The Notorious Bettie Page and American Dreamz are fantastic!

Cafe Society
1

My husband and I went to see 3 movies yesterday, and had a great time.

The Notorious Bettie Page - It’s very sweet, and Gretchen Mol is perfect and wonderful as Bettie. She comes off as very innocent about the pictures that were being taken. Even when Bettie has all her clothes off (and yes, there is full-frontal nudity), as one of the characters says about her (paraphrasing), “Even when she’s nude she doesn’t seem naked.”

Even though Bettie (talking about the movie character because I don’t know how true-to-life it was) had some pretty nasty things happen to her the incidents were never shown in a graphic way. Childhood sexual abuse was only hinted at, and a horrific gang-bang is only implied, not shown. The director Mary Harron (American Psycho), the writer Guinevere Turner (American Psycho screenplay), and Gretchen Mol (The Shape of Things) all obviously adore Bettie, and want to show her personality and work in the best possible light. They make even the most appalling of Bettie’s bondage photos look like innocent fun, and that was ok with me. I walked into the theater knowing very little about Bettie Page, having just seen a few of the photos over the years, and walked out adoring Bettie too. They even treat her conversion to born-again Christianity with respect and matter-of-factness. Of course it helps that Bettie never condemned or was ashamed of her past, even at her most fervent. This movie won’t be remembered at awards time, and that’s ok too, but I’m glad I saw it and I’d like to see it again. I hope it does well, to the benefit of all involved.

Friends With Money - This was ok, a trifle. I mainly wanted to see it to see all the actors together. Joan Cusack, Frances McDormand, Jennifer Aniston and Catherine Keener were all good. I wish it had been a better movie, but it was ok. Nothing special, nothing bad. It barely registers in my brain, because the next movie was…

American Dreamz - with a z! My husband and I haven’t laughed this hard at a movie in a long time. We thought it was hilarious, but we seemed to be laughing harder and more often than anyone there, so I make no claims that the gentle reader will find it as funny. I don’t know whether it helped or hurt that neither one of us has ever seen a single episode of American Idol, though we know who some of the players are (Abdul, Cowell, Jackson, Clarkson, Bice, Fantasia and a few others) just by unwilling cultural osmosis. Believe me, I don’t LIKE the fact that I know who Kelly Clarkson is. I don’t know if Mandy Moore is supposed to “be” Kelly Clarkson, but she’s really really good at whatever bitchy character her portrayal might be modeled after. Hugh Grant is a hoot as an insecure, nasty, self-absorbed wanker who hosts the show. Dennis Quaid is good as an airhead president who starts waking up out of his own self-absored stupor. They and others all come together for a American Idol-type show, and much hilarity ensues. To us, anyway.

It’s a pitch black comedy, very politically incorrect (it’s an equal opportunity offender), and funny as hell. We’re going out to see some more movies tonight (going to see Kinky Boots and Lucky Number Sleven) and we might just see it again. We want to in any case, soon. There were so many jokes we missed because we were laughing too hard at the last ones. This is a definite DVD buy. There are lots of great quotes in it, and I think it’ll become something of a cult classic.

I’m not sure of it being a hit among the general public. Something or another in this movie will almost certainly offend a majority of a general public-type audience (though nothing in it offended us), though I hope it’s still funny enough to overcome that for most people. I want the word-of-mouth to be good on this one, and not dragged down by whiny humor-impaired complainers. No offense to whiny humor-impaired folks who want to complain, but I’m going to laugh even harder while watching the movie when those complaints start coming in.

2

Bettie Page and I have so much in common: Hume-Fogg HIgh School, Peabody College…bangs…uh…

Wow, she was something.

I’m glad to hear the movie does her justice.

3

I just got back from American Dreamz and I nearly pissed myself laughing. I do watch American Idol and was just floored by some of the jabs. The pokes at the president made me wince even as I laughed, I just desperately don’t want that parody to be anywhere near true.

There’s a moment with a long-haired Bice looking finalist singing like Chris Daughtry with lyrics like “I’m a rocker, a genuine rocker, yeah yeah, I sing rock, loves me some rock songs, rock rock rock, I’m a rocker” that slayed me.

Hey Biggirl and rockle, y’all might be amused to hear that I couldn’t wait to get home to find out if either of you had seen it and started a review thread. Go see it, it’s a great time.

4

I’m glad you liked it. We saw it again last night and laughed just as hard. Even bits we’d seen in the trailers over and over we laughed at because they were now in context. I’m deeply interested in what American Idol watchers think, and you’re a good start. Tell me some of the jabs that I might have missed. Even things that seem obvious to you but since I’ve never seen the show might not mean anything to me. For instance, that little bobble-head of the host on the end of the camera, is that for real? How about shining a light on contestants who move on to the next round? That must be hell to coordinate if it’s done like that in the real show.

