American Bridesmaids -v- English Inbetweeners

Here at the Projector we like to be positive about things – movies, music, art, books, People We Like, etc – and leave negativity outside. Sometimes though something comes along which one just cannot get enthusiastic about … such is BRIDESMAIDS. It is a chore just recounting the plot … do I have to?

Annie's life is a mess. But when she finds out her lifetime best friend is engaged, she simply must serve as Lillian's maid of honor. Though lovelorn and broke, Annie bluffs her way through the expensive and bizarre rituals. With one chance to get it perfect, she'll show Lillian and her bridesmaids just how far you'll go for someone you love, as the blurb says.

I thought this would be hilarious and bought it as one of many gifts for Christmas – but we sat there in mainly bemused silence as it unfolded, over two hours, with quite a lot of tedium. Even the gross-out scenes did not amuse.

The problem I have with it is that we do not get SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE here in the UK, so most of these SNL people are unknown to me. I had never seen Kristen Wiig before, nor Melissa McCarthy who plays Megan. The humour seems disjointed, like scenes or skits just linked together with no dramatic progress. The scene on the plane for instance starts out funny and then goes on and on and on … likewise, that extended scene when the two rivals (Wiig and DAMAGES’ Rose Byrne, ideal here as the annoyingly perfect Helen) keep grabbing the microphone as they compete to show how much they mean to the bride Maya Rudolph.

It was good though to see Jill Clayburgh one more time, and I did not recognise Jon Hamm as the dickhead casual boyfriend, and there was Matt Lucas in a few scenes.

Kristin Wiig though plays a sad loser, working in a job she hates after her bakery folded, she ends up having to return home to her mother as her room-mates don’t want her, so she is naturally jealous and resentful as plans for the wedding and Helen’s largesse get out of hand, and her relationship with that nice cop goes in fits and starts and is too protracted.

To sum it up - I just found it mainly unfunny, poorly written and masquerading as a comedy. There are a lot of American comedies that I find less than amusing nowadays and which seem to be focused on teenage boys and their bodily functions; this female version isn’t any better, but is so forgettable I will soon have totally forgotten it.

Kristen Wiig is merely the latest in a long series of "actors" like Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, David Spade, Rob Schneider, etc. Big screen comedies basically have been taken over by the alumni from SNL and the talent emanating from the stable of Judd Apatow. They may be good at comedy sketches but need to learn how to develop a storyline arc to cover 90 minutes, let alone 2 hours!

Overall, the movie seems to paint a negative picture of women. I was surprised that this was written by a woman (directed by Paul Feig) - it basically portrays women as sad, unable to function without a man, catty and superficial and determined to out-do each other. So no, I won't be rushing to watch the dvd extras: the deleted/extended scenes, the gag reel, the bloopers etc. But its not just me - the IMDB reviews for instance are so polarised, people either love it or hate it.

THE INBETWEENERS MOVIE on the other hand is madly funny and I liked it a lot, despite it being "focused on teenage boys and their bodily functions"! Go figure.

One of the hits of the summer THE INBETWEENERS movie follows the 4 lads from the hit tv series as they finish school and go on holiday to Malia in Crete - one of those Greek holiday spots like Falaraki in Rhodes. Predictable yes, but fast and really funny. This was my first encounter with the boys, as I had not seen the 3 series of the tv show [but have now got the boxset to rectify that - each half hour show should be fast and funny]. Anyone who watches the show knows the set up of the boys: Will, bespectacled, well-mannered but altogether massively irritating - but the one we identify with; his best friend Simon, who goes on and on about his ex-girlfriend who clearly doesn’t feel anything for him - she also turns up on holiday here; dim and slow-witted Neil, and Jay, chronically lying about women he’s shagged, things he’s done, and er, women he’s shagged. The four boys’ ridiculously embarrassing travails through life made for three hugely entertaining series on channel 4, so now comes the obligatory big screen outing.

Critics have hailed THE INBETWEENERS MOVIE as prurient, juvenile, and relentlessly crude. It is. Some of the jokes do fall flat, but the ones that are good are great, and coupled with a cheesy-cool soundtrack, some genuine drama and an arsenal of one-liners that will have you hiding behind your hands with embarrassment. It pretty much does what it says it would on the tin, with an added bonus of the unexpected but genuine satisfaction the viewer gets from seeing the 4 boys become men – sort of, as they sort out their entanglements with 4 very different girls as it all culminates on a boat cruise. Satisflyingly enjoyable then. Sorry, Bridesmaids.

Eve Arnold: first R.I.P. of 2012

Eve Arnold [1912-2012], one of the first woman photojournalists to join the prestigious Magnum Photography Agency in the 1950s and had traveled the world for her work, but was best known for her candid shots of Hollywood celebrities, has died at the remarkable aged of 99; she would have been 100 in April.



