September 2004

Film Geographica
Review This!

This month I saw two movies, "Garden State" and "Dirty Shame", both which had a fairly strong tie to geography. And in the setting was a crucial element of the story. Oh, and both movies were good. Here are my fairly incomplete and hastily slapped together thoughts on them.

Garden State
OK, so Zack Braff from Scrubs appears to be somewhat of a genius. Or at least very smart. He's obviously funny on his TV show, so I was interested to see his movie Garden State, which not only did he star in, but also wrote and directed. I liked Garden State. A lot.

I think much of why I liked this film has much to do with Zack Braff's age, which is more or less the same as mine. I think this is why a lot of people now in their late 20's and early 30's will also like this film. I think the story itself is a fairly universal one, about a dude coming home and finding himself. And a lady. But the particulars and the style of the film, I think, will really hit home amongst those of us born during the Ford Administration.

The main character, who's name I forget and I'm too lazy to look up, returns home from his unsuccessful acting career in LA to suburban New Jersey for his mother's funeral. While home he comes off of lithium for the first time in a decade and starts to actually feel things again. That's the story. It's a good story. But even better is how it's told. The film itself is very well rounded, in terms of how it looks, the cast (mostly*), and the soundtrack.

The soundtrack is a pretty good one. It's got some good variety, though mostly it's what our lawyer calls "sad bastard music". I even bought the soundtrack. It turns out I like it better with the movie, for the most part. Even the songs I don't like on it work very well with the film.

All in all, this is a movie very much worth seeing. Especially if you have a tendency towards being a mopey jerk born during the Ford Administration like me.

Oh, I just found the ticket stub for Garden State in the pocket of the shirt I'm wearing today. I think I should probably do my laundry tonight.

*Natalie Portman can't act.

Dirty Shame
This movie is totally dependant upon geography. That geography, because this is a John Waters film, is Baltimore. You'll laugh at this movie if you know nothing about Baltimore, but not as much as those of us who can speak the secret language with severely elongated o's and t's that become d's.

Similarly, I don't think that all of America will quite get the jokes about the boring waspy couple from DC in this film that move to Harford Road for the quirky Baltimore livin'. Being a native Baltimoron living under cover in DC, I found it hysterical for reasons that are most likely beyond your range of comprehension.

The gist of this film is that sex addicts are taking over Harford Road, a fairly mundane part of northeast Baltimore, in a special Baltimore kind of way. It's very blue collar, fairly socially conservative, and not always very appealing. And, of course, people talk funny. But back to the plot. This tow truck driver named Ray Ray (played by Johnny Knoxville) is the leader of the sex addicts and he's searching for a new sex position in hopes of changing the world. He decides that his twelfth apostle is the character played by Tracey Ullman, Sylvia, who's daughter is a sex addict with absurdly large titties and has changed her name to Ursula Udders. Her husband, played with typical charm by Chris Isaak, is fairly torn between the sexing and the more straight sense of morality represented by Sylvia's mother. Who is completely ugly and hysterically over-reacting in that special John Waters' version of Baltimore way.

Oh, and it bears mentioning that sex addicts are created as the result of accidental concussions. The temptation, now, to rig up banana peel traps around hot chicks is overwhelming.

The other night I saw John Waters on the channel channel saying that Dirty Shame is either the best of worst first date movie ever. I think I agree, as did the lady I saw it with (not a date, first or otherwise, so it was not a creepy line or anything- though that's too bad because I do love being creepy). Go see it and you'll see why.

At any rate, that's the plot. There's not really much of a plot. That's not the point. The point is the point that John Waters is trying to make, which I will let you figure out for yourself. Because the plot is never important in his movies. And fortunately, John Waters is still incapable of using subtlety. Thank god. That's what makes his movies what they are- totally over the top. And Dirty Shame is no different. Just better.

It also bears mentioning that there's a brilliant cameo by fellow Baltimoron David Hasselhoff.

Finally, Dirty Shame is rated NC-17. I think it may have actually earned this rating. This is a raunchy fucking movie. But delightfully so.