Rachel McAdams to the Rescue

As you all know, I have suffered through my fair share of terrible movies (see also: Slumdog Millionaire, The Wrestler).  I, however, had no idea about the depths of misery that could be inflicted by a movie until I saw The Deer Hunter.  I should probably say that much of this experience was my own doing - although I did not suggest this movie, I was not tied or bound and placed in front of the television with my eyelids super-glued open.  My culpability ends there - the rest of the blame lays squarely with De Niro, Streep, and whatever satanic director thought up this visual monstrosity.

The beginning of the movie was tricky - a group of friends, a wedding, small town camaraderie.  Sure Meryl's dad drinks too much and hunting deer does not make me very happy, but it wasn't terrible.  I knew, though, that the relative calm and tranquility would be short-lived.  I just knew it.  And then, OUT OF NOWHERE, the unsuspecting viewer is transported from western PA to a freaking Vietnam POW camp.  There were underwater cages, nasty vietnam army guys, and games of russian roulette.  I am sure there were all sorts of other unpleasant things but I had my eyes closed for much of it.  I reopened them just in time to see some nice american boy blow half of his face off in that game of russian roulette I was just telling you about.

All told, I think I made it through about 45 minutes of the movie before I had to ask (demand strongly) my host to turn off the movie.   I just don't understand why people think the world would be such a terrible place if all movies featured Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts.

Fortunately, I was able to purge that horrendous experience from my memory this weekend when I saw Morning Glory.  A terrific little film with a star-studded cast: Diane Keaton, Harrison Ford, Jeff Goldblum, and the real hero: Rachel McAdams.    As Manohla Dargis wrote "If you spend enough time with Rachel McAdams, it’s easy to get lost in the pleasure of her company, or at least become enjoyably distracted. Effortlessly likable, she has a way of keeping you tethered to her character even when your attention begins to wander."  You hear that, Streep?  Oscars alone don't make you likable.