I find that as time goes by I'm less and less into movies. It's difficult for me to convince myself to spend two hours in front of a TV anymore; after a while my hands just itch for something to do.
I have the exact same problem. Haven't watched any of my movies in quite a while. Mostly when I want to show a movie I already own to someone who's never heard of it.
Anyway looking at my previous post, an additional movie suggestion that will seem stupid to anyone who's never seen it: Slap Shot. On the surface (i.e. if you just read the jacket or something without actually, you know, watching the movie) this is a slapstick hockey movie, no different than any cheap "sports comedy" like Waterboy or Happy Gilmore.
But a funny thing happened on the way to bad film clichés.
1) Paul Newman is the lead and does a great job. My opinion that "Paul Newman couldn't make a bad movie" notwithstanding, this movie really does prove that that man
never phoned it in. He really pulls the whole movie together.
2) Most of the supporting cast were actual minor league hockey players. In any other movie, they'd stick out of course, but here the choice was genius. It's a comedy, so they all have rather strictly defined roles "The pervert", "The kid", etc. but none of them ever have that phoney two-dimensional feel that the supporting cast usually has in comedies
3) A slapstick movie about hockey... written by a woman? This resulted in a script that became much more than a silly flick where people get beat up with sticks on ice.
4) Holy fuck is Strother Martin funny in this.
It's a very human movie. The characters have a rare accessibility. It's as if someone told the director to make a shitty throwaway gimmick comedy and instead of just accepting this, he did everything in his power to make this a movie that was still funny as hell, but has that rare pathos and a tinge of sadness that make a real comedy so much better.
I know I probably hold it in higher esteem than it deserves, and by no means would I claim it's the best movie ever, but it really is worth watching at least once. If you like absolutely nothing else about the movie, it's got a few laughs that'll definitely make it worthwhile.
P.S. If anybody ever tells you there are sequels, they're a LIAR. FILTHY FILTHY LIARS.
P.P.S. Apologies If I ever suggested this on these boards before. Can't remember if I have.
