Meet Me in Montauk

I know I've mentioned this movie about three times now in my blog but....I love it. And I've had a couple margaritas today so I'm feeling nostalgic so.....suck it. Let me explain why it's so good: It's Jim Carrey's best performance. Hands down. And I love him but it's the only movie he doesn't overact in. You completely forget you're watching Jim Carrey and instead you just think you're watching some awkward insecure mumbling guy. Which I obviously love. And some scruff and long hair does that guy wonders. Also someone who usually overacts, Kate Winslet comes across as genuinely American and genuinely compulsive (which usually goes hand in hand...mini-epiphany). It's the most realistic love story, teaching us that through all the fights and bullshit and heartache you still want to remember it and you still want to feel it and it's all worth it, just to feel it. Walking out onto the ice, fearing that it might crack, and going all the way out anyways is what life is all about. It also captures the dreamlike state so closely. And the more you watch it the more you understand what the fuck is going on and what the movie is trying to say.
This is one of the last scenes and I'm not a crier but it alwaaaays makes me cry when they re-do their goodbye because they never had one. The movie also has a lot of parallels to my past, right down to Montauk so maybe I'm a little biased and oversensitive to it, but it's soooo well done. I highly recommend it to everyone. But you have to watch it twice. At least. If you're dumb watch it at least 17 times and don't tell me you don't get it cause I'll hate you.

My Favorite Unconventional Film Heroines (But Oh So Conventional in My Brain)

Penny Lane from Almost Famous (Kate Hudson): I'd go so far as to say maybe even my favorite. I really wish Kate Hudson didn't go on to do about 8 billion terrible romantic comedies cause she was just SO good in this. She's a free-spirited sixteen year old band-aid (don't call her a groupie) who takes flights to hotels to hang out with her favorite band and friends whilst prancing around to Cat Stevens. Even the most care-free of gals get hurt. Her best scenes are when she sees the guitarist Russell for the first time again (which I posted) and gets teary eyed while pretending they never met, when she dances to The Wind in the empty theater on napkins, when she gets fucked up on Quaaludes and asks before she overdoses "Why doesn't he love me?", and when learning Russell traded her in a poker game for a case of beer asking "What kind of beer?". She makes the whole movie and you quickly learn everyone in the movie falls in love with her. In the end, she ends up saving the day and flying off to Morocco. Like all good girls do. And with a kick ass wardrobe along the way.

Sophia from Vanilla Sky (Penelope Cruz): Cameron Crowe directed both Kate Hudson as Penny Lane and Penelope Cruz as Sophia so he must know what he's doing. His female leads are usually ethereal, care-free, and vulnerable. Sophia is just kind of cool. Floats through the scenes. She makes some lines cool that would otherwise be really lame with her awesome laid back delivery. Like when she says "I will see you in another life when we are both cats." She's just really cool in this movie. Also the scene when she shows up at his funeral is really great. She's overwhelmed but happy when she looks back at the small amount of time they shared together. Her performance is echoed in the line from the movie that is also a booming life lesson: It's the little things. There's nothing bigger, is there?

Clementine from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Kate Winslet): I was so far off the Kate Winslet train until I saw this movie. It's definitely in my top 3 movies. It will single-handily help you get over the worst break-up of your life. It's a good lesson on overcoming any type of pain for that matter. She goes from someone who seems flighty and fun to the nightmare bitchy girlfriend you hear your bro's complaining about. She's a self-destructive brainy emotionally abusive boozebag with mood swings. Basically an exaggerated version of everyone I know. She teaches us that any experience, whether painful or not, is worth feeling and remembering as long as you feel SOMETHING. Go through it. Go through the fights and the bullshit and the boredom and the failures because it's something. Even though this movie is supposed to come across as dream-like and surreal it is the most realistic movie about love I have ever seen. It's also my favorite performance by Jim Carrey. It's the only movie he doesn't overact in and he completely becomes that character. She guides him back to her though memories and even though she's messed up you want it to work out for her. She's an emotional underdog. SEE THIS MOVIE and thank me when you're done. Meet me in Montauk...

"This is it Joel. It's gonna be gone soon. What do we do?"

Violet Parr from The Incredibles: A quirky shy female with shiny hair who doesn't know how great she is? I don't know why I'm drawn to her... Can't quite put my finger on it...

Roberta from Now and Then (Christina Ricci): OK so maybe her role in Sleepy Hollow or even Casper (so good) would have been more predictable for me to pick. But I love her in this movie! She tapes down her boobs, pretends to drown, and calls her best friend a fat ass all the time. And threatens to kick the shit out of Devon Sawa. Also the scene where she finds the newspaper article about her mom's car crash in the library archives and starts yelling "Why did she have to die?"...tear! Also reminds you of what they say in the boy version of this movie Stand By Me: You'll never have friends like you did when you were twelve. She grows up to be Rosie O'Donnell but we'll ignore that part.

Sally from When Harry Met Sally (Meg Ryan): Besides the obvious of faking an orgasm in a crowded restaurant to prove a point, she's the least annoying high maintenance honey ever! She can hang with her best guy friend while stubbornly upholding the principle that men and women can be just friends without feelings (that principle ultimately fails but she gave it a good go). And the 80's outfits. Siiiiiick. Also when her best friend tells her he's in love with her she responds with "You say things like that and it makes it impossible for me to hate you. And I hate you. I really hate you." Maybe one of the only romantic comedies I actually like. You need a decent female lead like her to make a romantic comedy bearable and she does it. Thanks Meg! See you when your career is revitalized! Which will be never....oo....sorry...


Lauren from The Rules of Attraction (Shannon Sossamon): She's just really cool and chill in this movie but also divinely screwed up. She loses her virginity by getting raped at a theme party while a guy videotapes her and pukes on her back and smokes the doobs with her professors. She looks at pictures of people afflicted with STD's so she'll abstain from getting laid. And her homemade wispy sideburns are only cool on her. She has the non-nerdy Anthropologie look going on. She delivers such a good line saying "Know me? Know me? You will never know me. Nobody can ever really know anyone else". This movie sounds really dark and weird and it is but I really like the book and she's just a cool character. Also tune in for Dawson from Dawson's Creek being a psycho coke-head. The scene where he takes a dump before class is particularly disturbing. Oh and Jessica Beil also plays a huge bulimic whore in it. So many good characters haha. Lauren is actually the innocent one, which everyone talks down to but the movie proves she's the best off out of all of them. Think before you act like a bulimic whore. It will serve you well. Lesson learned.

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