, check my other blog for more information), I decided to take in a few films that might actually just entertain me and preferably not challenge my poor, overworked brain.

The first of these was The Leap Year with Amy Adams and Matthew Goode. In a nutshell, the plot is about an uptight American girl who decides to fly to Ireland and make use of an Irish tradition that lets women propose to men on the 29th of February; her boyfriend who hasn't had the brain to ask her yet is in Dublin on business. Because of various disasters she needs someone to drive her to Dublin from Dingle and this someone is a rough-around-the-edges Irishman whom she takes an immediate dislike to. An entertaining roadtrip ensues.

The lovely thing about this film was that it did exactly what it said on the tin. It was sweet, well-acted and the sceneray was great. It wasn't unpredictable, original or even believable in any way, but it was still somehow so charming that I'm contemplating getting the DVD when it comes out. When your brain hurts, you need a movie like this. It bore a striking resemblance to another old rom-com favourite of mine, French Kiss with Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline as the duelling couple, and while it wasn't quite as good as FK, it did exactly what it was supposed to do and the leading couple had great chemistry, too. Although, I imagine Irish people are tearing their hair out because of the dated stereotypes in the film...

The second film on my list was The Jane Austen Book Club from 2007. I'd borrowed the DVD from a friend ages ago and only got around to watching it yesterday. I was feeling a bit uneasy about this film since I had tried to read to book and got bogged down in the middle, but I popped it in the player and I wasn't sorry. The film follows six people, five women and one man who is very used to being surrounded by women, one for each of Austen's books. They have different personalities, they are of different ages and they are all in different stages in their lives, but they all see life imitating art in one way or another.

Being a fan of Austen certainly helped, but it wasn't strictly necessary. The cast was good and while Emily Blunt and Kathy Baker are great in virtually everything they do, I was surprised to like even Maria Bello and Amy Brenneman whom I normally don't like much. The ensemble was wonderful. This one had more substance to it than The Leap Year, but it wasn't too heavy. I'm rather thinking I should watch this with my mum on Mother's Day. It's that kind of film.

The third film was Secondhand Lions from 2003. I saw this on TV some years ago and thought it was a lovely family film and not a boring one, for once. I found the DVD in a bargain basket and immediately grabbed it. The story is about a geeky boy named Walter (half-grown Haley Joel Osment) who gets sent to live with his rather eccentric great-uncles (Robert Duvall and Michael Caine). He gets to know the cranky old men and hears wild stories about their youth, some of them so outlandish he doesn't know whether to believe them or not.

The acting is great all around. The trio of men play beautifully together, which is what really makes the whole film, and Kyra Sedgwick has an interesting little part as Walter's flighty mother. For some reason this film struck a chord with me and it always puts me on a good mood.

So, that's what got me feeling better :)