Family entertainment
So last night my family went off to a movie for happy, uplifting holiday entertainment... well sort of, we went to see A History of Violence... which was good, but kind of... graphic. and depressing. And not really cheery... or family appropriate. Umm... anyway. (Look, it was going away soon and we wanted to see it before it vanished.) For the record it includes several really good actors being really creepy.
But we made up for it tonight. Tonight we went to go see 'The Drowsy Chaperone' at the Ahmanson. And it was... cute. And sweet. And did I mention cute? And funny. And if you get a chance to see it, I recommend it. Especially if you've spent too much time watching old movie musicals. But... it's sort of this tongue in cheek love letter to 1920s musicals. And the thing is... while it's funny and cute and sweet and good to see... it's also not going to be the next big musical.
Much like the musicals it's about, it's got very little replay value. Actually, those musicals have more replay value (or at least the movies of those sorts of musicals have more replay value... because really, those musicals are all about the performers - the Astaires, the Marx brothers, George M. Cohan, Fanny Brice.....) Which isn't to say that the peformances tonight weren't good... they were. But I still found myself watching Sutton Foster and wanting to go back to Thoroughly Modern Milly... which was that sort of musical, except... y'know... with songs I'd want to listen to again.
Everything was a little too tongue in cheek. A little too cute. A little too.....I don't know. Maybe it was just that they were too much like the songs from that era... except, being not actually written by the Gershwins or Kern or Berlin, kinda too typical and forgettable. Ok, there is one song that I want on MP3, but only to give it to several of my friends. See, it sort of ends up being a love song to a monkey... ok, not really, the bride calls the groom 'monkey'. But they do this whole monkey thing... complete with dream sequence ballet.. involving Paris... and monkeys... and.... yeah.
Anyway, in summation: A History of Violence - good, but... umm... violent.
The Drowsy Chaperone: Light, fun, entertaining, but only really worth seeing in person... don't bother getting the sound track... unless you really love monkeys. Or really need an uplifting song about being drunk.