Logging

Film:  Knight and Day

It's been a long time since I was so surprised and delighted by a film.  I had heard from several people that the movie was surprisingly good, so it was on my list to see.  But I never brought myself to watch it, the whole enterprise seemed a bit flaccid.  The marketing campaign was a turnoff - "Cruise and Diaz" - like that would get me to got see a movie.  So I turn it on during lunchtime yesterday because it was on HBO and started watching.  I was laughing my ass off.  The movie is a screwball comedy action film - and an incredibly well done one at that.  Any fan of screwball comedy will love the first half of the movie.  I paused it because believe it or not, I shouldn't just sit around and watch movies all day, and finished it up before I went to bed last night.  I admit, I enjoyed the first half more than the second half, but there was still some good moments.  And almost all of the best parts were these tiny throwaway lines throughout the movie like "That was weird" or "June, you've got skills."  I suppose you need to see the movie to appreciate the lines, but the deadpan deliveries and timing of these moments are incredibly enjoyable.

I was planning on seeing the Avengers yesterday - this is part of my job - seeing the action movies and I just can't seem to bring myself to go to the theater.  No one is talking about the Avengers anymore.  I can just tell it's going to be "product."  Maybe good product, but ultimately, just product.  Knight and Day convinced me to watch itself versus going to see the Avengers - I was looking forward to completing the movie - and not looking forward to dragging myself to the theater to see Avengers.

In any case, I can't quite remember the last time a studio movie was such a delightful surprise.  I highly recommend the movie.  It would have been on my list of top 10 for last year if I had seen it.  Also, if I ever teach a script analysis class, this would be on the syllabus.  Really easy and clear delineation of acts and sequences - part of the charm of this movie is the awareness of the studio-ness and movie-ness of it's existence.  And the casting of Cruise and Diaz with their exaggerated faces and almost dated movie-starness helps lend itself to the overall effect.  Really a joy to watch.  Preston Sturges would have really enjoyed this movie.