Starting in 1951, when career women were a rarity, Arnold navigated distant countries and cultures for unusual photographs ranging from horse trainers in Mongolia to factory workers in China. Her photo essays appeared in feature news magazines like LIFE and in the many books she compiled, in that great age of photo-journalism. She also photographed the leading politicians of that era, including Mrs Thatcher.


She was one of the photographers assigned to the shooting of THE MISFITS in Nevada in 1960 and became friends with Marilyn Monroe who she had photographed several times before in the 50s. This later led to several books on Monroe and the shooting of that complex film. Old-timers like Crawford and Dietrich also recognised a great photograher when they saw one, and Arnold was also on the sets of various favourite 60s films of mine like JUSTINE and MODESTY BLAISE. Her book "Film Journal" covers these in detail along with interesting stories and some terrific photos like Bogarde with Ingrid Bergman, Vanessa Redgrave and her daughters, Loren with Chaplin, Vitti and Stamp recording MODESTY BLAISE (above) and of course a selection of those Monroe shots. Marilyn certainly glows in Arnold's lenses.



Like that other great photographer Bob Willoughby its a great career to celebrate and any of her collections of photographs are cherishable. I love this 1956 shot of Silvana Mangano's great profile.

Absolutely delicious ....

The new AB FAB and that Christmas GLEE ....

Above is Jeanne Durand the famous glacial French movie star who has deigned to appear in the new tv series of ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS, the BBC's long-running series of comedies by Jennifer Saunders with her and Joanna Lumley as Edina Monsoon and Patsy Stone - the fashion, PR and media stars. [That episode "The End" with Patsy in New York and that flashforward to them just as disgraceful 25 years later is my particular standout favourite, it always creases me up...].

In order to impress her daughter Saffy, Edina decides to take on Jeanne as her new client and books her a concert at the Albert Hall - then it turns out that Durand can't sing! This is of course blissfully funny, and the campest thing you will see on tv this new year! It is fleshed out with all the usual AB FAB trimmings, Jane Horrocks as Bubbles, June Whitfield as mother, and guest stars Lulu and Emma Bunton - and yes, its "champagne for Lulu" once again! There are 3 new episodes of AB FAB and they are well up the quality of the previous.

Jeanne is of course wickedly played by Lindsay Duncan, that esteemed British actress who turns up everywhere: DR WHO, MERLIN, ROME, SPOOKS (she was stunning in that), and of course LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES with Alan Rickman, her breakthrough theatre role in '87. She plays 2 roles in the 1999 MANSFIELD PARK, which I saw over the holidays, as per review below, and was Isherwood's icy mother in CHRISTOPHER AND HIS KIND (gay interest label). Here (below) she channels the Jeanne Moreau of BAY OF ANGELS, latterday Deneuve or maybe Dunaway doing Dietrich. Its slyly wickedly funny. I will be seeing her on stage in a month or so in a new production here in London of Coward's HAY FEVER where she will be playing Edith Evans's old role as Judith Bliss, with Jeremy Northam.

Incidentally, Duncan also played a stunning Margaret Thatcher in a BBC play: MARGARET in 2009 - so Meryl is not the first IRON LADY ! Duncan's was a deadly serious look at Thatcher's divisive reign and policies and the bids to topple her and shows how disliked she was. Stirring stuff!

On a different tack, the Christmas episode of this season's GLEE was a madly camp delight too as Klaine (Kurt and Blaine - how about "Blurt"...) had their "Let It Snow" number done as a perfect recreation of an early 60s black and white tv show such as those Judy Garland shows circa '63 (below). They are joined too by Mercedes and Rachel and swop gifts. It is a delightful parody or recreation of that time. Internet comment though on the boys has been fascinating. I watch GLEE without liking it too much, as rock anthems like the Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want" are steamrolled and homogenised into teen musak, but hey, it sells - and there is always characters like Sue Sylvester to keep things humming, as well as guest stars like Gwynneth Paltrow! So it is at least always watchable - but I agree, their singing "Do They Know Its Christmas?" while feeding the homeless at the shelter was a tad too condescending and smugly self-satisfied.

Comments include:
"The happiest and highest-profile gay couple on television has a new video, and in fitting holiday form it's for the song "Let It Snow." Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Blaine (Darren Criss) from Glee, a.k.a. "Klaine" as the kids on Twitter and fan sites call them, are featured in a magical video that resembles a grand old MGM musical number. The two young men are slick, sophisticated and super cute in their performance.

I applaud Glee for highlighting a gay couple as happy, healthy, and absolutely adorable. I found that this episode most definitely showed that they were together.
Adding close friends Rachel (Lea Michele) and Mercedes (Amber Riley) for "My Favorite Things" is smart, because it feels comfortable, and the grouping is totally believable.

