where: UA EMERY BAY STADIUM 10 in Emeryville, CAwhen: Sunday, September 6th, 2009
show: 9:50 p.m.
costs: $10.75 Ticket + $4.50 small Zero Coke + $6.00 small Popcorn = $21.25
auditorium: 4
seat: 6th row, 11th column
synopsis: These boots were made for stalking!
Mary Magdalene Horowitz ( Sandra Bullock ) is an eccentric, socially inept cruciverbalist who is set-up on a blind date with CNN camera man Steve ( Bradley Cooper ). Believing that he is "Mr. Right" for her, she follows him around as he goes from one news assignment to the next.
noteworthy scenes: 1.) The Sacramento Herald; 2.) Career Day; 3.) The first date; 4.) "All about me;" 5.) Hostage crisis; 6.) Truck stop; 7.) Wheeler Community Hospital; 8.) Mary and Hartman Hughes ( Thomas Haden Church ); 9.) Media Pool tent; 10.) The accident; 11.) Jogging alongside CNN van; 12.) 1976 AMC Gremlin; 13.) Storm Drain; 14.) Deaf mute kids; 15.) The disguise; 16.) The rescue; 17.) The accident simulation; 18.) The note; 19.) Steve's interview; 20.) The imminent danger; 21.) Candle vigil; 22.) Reason for red boots; 23.) The fire hose; 24.) The "lift;" and 25.) Bonus scene after the ending credits.
audience reaction: The audience found this to be a funny and enjoyable movie.
recommendation: See this movie if you like silly Rom-Com and Road-Trip kinds of movies.
spoiler alert! The kids at Youngstrum School's "Career Day" asked what I felt were age-inappropriate questions of Mary. For someone with an high I.Q., Mary sure acted like an over-age nymphomaniac sex addict on her very first date---Whoa, Scary Mary! Why was "that" particular crossword puzzle printed in the newspaper in the first place? Don't they have editors working at that place? If so, an editor should have been fired instead. Even though she knew beforehand of the collapsed mine shaft, and even though she saw that that particular spot was cordoned-off by emergency personnel, and even though she could easily have seen that big, gaping hole in the ground in broad daylight since it was "down slope", she still somehow managed to let herself fall into the gap! Why was the fire hose, in an emergency situation, unattached? Why didn't Mary get rightfully credited for the improvised pulley system? For someone in her line of work, Mary didn't get the clues that she had more in common with Howard ( D. J. Qualls ).
fyi: Many years ago, I had this co-worker--also named Mary--who was highly intellectual ( Mensa member ) and very, very, very talkative. During breaks, she would dominate the conversations so much so that it was near impossible to squeeze-in a word or two sideways. My other co-workers called her "Motor Mouth." Finally, two supervisors ( a male and a female ) couldn't take it anymore so they tried and "cooked-up" an excuse to fire her. Once they came up with the right excuse, they got into a verbal argument over who got to have the privilege of firing Mary and looking good in front of the manager ( I stood just a few feet away from them as they were arguing). When Mary was called up to the manager's office, I knew what was about to happen. As Mary walked out in tears, her parting words were, "They just fired me." I felt sorry for her. And I never saw her after that.
I like Sandra Bullock a lot, although her "Mary" character would be just too much for a guy like me to handle ( even though I probably wouldn't mind being sexually dominated by such an one, the male "slut" that I am ). But I love my Peace and Quiet, the requisites of Meditation and Mantra Work, so I would probably just avoid--like the plague--a "Mary Magdalene Horowitz" type of girl in the first place.
word of advice: Give credit where it is due.
Don't kiss on the first date.
tidbits: I went to Oakland, CA earlier in the day today. Traffic was almost a breeze, what with the Bay Bridge closure. I was supposed to go to the lake with my friend and his family and then go out for dinner and a movie, but he was having mild diarrhea and I, myself, had an upset stomach ( I took a dose of a store brand of "pepto bismol" before I left the house ). So we just stayed-in at his place and watched Nostradamus and Apocalypse programs on the History Channel. Later, I cooked dinner for everyone since I'm a better cook than my friend.
On the way home tonight, I decided to see the movie which is the subject of this blog post, not the movie that my friends and I intended to go see this afternoon.
I have to go back to Oakland tomorrow for a Labor Day barbecue at my friend's oldest son's girlfriend's mom's ( whew! ) house. I hope that your Labor Day celebration will be happy and safe.
