I netflixed (Can I say “rented”? Because it feels like renting, only by mail-order. No, internet-order-mail-delivered. But I feel like I’m renting a movie. I dunno.) Shopgirl because I thought it would be funny. You see, when you take two comedic actors (Steve Martin and Jason Schwartzman) and put them in a movie with a pretty girl (Claire Danes), it’s usually a comedy. Like Chuck and Larry (Sandler, James, Biel) or Wedding Crashers (Vaughn, Wilson, McAdams, with Isla Fischer thrown in there, but she’s one of those pretty actresses that just likes doing comedy), but it wasn’t funny. I mean, I liked it. There was a lot of quarter-life-crisis/why-doesn’t-anybody-love-me stuff that I totally dig, plus the character interaction was beautiful, the acting spectacular. The appearance of the thing was spotty. There were some shots that didn’t work. Like, they were trying to be pretty, but there was some obvious effects work. It pulled me out of the movie. Then during some of the more gorgeous parts of the movie, they throw Steve Martin narration over, saying some of the most contrived things I’ve ever heard, which was extremely jarring, especially considering that he’s in the movie. When you hear someone’s voice explaining what his character is thinking in the third person, it’s weird. I mean, it’s based on a novella written by Martin, so it makes sense for him to do the narration, but then don’t make him a character. At least he didn’t direct it, too, or it would have been masturbation.
But the main reason I bring Shopgirl up is because of Claire Danes. Claire Danes is an actress that I regard highly, and every time I hear about something she’s in, I think “Oh. I should see that.” And I think it goes back to My So-Called Life. Angela Chase. (sidenote: One of my favorite things about that show was the character “Tino” who is always mentioned, but never seen. I’ve had a few instances in my life where I hear about someone without actually meeting them, and I consider them my “Tinos”. I invariably end up meeting them, despite my sometime efforts to the contrary, and they’re always cool (as evidenced by the fact that they’re constantly brought up), but there’s always some pang of disappointment that they’re no longer my “Tino”.) But I’m always somewhat let down when I see her in things. Actually, I liked her in the Luhrmann Romeo + Juliet, but I haven’t seen that since I was 14. But it’s like she’s too…something. Like she tries too hard. And it’s distracting.
And today Stardust comes out. And I’ve been looking forward to this since I heard it was announced, because I’m a big fan of the original illustrated novel, by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess. (It’s not a graphic novel, as it’s prose, but it’s illustrated, and it’s by a comic book/fantasy writer who I love. At some point, they took out all of the drawings and released it as a novel, seemingly to give it cred.). Claire Danes has a starring role, as a star. And I’m concerned. I want to like this movie. I want everyone to like this movie. And I’ve heard ridiculously good things about it. But I’m worried. I’ll find out this weekend, I suppose.
shopgirl was a great book (one of my favorites), and the movie was a fair adaptation of it. the actors were dead ringers for their parts (steve martin’s voice was in my head the few times i read the book before movie came out, i always pictured claire daines as mirabelle, and the rest of the characters worked great.) but i could see how your opinion of the movie might be skewed since you apparently saw the movie without reading the book.
i do, however, suggest you read the book in a few months. its one of the most eloquently written pieces of literature i’ve ever read (then again most of the books i’ve read have been comic books and psychological-thriller novels [fight club for instance] so what do i know). lisa seemed to think it was amazing, as well as several of my other friends who’ve read it as well.
I think any form of media should be able to stand on its own. It’s one of those things like how (this is a shitty example, but whatever) The Matrix: Reloaded is in and of itself a whole story, but if you’ve played the Enter The Matrix video game, there’s some storyline enhancements, but you don’t need to have played the game in order for the movie to make sense. (Actually, in the case of the Matrix movies, you need to have advanced degrees in philosophy and mythology and religion for it to make sense, but I digress). My beef with the most recent Harry Potter movie (Order of the Phoenix) is that they ommitted too much from the book (as well as changing the betrayer role to Cho, and making the reason for the betrayal veritaserum and not an outright sell-out, but I digress), and that I felt like I was going in with an enhanced view as a result of having read the book (but even with omissions abound, the flick still clocked in at over 2.5 hours). If this requires having experienced that in order for it to be appreciated, then this has failed to exist of its own volition. That might make an appreciation of this deeper, but that should not be required.
That being said, I felt that Shopgirl was shot poorly, and I found the narration distracting. I liked the story. A friend of mine told me that it was “the most boring” movie she had ever seen, and I disagreed. I thought the pacing worked for the story. In fact, I’d like to read the book, because I think it might capture the spirit of the story better than the movie did.
oh right i also forgot to say that the trailer for that damn movie almost ruined it for me. i saw the trailer months before the movie was released and i was pissed off because they made it out to be this hilarious romantic comedy chick-flick and the book is just beautiful and depressing.
i will not comment on harry potter as i have an aversion to just about anything pop-culture related, including literature. and i know this is retarded, but thats how it is.
Hey Matty,
Jami and I just saw Stardust and we LOVED IT!! I was a little worried about how Claire Danes would do as well, but she didn’t let us down. Michelle Pfieffer is also particularly good. So see it as soon as you can!!