Saturday, April 04, 2009

Last night's date

I can't think of a better, more appropriate title than this. Perhaps at the end of the post, we'll see where I've landed and then maybe I can come up with something different. (And just in case I do, the original post title was "Saturday." Now, assuming I did come up with something better, aren't you glad I did. And . . . if I didn't, well . . . sorry.)

So, um, we've established that it is Saturday. So, step one accomplished.

Yesterday was Friday, and checking back to the content of that post, I see that I promised a mention of the movie that Lynda and I watched during our date.

It was, "I Love You, Man" starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segal. We both enjoyed it. We had previously liked "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" also starring Segal. And we are fans of "How I Met Your Mother." So, we knew we were in safe hands with at least half of the main cast. But, what about Paul Rudd?

All the magazines have been telling me that I need to appreciate Rudd now that he is headlining his own film. He's been everybody's boyfriend or male best friend for a decade or more but now he's only a few hits and several million dollars south of . . . um . . . lets say Mark Ruffalo territory? Is that right? Is Rudd bigger than Ruffalo now? Maybe its safer to say Rudd is shooting to be a more Ruffalo-flavored Jake Gyllenhaal?

Well . . .

Now that we've lost all of my readers that simply gave up and went on to something more entertaining, I'll continue by saying that we liked the movie in part because it wasn't too raunchy. So many of the movies that branch off of the Apatow tree (of which Segal is prime fruit and Rudd is a hybrid variety) tend to be funny, yes, but too reliant on being off color--or what the kids say is "authentic." There are some authentic cuss words within this movie, but it shies away from the body jokes and actually does a nice job of being realistic, funny, and appealing to adults.

Oh, and did I mention the significant role played by Canadian power rock trio Rush?! Indeed, Rush is a major character in the film, something that I was only too gleeful to remember and quick to apologize to Lynda for. You see, I grew up a Rush fan. (I attended the Power Windows tour back in the mid 1980s with my brothers.) But Lynda has never liked them and never fails to groan when she hears the particular voice of bassist and lead vocalist Geddy Lee coming from the iPod.

But I try not to take it personally. I don't have nearly the Rush discography that I did back in middle and high school. I shifted my allegiance to R.E.M. and other bands as I went into college. But Rush is part of my musical DNA, so I was glad to see them celebrated in this movie.

And I will say that Paul Rudd did a fine job acting as a "too nice" guy searching for a male friend before he gets married. Rudd was excellent portraying a guy that is aware of how to act "cool" but never, ever pulls it off correctly. And trust me when I tell you that only a trained actor call say "slappin' da bass" so badly in so many ways and be convincing. Rudd was appropriately cringe-worthy throughout, so much so that he could get a full time job on The Office if "Jim" ever wanted to leave the show.

So, it was a good night--noteworthy in the fact that we didn't really have a plan when we left the house and still we found a restaurant and a movie without arguments, confusion, or disappointment. There have been similar dates without initial direction that never ended so nicely.

I hope we have the chance to do it again soon, but adding up babysitting costs (well worth it, especially since AMB prodded us into the date in the first place), restaurant expense, movie tickets, and pizza for the kids . . . well, you know it adds up.

Thank goodness we can still afford it.

But we shouldn't push it or be greedy.

Until next time.

No comments: