Friday, November 30, 2007

A Movie I'm Not Interested in Seeing, Anyway

I finally put my finger on what bothers me about Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

Unlike the parodic movies I'm used to seeing (OK, using to seeing . . . previews for), it's not a parody of a genre of movie, but rather a parody of one specific movie.


I suppose you could argue that a lot of movies, both big screen and tv, follow the same sort of arc of an entertainer's career, but this is clearly just Walk the Line: But Funny! Isn't that a lot of trouble to go to, to make an entire feature film that makes fun of one other feature film? (Admittedly, I might be defensive because I enjoyed Walk the Line so much. [Note to self: I should watch Walk the Line again.])

What is does have going for it it's that it's Judd Apatow (I had assumed it was in the Adam McKay/Will Ferrel family of movies, I guess because it stars That One Guy). I have really liked his movies--especially Knocked Up (if you haven't seen it, it's seriously very very good)--but this one looks dubious.

In other movie news, one parodic movie that I am increasingly tempted to go see . . . is Enchanted. I know, I know, but think about it: how long has it been since Disney was really turning out princess movies? I guess Cinderella/Snow White is as princessy as it can get, but I would say that the most recent princessing up at Disney was in the Little Mermaid/Beauty and Beast era, in a time when I was exactly the right age to be extremely enthusiastic about Disney princesses. And, since you can't really enjoy a parody without familiarity with its fodder, I woudl argue that Enchanted is actually aimed at me. (Not just me, but you see what I mean.) Also? The bicycles are still funny:


6 comments:

AVH said...

I highly recommend "Enchanted." Eric and I saw it last weekend, and I really enjoyed it. You must also note that the lady that plays Patrick Dempsey's girlfriend is Idina Menzel, original star of Wicked, as seen in London. And the writer of the song lyrics is Stephen Schwartz, the music and lyrics writer of, you guessed it, Wicked! Throw in Julie Andrews as a narrator, two hot guys, silly comedy, musical fun, and you have a movie that I loved.

Rachel said...

In that case, I'm sold. (My gentleman caller best prepare himself.)

Neal Davidson said...

Oh, dear God . . . uh, I mean, sure. That sounds like . . . fun. Hurrah . . .

MacKenzie said...

Craig and I actually have a deal (based on your old one with him) where his language gets added up in quarters until we have enough to pay for two tickets to a girl movie. Maybe this should be my girl movie. Although he is only up to 70 cents so far so we might have to wait till it comes out on video, unless he starts swearing a lot.

Nancy said...

I know this is not the point, but I'm confused as to how one can have 70 cents in quarters. also, I would like to point out, for the record, that Spaceballs is a parody of just one movie, and it is damn funny.

Rachel said...

Wasn't Spaceballs a parody of all three Star Wars movies? Even though only one was really parodied, I guess, it's still different in that Star Wars is really iconic and a huge deal. It's not just some movie (no offense, Walk the Line).

Oh, and if I recall correctly, it's not that funny. That's right, I said it.