I loved the sappy songs that sounded like they could be real, but were obvious fakes, like that “Rock rock rock” song. The uh…uplifting theme song, with the lyrics “…American Dreamz…dreamz with a z” was funny, as was the Faith Hillish “Momma Don’t Drink Me To Sleep” song.

Btw, Kinky Boots was very cute. If you’ve seen the trailer, and liked it, you’ll like the movie. If you like small, quirky, British character comedies, you’ll like it. You’ll forget about it 2 minutes after you leave the theater, but you’ll have a good time while you’re there.

Lucky Number Slevin was ok. I liked it more than my husband did. It was all very improbable, but somewhat interesting.

American Dreamz really is a standout movie.

5

Oh lord, I just found my whiny humor-impaired complainers. Rotten Tomatoes shows American Dreamz as having a 45% score. A common theme is the dislike/hatred of Dennis Quaid’s doofus-assed Prezident. Running a close second is funny terrorists (especially one who loves showtunes). I quit reading before reading too many though. To heck with what critics say. We loved it, thought it was hilarious, we’ve seen it twice, and both want to see it again.

6

I saw The Notorious Bettie Page yesterday. I walked out realizing that the movie didn’t have much of a story arc. Not that it was a bad movie, but it seemed a bit bland and directionless. I did love Gretchen Mol’s acting, and the soundtrack featured a really good selection of period music. The use of black and white “stock”-looking footage was kind of interesting. Maybe I’m jaded, but I didn’t see anything appalling in any of the bondage scenes. It was made evident that the scenes were all play-acted with little or no actual “action.” It seemed like that was par for the course in the period the movie shows. I’d be surprised if currently available BDSM material didn’t feature actual spanking, struggling, etc.

7

It really wasn’t trying to be dead-on accurate, the host was a combination of host, judge and producer for instance, but that didn’t matter at all. It was great satire and the little differences didn’t detract from that at all.
The funniest character, Omar’s cousin, had nothing to do with AI, even. I wanna see this again just for that guy.

8

I saw American Dreamz last night, expecting nothing, and loved it. It was a really dark, nasty, hilarious little satire. I hate American Idol and don’t watch it, but at least I know who the major players are. Hugh Grant was great as the deplorable Simon Cowell/Ryan Seacrest hybrid host, and Mandy Moore was gold. Omer and his gay cousin were both hilarious, and I’m always happy to see Judy Greer (Hugh Grant’s female assistant) in anything. Dennis Quaid and Willem Defoe were too perfect as not-Bush and not-Cheney. I just liked the whole thing, and it’s rare when a movie I know nothing about and walk into by accident impresses me so much.

9

I’m glad to hear it. I take it the movie crashed and burned at the box office, which doesn’t really surprise me. It’s really too cynical to become a mass favorite. I still think it’s a cult film waiting to happen, after a little time has passed and it’s out on DVD. The next Office Space or Princess Bride.
Tweed: One can become quite detached from reality when one’s famous.
Sally: That sounds so cool.

10

I saw it opening weekend, and more or less share your take on it. What was interesting at the screening we attended was that before the show, while everyone was finding their seats, they played some of her original films, so as the movie progressed we got to see Mol re-create the scenes we had just seen. Also, there was a live burlesque show before the show started, which was nice. Alamo Drafthouse: Movies + Food +BOOBIES!

11

It’s funny, because in another thread, Walk the Line is getting bashed for being formulaic and predictable. Maybe TNBP should have focused on Bettie’s childhood sexual abuse…or no, they could have shown her as being really fucked up, then at the end, shown the childhood abuse as The Reason Why. The gang bang could have been milked for at least 20 minutes’ worth of terror and pathos instead of taking up only 2 minutes of screen time. It’s too bad Bettie never abused drugs or was an alchoholic. What’s a biopic without drugs and drink?

Personally, I thought the direction the movie went in was refreshing and interesting. Here’s a good girl, smart and cheerful and plucky, who happens to love posing, be it on the beach in a suit, wearing bondage gear, or nude. She never felt sorry or ashamed, and it didn’t ruin her life. That’s her story arc, and I was glad to see it.

It would have been appalling for the time, that’s what I meant. I’ll admit to being taken aback a bit when I saw the footage of her crawling blindfolded with a stick between her legs to hamper her movements.

12

I guess I didn’t think the movie was dark enough. It was pretty close to what really does happen, that we know happens, that it just wasn’t radical enough. I always like Hugh Grant so it wasn’t a complete loss but it was a slight send-up of the truth.