And "Do They Know it's Christmas?" comes off as extremely condescending when sang to homeless people's faces. Why are the less fortunate enjoying this? They live in America! Of course they know it's Christmas!

The same goes for this video. It's just Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire to me and if seen by someone unaware of Klaine they would have no idea this scenario is that these two young men are 'living together' in this fabulous 50's house and having a fabulous singing/dancing Christmas get-together (I don't want to say party because it never came off as a party...)
it could just as easily be Rock Hudson and Tony Randall singing about their lonesome holiday not two seconds before Doris Day and her perrenially toasted housekeeper walk in from the cold. Charming but dated. Where is the real gay romance?

Creating prancing, limp-wristed, lisping Gays for entertainment is just as horrifying as having black-faced entertainers."

So, lots of varied opinion there then! - and Rachel gets to sing a bit of Joni Mitchells "River" too ... well it is a classic Christmas lyric: "Its coming on Christmas, they're cutting down trees, singing songs of joy and peace ...."

Back to: 1963

I love 1963. It was a transition year for me from my teenage years in Ireland to arriving in London in April 1964 when I was 18 and began catching up with all those movies (like LA DOLCE VITA which I could not see in Ireland). In 1963 though I was still, at 17, a “small town boy” – like Billy Liar I suppose. 1962 is one of my key movie years (its 50 years ago!) – I could do a top 20 favourite movies from that year which are still influential and favourites now, and 1964 was not too bad either! Here though is a dozen from 1963, almost 50 years ago too! – a key year in that transition from old Hollywood to new, and that developing British and European cinema. [Right: Tippi's Mattel Barbie BIRDS doll, complete with the green suit and pecking birds!]

1963's key movies now include Hitch and Tippi and the ever-fascinating THE BIRDS, Visconti’s sumptuous THE LEOPARD, Losey’s breakthrough with THE SERVANT – Bogarde’s best role to then too; the film of BILLY LIAR (it was a also a book I loved, and a play) introducing us to Tom Courtenay and Julie Christie – the swinging 60s arrived with her walking around those Northern streets! And I love its affectionate portrait of suburban life.





Glossy enduring entertainment too with Audrey dressed by Givenchy in CHARADE and Capucine by Balmain in THE PINK PANTHER delirious fashion treats as well as fabulous movies, art cinema favourites LE FEU FOLLET and BAY OF ANGELS showing Malle and Demy at their best; THE VICTORS that grim anti-war tract with its raft of rising European actresses (Schneider, Moreau, Mercouri etc), and Neame’s I COULD GO ON SINGING – Judy almost playing herself, with Bogarde again – I had the soundtrack album, as I did for CLEOPATRA and that stunning entry into Rome. (I actually did not see that until its general release in 1964 and it certainly was worth the wait).
Back to THE BIRDS and that lovely interplay between Mitch Brenner and Melanie Daniels, as the tension slowly builds; and she looking so soigne in the birdshop, dialling the telephone with her pencil. Hitch makes sure here that she has all the right accessories: the suit, the hair, the gloves, the handbag, the lovebirds... and then there is Annie Hayworth (Pleshette) at Bodega Bay, and that very complicated mother Lydia (Tandy), and then that first gull attacks ....




Other 1963 classics that live on: THE GREAT ESCAPE, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, Julie Harris and Claire Bloom excelled in THE HAUNTING, LORD OF THE FLIES, HUD, TOM JONES (film of the year), Rattigan ran up a little treat for the Burtons and Co in THE V.I.P.s, another Bronston spectacular 55 DAYS AT PEKING, and that amusing Doris comedy THE THRILL OF IT ALL!. Another one I did not catch until London in ’64 was Bergman’s controversial THE SILENCE… and BYE BYE BIRDIE, a recent discovery as per recent post on that!

A vintage year then for a movie-mad teenager with those "Films & Filming" magazines (where I would work for a year in the '70s) and as related before - see label, I had my own personal ad ["boy 17 seeks penfriends male or female under 21...!"] in its May 63 issue [this was before Facebook] and had replies from all over the world, and I am still in touch with one of them, who is now in San Francisco !
Then there were my first records: that first Beatles album, Francoise Hardy, Peggy Lee, soundtracks of WEST SIDE STORY, SOUTH PACIFIC and the Broadway cast MY FAIR LADY. I was playing records on my portable record player in my room in November 1963 when my mother rushed up stairs to tell me about events in Dallas...
Actors of the year: Dirk Bogarde, Maurice Ronet. Actress: Jeanne Moreau /
Directors: Joseph Losey, Luchino Visconti, Louis Malle, Jacques Demy.
See labels for more on all of these mentioned and those key films ..