Friday, May 31, 2013

My Favorite Movie Of All Time - FTSF

Today's Finish The Sentence Friday topic is My Favorite Movie of All Time.  Even though I've had a week to figure this one out, it has been hard.  I'm not a big movie buff, so I don't have a large repertoire of films from which to choose.  I dug deep and came up with three possibilities and finally settled on this one:



Although, I pretty much have it memorized, I did a little research to make sure I gave you all the correct facts and realized that this movie came out in 1996!!!!!  Holy Cow I feel old!!!  (And, I desperately need to see some new movies!)  Now, I didn't actually see the movie when it came out.  (1996 is the year I met my husband - I wasn't even married and didn't have my first daughter until 2002.)  In fact, I don't even remember when or where I first watched it - a rerun on TV is my guess.  I just know I loved it and I have watched it many, many times since then.

Here's a little synopsis:  It is a romantic comedy.  Obviously, it stars Michelle Pfieffer (Melanie) and a younger, dapper George Clooney (Jack).  Both are divorced parents.  Melanie has a son and is an architect trying to prove herself in a man's world.  Jack has a daughter and is a big-time newspaper reporter.   Their two kids go to preschool together and, through a series of miscommunications, they are late for a field trip and unable to go to school one day.  Therefore, Melanie and Jack - who cannot stand each other - end up trading "baby-sitting" services so they can each make it to their own big events.  Of course, at the end of this One Fine Day, they end up falling for each other.

See, she is NOT impressed.  And, look at that fancy cell phone!
So what is it I like about this movie so much??

1) It is set in New York City.  I am a Southern girl who grew up in  small town, so the idea of living in the fast-paced big city is intriguing to me.  I don't know that I would ever actually be happy living there, but it is always fun to imagine.

2) These two parents have some of the same struggles I have.  They are trying to get the kids to school on time.  Kids have to go potty at the most inconvenient times.  It rains.  It makes the story line seem more real and more personal.
I'm sure I've looked like this a few times after a rough day.
3) Jack really embraces being the dad, a role the character has previously not done well.  Who doesn't like to see a handsome guy embracing his little girl?!?!?

4) She gets the guy.  Of course she does.  It is a movie after all.  I think what gets me, though, is that she falls for a guy she never thought she would fall for.  He is arrogant and disorganized - completely the opposite of her.  This goes both ways, however.  He falls for the girl he never wanted to fall for - she's not the hot young thing he usually "targets."  She's a mom.  She's strong and has ambition.  She's not falling all over him like most women.  Aside from the fact that movies typically have happy endings, their union is unexpected.  Kind of like my hubs and me, maybe??  We don't have the personalities these characters have, but when I met him, he was definitely not the type of guy I thought I would fall in love with.  I think it's a pretty safe bet that he would have said the same about me.  However, that's another blog post for another day! :-)


Finally, I have to share my favorite line from the movie.  Toward the end, after a crazy, hectic day, the scene is set in Melanie's apartment.  She has put her son to bed and is in the kitchen in her flannel pants and a plain white T-shirt.  She's microwaving herself some dinner and spills something all over her shirt.  As expected, there is a knock at that door right at that moment.  It's Jack and his daughter who have come up with an excuse to go see Melanie and her son.  In the middle of the somewhat predictable love scene, she stops and tells Jack to give her a minute so she can freshen up and "look more like a woman and less like a dead mommy."  As a mom, I think that's quite possibly the best movie line ever.  

If you're interested, here's a video of the movie trailer.  Still can't believe it came out 17 years ago!!!




Finish the Sentence Friday

19 comments:

Stephanie Sprenger said...

How, how, how have I not seen this? Must watch it immediately... thanks for linking up!

Considerer said...

17 years ago? OUCH! I love this movie! Love the underlying saga with the goldfish, too.

clarkfarley said...

will have to try this movie... like both actors (I really started liking George in an under-rated movie 'Solaris') and Michelle, well that kinda goes without saying.
good Post

Lisa @ The Golden Spoons said...

Thanks Janine! Hope you have a good weekend, too!

Lisa @ The Golden Spoons said...

Hope you can find it- I actually have it on DVD, so I don't even know if it;s on Netflix or anything. Anyway, hope you can find it and enjoy! :-)

Lisa @ The Golden Spoons said...

Yes, OUCH! I even looked up pictures of what the kids look like now - even scarier! The goldfish is key to the entire plot, isn't it? Thanks for visiting!

Lisa @ The Golden Spoons said...

Thanks! Hope you enjoy the movie and thanks for visiting!

Chris HyeThymeCafe said...

Loved that movie, and the kids did an awesome job too! :) [#FTSF]

Kristi Rieger Campbell said...

Wow, I so did not need the reminder that it came out 17 years ago! I feel like it was so much more recently than that. And I, too, loved that movie. It's amazing how many movies I am remembering that I loved/love by visiting these posts.

Melissa S. said...

Good choice. It's amazing how well Clooney and Pfeiffer have aged. Bastards.

Lisa @ The Golden Spoons said...

Yes - the kids were great! Thanks for visiting, Chris!

Lisa @ The Golden Spoons said...

Me, too, Kristi! I keep reading these posts and thinking, "Oh, I had forgotten about that one!" And, yes, the realization that it has been 17 years was hard to swallow!

Lisa @ The Golden Spoons said...

Ha! Agreed!!

Kenya G. Johnson said...

LOL, I said holy cow too. I've seen that movie but it's been long enough to forget. Netflix sucks. I just looked this movie up so I could have something to fold laundry to, its not there. Dang. Again 17 years - holy cow!

Lisa @ The Golden Spoons said...

Oh - that stinks!! I have never liked Netflix- Nothing I want to see is ever on there.! Wish I could loan you my DVD!

4TamaraEden4 said...

Wow...17 years! I totally remember it as new. I thought George Clooney's movie daughter was so cute! She's a grownup now - yikes! What were your other two favorite movies you contemplated writing about?

Lisa @ The Golden Spoons said...

The other two were Jerry Maguire & Hope Floats. So glad you stopped by!

Michelle Nahom said...

Ok I want to see this again! Thanks for bringing that one back! Smiling at all those parenting moments!!

Lisa @ The Golden Spoons said...

You're welcome!! Thanks for visiting here! :-)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...