The Reverend Will the Thrill Presents the Film of the Week!

It's my weekend off and it's a beautiful Saturday afternoon.  It's gloomy and there's a dusting of snow in the forecast.  In short, it's a perfect day to sit inside and fire up the ol' blu-ray player.

I like to think I'm very good at pairing the right film with the right time of day or week or meteorological conditions because I'm a dork.  I've always said that westerns and war epics are usually best appreciated on a Sunday morning or early Sunday afternoon.  Saturdays (especially gloomy ones with precipitation) I find are best paired with romantic movies--"romcoms," "chick flicks" or whatever rhyming slang you wnnt to give them.  For some reason, I'm a sucker for them--even bad ones.  Now before anyone accuses me of just "lying around" while watching these movies, I should point out that I'm usually doing other things while watching them, usually light housework or some personal project that I might be working on.  It's also the time that I tend to dedicate to writing these weekly missives.  Sometimes, I get so wrapped up in what I'm doing that the movie is really just pleasant background noise.

While pondering which movies to watch today, and sighing over the fact that I could only fit so many movies into a day (my record is eleven), I pulled this week's film off the shelf.  It's one I had been meaning to watch again.  It is perfect for a gray Saturday afternoon.  When I first saw it 25 years ago, I just thought it was a good date movie to see with my then-girlfriend.  But there are so many things I like about the film that go beyond that, not the least of which is that it co-stars Minnie Driver, on whom I have a bit of a crush, so the movie immediately had that going for it.

I was also curious to see David Duchovny in something that didn't seem too heavy.  At that point, aside from a couple of very small roles in films like Chaplin and Working Girl, like most Americans, I primarily knew him from the television series "The X-Files."  The only other thing of his I had seen was a film that my girlfriend and I rented once called Playing God.  It was so bad, we couldn't finish watching it.  This week's film, in contrast, was the first thing I ever saw him in that didn't remind me of Agent Mulder.  To this day, it's still one of my favourite performances of his, primarily for that reason.  More on this in future "sermons."

This film also validates a theory I have regarding romantic comedies--it's frequently not the leading actors that make the film work.  I mean, sure, they are the main focus of the movie, but let's be honest.  We all know that 99% of the time, the two leads end up together, it's just a matter of how, and the fun is watching the mishaps they go through along the way.  What really makes a romantic comedy work, in my opinion--aside from good writing and chemistry between the actors, obviously--is the supporting cast.  The friends and relatives of the lead characters are the real gems in these kinds of movies and often my favourite characters in those films.  And this week's film has an amazing supporting cast including David Alan Grier, Bonnie Hunt, Jim Belushi, Robert Loggia, Carrol O'Connor, Eddie Jones, Marianne Muellerleile, William Bronder, and Joely Richardson.

In the film, Duchovny plays Bob an architect who has spent the last couple of years grieving after the death of his wife (Richardson).  Driver plays Grace, a recent heart transplant recipient who lives with her grandfather (O'Connor) who runs an Irish/Italian restaurant with his brother-in-law (Loggia).  The two are thrown together through a series of poorly thought out blind dates that their friends and family try to set them up on.  To put it succinctly, the two end up discovering something about themselves that could put everything in jeopardy.  BONUS:  It takes place in (and was filmed in) my favourite city in the world, Chicago, Illinois (with some brief moments toward the end of the picture in Rome, Italy, which does make for some nice eye candy).

Bonnie Hunt not only co-stars in the film as Grace's best friend Megan, but she also directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay with Don Lake (who also has a cameo appearance as one of Grace's potential set-ups).  Hunt and Lake wrote the screenplay based on a story they co-wrote with Andrew Stern and Samantha Goodman (just to give credit where credit is due).  This film also marks the final works of Carroll O'Connor (best known as TV's Archie Bunker) and Dick Cusack (father of John and Joan).

This week, in honour of gloomy Saturdays, I recommend Return To Me.

I'll be taking next week off from writing these.  Until I return, stay safe, be good to your neighbours, and please remember that if at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.

Yours in peace, love, and rock and roll!

The Reverend Will the Thrill