Oh. My. God. This one is going to take me on yet another Arrested Development re-watching spree. Look at Buster’s make-up. Brilliant stuff from what was undoubtedly the greatest comedy on TV in the last decade.
Balboa Bay Window
Just Watched: The Switch
Every romantic comedy churned out by Hollywood is usually based on the same premise. Guy meets girl, they become friends after fighting with each other and hook up with each other at the end. The key lies in making the journey in between enjoyable and it is here that most of these films falter.
This film does a decent job there, though it isn’t what one can call a fantastic piece of film-making. It is the acting by the lead pair and the crackling chemistry between them that makes this film worth a watch. The film’s premise is based on the process of, well, artificial insemination, and it doesn’t really take a rocket scientist to figure out how the film’s title relates to this.
For me, Jason Bateman is the star of the show. His comic timing and ease with dialogue is simply superb. The rather subtle Arrested Development references only add to his brilliance. Jennifer Aniston plays the role of the confused damsel and does a decent job considering how done-to-death the entire concept is. Jeff Goldblum is very effective in his rather small role as Bateman’s confidante, and co-worker. The surprise package, however, is the kid who plays the “son” of the lead pair. He is brilliant, and is quite like a Bateman “Mini-Me” in the film.
At the end of the day, this is just another run-of-the-mill rom-com, but with a small difference- it actually works, and makes for a great fun watch.
Personal Rating: 7.3/10
Twenty Ten
It’s that time of the year when people start making these so-called “resolutions” which seldom seem to stick for most people. Some are even calling it the end of the decade, which, technically speaking is quite incorrect. It’s not like we celebrated the end of the millennium when 2000 was getting over, did we? But then again, there’s no harm looking at 2011 as the beginning of a new decade. Giving things a fresh start always work, so yeah, go ahead; call it the end of the decade. Personally, I’d like to do the same thing, considering 2001 was where all the trouble started, and I won’t say that 2011 was a particularly fantastic year, both for me, and some of my closest friends.
I’m not going to deconstruct the makeshift “decade” in detail, because it is a rather stupid thing to do. While most of the decade was a drag, 2007 stands out as a year of pure, guilt-free fun; a year where everything was calm and no one was looking at the way you dealt with things, at least not everyone. I can do anything to get that back, anything. I almost succeeded over the last course of the last month till something rather dramatic happened, and that was followed by a rather tragic anti-climax a couple of weeks back. There’s always a horrible way for things to get worked out. You can’t blame me for feeling like Michael Bluth most of the time.
So here we are, on the threshold of a brand new journey, one which will be so crucial for most of us, that we will try our best to change ourselves to adapt to things. Sadly, we will end up opening a new can of worms effortlessly and unknowingly, because that’s what has always been happening; and whatever we do, we can’t change the fact that we are essentially continuing what people around us do. In all this, it isn’t wrong to forget the knots which you have tied in the past, because there’s no point going back to these things. Some knots are best tied, and if they have to be untied, they will, in due course. It doesn’t work if you keep thinking of it all the time.
I doubt if 2010 could have been worse than it was. But then again, can we be sure that the New Year will be better? Nobody can know for sure. The year’s most important lesson had to be something that Edward Abbey said years ago – “When a man’s best friend is his dog, that dog has a problem.” The funny thing is that I am not even remotely talking about dogs, but all that is a different story. 2011 will see a lot, but most of it will be in the head for everyone around and that’s what will make it worse for them. I’m not looking out for anyone. I’m just making an observation which can be taken with a pinch of salt.
So, here we go. Season’s greetings! Let your hair down over the next two days like there’s no tomorrow, because, as a certain Don Draper would say, there isn’t. Wow! Quite a few TV show/movie references here, as usual. I just can’t stop, now can I?
Happy New Year, or so I hope!
Random thoughts, media, links and some of my writings.
