movie: The Philadelphia Story
Jul. 18th, 2006 07:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timepiececlockMargaret Lord: "The course of true love..."
Macaulay Connor: "...gathers no moss."
We watched The Philadelphia Story in our film class today.
Everyone should watch this movie.
I don't normally say that about movies that are older than my parents are. But this movie was AWESOME. You know how sometimes you watch a movie from the 1930s or 1940s and you're like "Well, this is amusing, but it's so...quaint." Totally not the case here. I absolutely adored the dialogue in this film. The entire script. It was cute and funny and smart and all the jokes still worked. I spent the last hour with a massive grin on my face-- almost enough to make my cheeks hurt. I giggled aloud several times during the screening. It was just so damn funny!
And I don't mean it was funny in a cute nostalgia way. I mean I actually laughed several times.
I didn't like Cary Grant's character at first (I don't think we were supposed to) but about halfway through the film he started to win me over. Jimmy Stuart's guy seemed a bit like a prick but he eventually became my favorite character (and, also, kinda crushing on the 1940 version of him. which is weird.) Katherine Hepburn's character was great-- my opinion about her kept changing, and she was consistantly entertaining. All three of them (and the supporting cast) did excellent jobs. It was actually a lot funnier than the last few recent romantic comedies that I've seen.
I have to warn you, though, the very very last minute and a half I didn't care for. Right up until that final bit of plot resolution I adored it. For me the last minute and thirty seconds doesn't exist.
I didn't like that she remarried Cary Grant's character. I was so convinced by their performances that they were an ex-couple that it seemed backward motion for both of them to get remarried to each other. They both talked about their relationship with a mixture of venom and nostalgia, and I got the sense that they still cared for one another but had moved on. Yeah, he sabotaged her engagement. That was a good thing-- she shouldn't have married that guy. But neither should she have married Cary Grant's character again. I was so pleased when she refused to marry Jimmy Stuart as well (though, if I were to ship anyone in this movie, I totally would ship her character with Stuart's), because she was finally admitting to herself that she shouldn't be rushing into things. And she had just had a huge personal realization about herself and her behavior-- she needed time to consider what she really wanted. I thought "Wow, that's so cool."
And then Cary Grant's character proposed to her again and she was like "Oh yes of course!" I was like "WTF?" I mean... I know there was the sexual chemistry between them and that they were on their way to getting better-- but I thought they were reconciling as friends. I was really surprised that we were apparently supposed to take their relationship as the "true love" one all along. Especially since they went to so much trouble to build up Jimmy Stuart's character as a better counterpart than Grant's: he had all the energy and intellect of her ex-husband that her fiance did not, but he also was a nicer and more moral and decent person-- the reasons she broke up with her ex in the first place. Grant's character did clean up his act and all, and I liked him by the end of the film, but I was surprised that the movie put her with Grant instead of Stuart. It didn't seem to match the rest of the film up to that point.
Even so, I would have preferred it if she had said she wasn't going to marry any of them, at least not now. I wanted to see her enjoy her newfound and hard-won sense of self before attaching to a man again. For such a strong, forward thinking character it was a bit disappointing. But I guess it was just 1930s thought that made them end the film that way.
I highly recommend you guys go rent it. You'll enjoy it.
Macaulay Connor: "...gathers no moss."
We watched The Philadelphia Story in our film class today.
Everyone should watch this movie.
I don't normally say that about movies that are older than my parents are. But this movie was AWESOME. You know how sometimes you watch a movie from the 1930s or 1940s and you're like "Well, this is amusing, but it's so...quaint." Totally not the case here. I absolutely adored the dialogue in this film. The entire script. It was cute and funny and smart and all the jokes still worked. I spent the last hour with a massive grin on my face-- almost enough to make my cheeks hurt. I giggled aloud several times during the screening. It was just so damn funny!
And I don't mean it was funny in a cute nostalgia way. I mean I actually laughed several times.
I didn't like Cary Grant's character at first (I don't think we were supposed to) but about halfway through the film he started to win me over. Jimmy Stuart's guy seemed a bit like a prick but he eventually became my favorite character (and, also, kinda crushing on the 1940 version of him. which is weird.) Katherine Hepburn's character was great-- my opinion about her kept changing, and she was consistantly entertaining. All three of them (and the supporting cast) did excellent jobs. It was actually a lot funnier than the last few recent romantic comedies that I've seen.
I have to warn you, though, the very very last minute and a half I didn't care for. Right up until that final bit of plot resolution I adored it. For me the last minute and thirty seconds doesn't exist.
I didn't like that she remarried Cary Grant's character. I was so convinced by their performances that they were an ex-couple that it seemed backward motion for both of them to get remarried to each other. They both talked about their relationship with a mixture of venom and nostalgia, and I got the sense that they still cared for one another but had moved on. Yeah, he sabotaged her engagement. That was a good thing-- she shouldn't have married that guy. But neither should she have married Cary Grant's character again. I was so pleased when she refused to marry Jimmy Stuart as well (though, if I were to ship anyone in this movie, I totally would ship her character with Stuart's), because she was finally admitting to herself that she shouldn't be rushing into things. And she had just had a huge personal realization about herself and her behavior-- she needed time to consider what she really wanted. I thought "Wow, that's so cool."
And then Cary Grant's character proposed to her again and she was like "Oh yes of course!" I was like "WTF?" I mean... I know there was the sexual chemistry between them and that they were on their way to getting better-- but I thought they were reconciling as friends. I was really surprised that we were apparently supposed to take their relationship as the "true love" one all along. Especially since they went to so much trouble to build up Jimmy Stuart's character as a better counterpart than Grant's: he had all the energy and intellect of her ex-husband that her fiance did not, but he also was a nicer and more moral and decent person-- the reasons she broke up with her ex in the first place. Grant's character did clean up his act and all, and I liked him by the end of the film, but I was surprised that the movie put her with Grant instead of Stuart. It didn't seem to match the rest of the film up to that point.
Even so, I would have preferred it if she had said she wasn't going to marry any of them, at least not now. I wanted to see her enjoy her newfound and hard-won sense of self before attaching to a man again. For such a strong, forward thinking character it was a bit disappointing. But I guess it was just 1930s thought that made them end the film that way.
I highly recommend you guys go rent it. You'll enjoy it.
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Date: 2006-07-19 11:51 am (UTC)I am a huge old movie buff, as you see.