Thursday, May 29, 2008

Movie Review - Made Of Honor

As sorry to admit this as I am, I do have to admit that, for the most part, I enjoyed this movie. Oh, it’s never going to be a top 10 or even a top 100 in my book, but for mindless entertainment with quite a few laughs it really was pretty good. Patrick Dempsey, the guy who will forever be Ronald Miller from Can’t Buy Me Love is the star of this romantic comedy and Donald’s still got it!

 

Dempsey’s character, Tom, is a shallow bachelor who has a few male friends, but whose best friend is Hannah, who he has been friends with since his college days. A comical meeting between the two by mistake on a Halloween night leads to a friendship that lasts for years. Ronald, er, Tom is a wealthy (inventor of coffee collars) womanizer who has set rules regarding dating and won’t break them. He seems happy until his friend Hannah takes a work trip to Scotland. While there Tom realizes how much she means to him and decides to tell her when she gets back. Unfortunately for him, Hannah has brought a guy with her, but it’s not just a guy, he’s her fiancĂ©.

 

The hijinks ramp up here as Hannah picks Tom to be her Maid of Honor at her wedding which is to take place in 2 weeks in Scotland. Trying various ways to get Hannah to not get married, most of which backfire on Tom, the MOH eventually throws in the towel the morning of the wedding and heads for home refusing to give the bride away.

 

Naturally he has a change of heart and returns to the wedding where Hannah looks at him and realizes they belong together and calls off her wedding.

 

The movie is predictable, yet is pretty funny in a lot of parts. While similar to My Best Friends Wedding, the biggest difference is the outcome. This time the best friends do get together.

 

The acting was solid. You’ll never mistake it for Can’t Buy Me Love, but the material isn’t as strong. Still good though. I thought the ending was a little rushed as the rest of the film really did a good job of developing the characters. That said the storyline up until the end was the real story. Tom’s friends were hilarious as they played ball and plotted with Tom to get Hannah. The late Sydney Pollack was excellent in his minor role as Tom’s dad. When Tom suggests that if he loves something he should set it free his father tells him that was said by a pussy and repeated by pussies ever since.

 

There were some pretty cool scenes of the Scottish highlands and even of New York City, but they didn’t overpower the film.

 

The bottoms line on this movie is that it is a good date flick. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a chick flick, but more macho types probably would. I’d give this one a 7.5 out of 10 (the IMDB.com scale) stars. It’ll probably be one of those that I stop on when it comes on cable, but no real need to get the DVD.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

May Wrap

Memorial Day has come and gone and with it the Indy Cars are gone for another 11+ months. We had a little bit of everything this month at the track. Rain, sun, wind, wrecks, temper tantrums, a new winner and whining aplenty! Congrats to Scotty D for winning. Scott's been as good as anyone over the past several years and this year the team put it all together and got the win. Good for them and Scott.

My biggest disappointment came on lap 156 when Tomas Scheckter broke a driveshaft leaving the pits thus ending what was looking like a win. Anyone that disputes he had a car that was as fast as Scotty D, Vitor or Marco is just a fool. But shit happens and as it was, Tomas finished 24th. Sorry to those sitting around me on Sunday as I was bent when he went out and I let the expletives fly!

A couple of other disappointments were losing half of Fast Friday and virtually all of Carb Day to rain. I know it's May in Indianapolis, but losing both of those sucked.

I'd like to see some changes to the qualifying process. I don't mind the three tries a day and that a bumped car can try again, but 11 per day should be scrapped.

I'd still like to see the race moved back to noon and the Coke 600 moved later an hour so some of the taxi boys could give the double a shot. It's not like a bunch of them will try, but having Stewart and Johnson couldn't hurt.

Huge crowd on Sunday and at the banquet it seemed like everyone wanted to mention it. Hell there were even people setting up places on the F1 track viewing mound along Hulman Boulevard! Other than a few rows at the bottom of the Tower Terrace the place was full.

It looks like this may have been our last year parking at 20th and Fisher. Cousin Anne is moving west. Oh we can probably park there in the future, but we'll have to pay and it just won't be the same. It's the end of an era! Looks like we're probably headed for the Coke lot.

All in all it was a good month. Sure 12 didn't win, but thankfully neither did 7! I got my wife a picture with Little Graham and had it autographed for her. She was thrilled. She asked me last night if I was sad that it was over. I'm not. As much as I love it, it wouldn't be special if it lasted any longer. F1, NASCAR and the bikes are just one weekend events. The 500 is three weeks and I love it, but I have to tell you, once race day arrives there is no way I want to go back on Monday because of rain.

That's about it. As for the IRL they are on to Milwaukee. They seem to have some momentum going now. I hope they can sustain it. I doubt it ever is as popular as it once was or that it can overtake NASCAR as some of the cheerleaders will tell you it will, but a good strong series is the next step!