Post Grad
Originally published at Ms. Amused. You can comment here or there.
I like these kind of fluffier movies. But I still require decent effort at story and writing.
I don’t know if it’s Alexis Bledel or just the way it was written but I just was really annoyed and didn’t like her character. The focus of the movie is her and her naive optimistic expectations for her “planned” future but some things were just really extreme. Namely the way she took for granted, her friend who was obviously in love with her.
Watching this was a 30 something (me), 17yr old boy (brother), and a 60+ woman (my mother) . I continued watching it for Jane Lynch & Carol Burnett. My mom sat to watch it when she saw Carol’s name on the opening credits and stayed… for Carol. Not sure what if anything my brother saw in it except that I know that he too is a big Jane Lynch fan now as well thanks to Glee. I adored Jane long before Glee but that’s beside the point.
Jane & Carol are rather small parts of the movie and their parts and Michael Keaton’s overdoting but absent minded father character are the only things I found worth watching this movie for. I loved Jane as the mother… a woman who loves and cares about her family but remains mellow and doesn’t fly into panic when things don’t run smoothly as most mothers in movies do. Carol’s part was smaller than I’d liked but was still as much fun as I’d hoped it would be. Look for the revolving Medicine Cabinent! I would have missed it had Mom not been paying close attention to Carol.
Back to the main plot of the movie, typical and predictable plot. Heroine (heh hardly) has lofty dreams and goals and seemingly a clear path to them. Enter many obstacles often of her own making. See her figure out what reality is and what she really wants even though it was really obvious all along to everyone but her.
JK Simmons was also in this but in a real throwaway part much like Mark Ruffalo in Where the Wild Things Are.
I remain not really convinced of Alexis’s acting skills. She’s either typecast or playing variations of “herself” over and over again.
Recommendations: Rent if you’re a super fan of any of the people listed above or recently a graduate.
Almost forgot… it was driving me CRAZY but the little kid in this, Bobby Coleman, looks just like Matthew Gray Gubler in kid form. I’d swear they were related. If nothing else, if anyone ever needs a Mini version of MGG for a role, there ya go…
