Apatow

There's a somewhat similar movie, which I can't remember the name of now (where's Victor Morton?), that involves a guy who grew up in a fallout shelter and emerges at the age of thirty or so. It was one of those things I happened across while idly flipping channels, and when I saw the basic situation I figured it was all going to be the usual liberationist line about how uptight the '50s were (a la Pleasantville). I was pleasantly surprised. The guy is dorky and '50s-ish and generally out of it by modern standards, but he treats the heroine with the gentlemanly respect he was taught, and she falls for him. (He can also dance like a house afire, which seems to really bowl some women over.) There's a lot of humor at the expense of '50s culture, which of course is a pretty good target, but there's a definite sense that something has been lost in the way of basic decency and good manners.

Was that "Blast From the Past" with Brendan Fraser?

Julie reminded me how we'd come to learn that there's no such thing as irony in the birthing room. Rod Dreher Far be it from me to correct the best thing about you. But, I can personally testify to her being in error this once. I was thirty years old and at the prime of being a man amongst men. I was in the delivery room when my daughter was born. There was some irony in the event. You see we had our son while I was at the phone company. My position through that pregnancy was that I didn't throw girls. I would only have sons. I was a man amongst men after all. I'd left the telco for a couple of years and when I came back my wife was pregnant with our second. All my old co-workers were still smarting from losing their hard earned bucks with the birth of the boy. So I was immediately challenged about the sex of the child in my wife's belly. My position hadn't changed. I was a man amongst men, I threw boys, no girls. Keep in mind back then there wasn't sonograms etc. So it was a toss up for all the guesstimators when it came to the sex of baby. They lined up like it was a booth at the carnival. One of my favorites was a little black lady whom I'd given heck about this and that. She put up five bucks because she knew God would give a chauvinist like me a girl to humble me. Two things happened in the delivery room. One was when the doc pulled out the scissors to cut the cut. Adults here know about that cut. Non-adults and priests can wonder all they want, I don't want to talk about it. Scissors were the most important tool I had at my disposal as a telco cable splicer. They were also evidence of my truly being a man amongst men. Most splicers can cut a penny in half to demonstrate their strength. I did quarters. I've never fainted in my life. When in the military I laughed in the shot lines while some fell over like logs at the mill. When I lost the pad on my thumb to a fluting blade on the table saw I drove myself to the hospital and told them I thought I might have hurt myself. Broken bones, cuts that required stiches, never a blink. But if that nurse hadn't caught me I would have fainted all the way to the floor when that doc put those scissors next to the, well, uh, it was traumatic for me. However, I can still recall his "you lose!" a couple of minutes later.

Whit Stillman's trilogy, "Metropolitan," "Barcelona," and "Last Days of Disco" is brilliantly subversive. You should also read the book of commentary on his films, "Doomed Bourgeois in Love.'

"There's something about becoming a father or mother for the first time that annihilates ironic detachment." So, so true. Couldn't have said it better myself.

Ha! I just showed "The 40-Year Old Virgin" to my movie group (which is church-based, though we meet in the home of the couple who started the group with me). They loved it! My theory is that movies like "40-Year Old Virgin" and "Bad Santa" are the true inheritors of the Frank Capra legacy.
It is no longer possible for the culture to make a sweet and sentimental, "Capra-corny" film with a straight face. Every time Hollywood tries to do it, it is a complete bust.
These days, in order to be sweet and sentimental you have to leaven it with raunchy jokes. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. As a former film critic, I would love to get your thoughts on this theory, Rod. Cheers!

I loved "The 40-Year Old Virgin." What really exceeded my expectations is that, even when all has been revealed, the main characters wait until after they have married to have sex. I was stunned and delighted. And it's unbelievably funny. If I were 20 years younger, I'd memorize big chunks of the admittedly crude dialogue. "Metropolitan" is wonderful. I've run across all the types of those characters in real life.

I would definitely say that movies like "The 40-Year Old Virgin" are for adults, or college-age young people.
As a movie buff who likes all kinds of movies, I enjoy the raunchy humor occasionally, especially in a movie with a nice message.
"You mean, it's ok to be a virgin at 40?" I'm 52 and single (and big crush on Steve Carrell) and not a prude (and, the horse has left the barn, if you get my drift) but I think that the message that it is not freakish for someone to be a virgin at 40 is a very positive one.

Oh, it's definitely formulaic--your basic romantic comedy. The only twist is the Rip Van Winkle situation. I really just brought it up for its social/moral significance, not any great artistic merit. Rob, I'm of the same mind about the heavy raunch. I won't usually sit through it. Blast from the Past is not like that, at least not in the television version (non-premium cable). I was about to say maybe that's because it was written/directed by women, but decided I better check my facts, looked it up on IMDB, and found that I'm wrong, unless there are two women named Bill Kelly and Hugh Wilson.

I'd like to add an addendum to my comment - I wouldn't say my ironic detachment has been *completely* annihilated by becoming a mother. I started out as a starry-eyed idealist and then swallowed a healthy dose of ironic detachment when reality hit me like a mac truck after my debut into the so-called real world. My cynicism has been significantly tempered by becoming a mother. I know for one thing that the news bothers me much, much more than it used to, especially if it's anything involving children.

Thanks, John. I have to go with the classic with Alaister Sim, but the musical with Albert Finney is a close second for me. Interestingly, I believe these are both called "Scrooge."
Again, I didn't see all of "The Family Man" so perhaps it is unfair to judge. I think it goes back to the intentions of the filmmakers. Were they trying to make the best possible movie, and doing it with integrity, or were they trying to make a "hit" based on audience testing, etc.

I love Mr Magoo's Christmas Carol. I wanted to see it this Christmas. But it wasn't available on Netflix and I didn't want to spend the $$$ for it. But I still think the George C. Scott version is The Best Christmas Carol. And please see The Family Man all the way to the end. You'll like it, I hope!

Good grief, what *is* it with me and the italics tags today?!?

I also kind of like "Mickey's Christmas Carol", but that's because I've been partial to Scrooge McDuck from a young and impressionable age. ;-)