Days 8-10: RC OD

Days 8-10 RC-OD

So Tuesday was my “Saturday” and I decided to slap in Day 8 while I cleaned. Feeling mildly depressed after a emotionally manipulative Christmas with my inlaws and a looming 34^th birthday I was in need of a little TLC that only RC’s can provide. But Day 8 did not succeed in bringing me out of my funk, ironically it sunk me deeper. RC’s are usually a wonderful escape, except on those rare days when all the emotions I’m currently trying to avoid are being played out on the screen. So Day 8 was Knocked Up. And instead of laughing and enjoying myself as I did the chores about the house, I stood several times in front of the tv crying and questioning my pathetic achievements so far in life. This is a film I usually love to watch, the guy flick that is really a chick flick, but today I couldn’t sink into it without inward reflection. Needless to say, I hadn’t gotten too much done and so I decided at the end, to plop in Day 9. Surely Day 9 would get me out of my funk, back into my fantasy land. Day 9 was Princess Diaries. And that was sufficient background for more of my chores. Having seen this movie a dozen times (I was practically born in Disney World – all Disney films are great to me), I could happily go about my work knowing all would be right in the world again. And then I started to think about what the movie is really saying and that is always a bad idea, to think too much about an RC. But I did, and I once again started comparing myself to this awkward teenage girl who is blossoming into a princess and I am looking at my pathetic 34-year-old-to-be self and not liking the not-so-princess I turned out to be. So… of course… like a true crack addict – it’s obviously not me, but the movies that aren’t giving me a sufficient high and so I must watch another one because surely this next one will make me feel all giddy and gooey again like the first time I saw Pretty Woman and then I can get on to the task of taking down that friggin Christmas tree! So Day 10 was plopped in as soon as the credits started to roll on Day 9. Day 10: America’s Sweethearts. Ahhhh! Somebody shoot me! I love this movie too usually but my god- it’s all about being famous actors and actresses and how you need to lose 60 pounds to get someone you love to love you back or even just notice you. And well…as you can see, by this point in the day (though never once did I stop a movie mid way through- they each had to play out in their entirety) I was a lost cause and no RC was going to help. I finished America’s Sweethearts, a sniveling, self-pitying mess and curled up on the couch to nap. I woke up, took out the majority of my frustrations on my poor husband and then took a hot bath. I had over dosed on RCs so the next day I took a break from the movies.

So, trying to not let me pathetic breakdown get in the way of my checklist, though I guarantee NOTHING… Here we are, how these 3 movies check off on my list:

Day 8: Knocked Up

• Giddy: I usually get giddy anytime I see man get happy about having a baby.
• Lie: Well, the lies aren’t really too big in this movie, there is a little sideline one going on with one my favorite actors Paul Rudd and it leads to a very honest look at the need for alone time.
• Big Emotional Outburst: There are quite a few these and they are hilarious!
• Dance Sequence: Nope. Boo. But them trying to get into a club is hysterical!
• Wedding: THAT’s what this movie is missing. There is a very sweet proposal though.
• Rewatchable: Yes… but after Tuesday’s fiasco, I may wait a bit.
• Love: This has the more real kinds of love here, that ever questioning “are they THE ONE” looming over the heads of the 4 main characters here. Bleh, real love? Bleh!
• Fantasy: Depending on my mood, I’d sometimes tell you the major fantasy here is a man getting happy and changing his life around for a baby or the fact that these two clearly opposite people could end up liking each other at all. But I know that’s coming from my bitter side, so I’ll just say no there aren’t too many fantasies here.
• Journey of the Main Character: They both go from not liking each other and not even thinking about a kid to liking each other and having one. That’s nice.
• Body Count: None. I really could have used some on Tuesday.
• Music Montages: None that I remember through the pathetic weeping I was doing. I think there might have been one showing the growth of Seth’s character from boy to man who actually reads the baby books.
• Strong Female: Yes. Both women I think are strong with the very real flaws and conflicts women generally face: Career vs. baby.

Day 9: The Princess Diaries

• Giddy: Typically I get a little giddy every time I hear that Disney sound and see Tinkerbell fly across my screen. I also get a little gooey each time she has a fantasy about being kissed and the hint at a much deeper passion between Hector and Julie.
• Lie: Well she was lied to from birth that she was a princess, and then she tried to hide it from her best friend once she found out.
• Big Emotional Outburst: Oh we have some classics with “I am throwing your charm friendship bracelet in the gutter” and the end speech where she takes the crown.
• Dance Sequence: Oh isn’t this wonderful! We have several! Yay! My favorite is the one between the chauffer and the Queen but I also enjoy the ridiculous stupid cupid song done at a beach bash that rivals some classics like Back to the Beach and One Crazy Summer.
• Wedding: Again no. Hmm. No wonder I was so angry on Tuesday. There are some really lovely ball gowns though.
• Rewatchable: Yes, yes of course. Disney has a hold on me, I can’t help it. I should hate Disney, but I can’t it’s just so fakely good and wholesome!
• Love: We have the Grandma/Daughter love, the love for country, and then the “oh you’re my best friend’s brother, I never noticed you there before but oh wait I think I love you” love.
• Fantasy: She finds out she’s a princess of a small but quaint little European country. Fantasy level is at its highest.
• Journey of the Main Character: I love this transformation from the awkward unsure girl to a lovely woman to be. And the scene with Palo the hairdresser to making her physically go through this journey is a riot. Especially because he makes her look like a whore.
• Body Count: This movie begins because the dad died… leaving the country to her… that’s 1!
• Music Montages: Yes. Lovely.
• Strong Female: This is the beginnings of a strong female with the overseeing done by a mother and grandmother who are both pretty darn strong and independent. Good role models all the way around! Yay Disney!

Day 10: America’s Sweethearts

• Giddy: This one doesn’t set off the fireworks that some of Julia’s other classics does, but maybe that’s because she’s outshone in some scenes by Catherine Zeta…but the end does it every time. There is nothing like a public profession of love to get me to do a little jig of joy.
• Lie: We’ve got Billy Crystal making a lie out of their relationships and Catherine lying to everyone so yes we have some good satisfactory lies
• Big Emotional Outburst: Yes several
• Dance Sequence: Not really, unless you count the scene of the Nazi’s dancing in the movie they all are watching the premiere of.
• Wedding: NO! Man! What does a girl have to do around here to get a little old-fashioned- symbol-of-a- woman- being- property- handed-from- one-man- to- another WEDDING?!
• Rewatchable: Oui!
• Love: Here is that perfect moral lesson to all slightly fat females like myself: If you want true love, lose 60 pounds.
• Fantasy: Well, personally being an actress who has NEVER been treated so nice, I think it’s a fantasy that actors are pampered so well but I really think that maybe the really big stars are and the real fantasy is the dream that I could ever be treated that way. Also, when you have 2 super hot women, I mean ridiculous hot, in a RC you instantly have a great Fantasy.
• Journey of the Main Character: Other than losing 60 pounds… hmmm I don’t see it. I really don’t. Pretty much everyone stays the way they are, they just switch around some partners.
• Body Count: None. And this film really could have gotten away with one too!
• Music Montages: None.
• Strong Female: I’m going to say no. Julia’s character has been up until this movie a pathetic shadow of her sister. And she never really takes her own stand until the very very end. And even that is only through the help of a man. So no. And Catherine’s character- oh hell no!