Hi Kristin,
You asked me to watch The Baxter, so that you could shamelessly adopt my opinion of it as your own. Okay.
Here is what you thought of The Baxter. You liked a lot of things about it, especially the classic zany comedic performances of both leading actresses. And don't get me started on how much you loved the little 1940's dresses Michelle Williams kept wearing. You sort of hated Michael Showalter, but then you've always sort of hated him, ever since The State. Remember when you used to watch The State on MTV when you were in high school, after all those years with no TV? Michael Ian Black is so cute and funny. He reminds you of Maisie when she's like "Let's be serious." You should be following him on twitter, if you're not already. He's so hilarious. Also, Rob Cordry.
Even though the writing was weirdly uneven (the scene with Peter Dinklage as the wedding planner, for instance, caused you to alternate wildly between rage and mystification), you could appreciate what the film was trying to do. The romantic comedy from the perspective of the guy-not-taken, a sort of Rashomon for the whole romcom genre. But it never really decided whether Showalter was the Perfectly Nice Guy who doesn't get the girl (Ralph Bellamy in, oh let's say, His Girl Friday would be a good classic example) or The Wrong Guy who deserves to lose because he's so mean/stupid/sexist/dorky/etc. In the first scene, voiceover explains that a Baxter is a perfectly nice guy, who never gets the girl. But by the end of the movie it seemed that a Baxter was simply a person who is being rejected at the moment, and this annoyed you slightly.
As always, you thought Paul Rudd was adorable (although of course he'll never top his finest performance).
Now please tell me why I like Joe vs. the Volcano.
Thanks,
Lydia
4 comments:
It's nice to see me posting here again!
I would also add that I can watch Michelle Williams for ages and not care what I'm watching.
Roger Ebert said, in his review of this movie, "She is cuter than a button and almost as cute as two buttons."
You should not, however, follow Michael Showalter on Twitter, because any of his Tweets that are worth reading are reposted and responded to on Michael Ian Black's Twitter. Just, you know, a heads up.
(my comments are incredibly insightful)
Anna - this is such a good point, actually. My theory is like this: Michael Showalter is not funny but for some reason funny things happen around him.
Kristin - we should probably watch all of Dawson's Creek now. I've never seen it. And between Joshua Jackson and Michelle Williams it has the cuteness of many buttons.
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