Tricked Again 

I like to consider myself a pretty smart guy... and those who know me generally agree (and if they don't, I'm sure the comments will rack up pretty quick). That's why I feel almost like I've been tricked by my good friend Nicole in our last two movie stints together. She's really my polar opposite when it comes to political views (i.e. very liberal), yet we've remained best of friends for many years. And with Hollywood being what it is, it's usually much easier for her to find a movie that will suit her tastes than it is for me lately.

Several weeks ago, after helping her paint her living room, we went out and saw Syriana. I know what you're thinking... Nick, how could you not know that was political? I did... but you have to think about what happens when two people say they want to see a movie. Everyone has their list of movies that they want to see, and you have to look at your list to see if there are any that match up. Normally pretty simple. On that particular occasion, her list had three choices: Pride and Prejudice (which I would only see if sex were an option afterwards, which in this case it wasn't), Memoirs of a Geisha (just not my type of movie at all, and she knows it), or Syriana. I took the lesser of three evils.

All I can say about that movie is that it is incredibly transparent. Big oil companies run the world, and with a simple phone call they can have the CIA kill someone in a foreign government. And of course, the person they choose to kill wants to bring democracy to the middle east, while the one they keep in this make believe country is a despot and a tyrant. They ought to have just called the movie Saudi Arabia instead and been done with it. On top of all of that, the story telling was hard to follow. It was by the same folks that did Traffic, and they used many of the same cinematic devices, but kept it even more disjoint, and didn't tie it all together at the end as well.

Then last week Nicole called me up again to see if I wanted to go see something. The first two on her list were Fun with Dick and Jane, and Rumor Has It, with Dick and Jane being her top choice. No problem I thought... Jim Carrey... Tea Leoni... mayhem and comedy... it's a winner. Hell... I didn't even realize that Alec Baldwin (F.A.G.) was in it. All they would have needed was Tim Robbins doing a voice over during the credits talking about evil corporations, and this would have been a liberal's dream comedy movie. Note to Self: When offered an opportunity to see a movie with Jennifer Aniston in it... take it. Granted it was funny... but the movie was so thick with politics ranging from illegal immigration to the evils of Corporate America, that it was hard to enjoy some of the comedy.

I'll be reading the reviews of all movies on Nicole's list from now on. I think I had the best idea a couple months ago when I suggested we see Wallace and Gromit instead of Good Night and Good Luck. British claymation good... feel good movie about the liberal media and McCarthyism bad.