Monday, January 29, 2007

The Quirk Factor

It may come as no surprise to you, but there is a certain quirk factor that permeates through the very recesses of my existence from the items I create to the daily media medly I partake in. Fortunately last weekend my media medly consisted of these two delightfully quirky examples of cinema...

Broken Flowers...



Written and directed by a master of contemporary quirk, Jim Jarmusch, and starring Bill Murray, this is a lovely little comedic tale of loves lost, expectations thwarted and realizations made, all from behind the wheel of a rented Ford Taurus.

Here's the synopsis I found on imdb:

"The resolutely single Don Johnson has just been dumped by his latest lover, Sherry. Don resigns himself to being alone yet again and left to his own devices. Instead, he is compelled to reflect on his past when he receives by mail a mysterious pink letter. It is from an anonymous former lover and informs him that he has a 19-year-old son who may now be looking for his father. Don is urged to investigate this "mystery" by his closest friend and neighbor, Winston,
an amateur sleuth and family man. Hesitant to travel at all, Don nonetheless embarks on a cross-country trek in search of clues from four former flames. Unannounced visits to each of these unique women hold new surprises for Don as he haphazardly confronts both his past and, consequently, his present."

Bill Murray is delightfully droll as the movie's main character, Don Johnston. Jeffrey Wright plays Murray's neighbor, Winston, who is equally amusing in his sheer oddity. Both characters are endearing portraits of American men from very different backgrounds who come together in a search for meaning amidst life's small moments. Moreover, the on-screen rapport between Murray and Wright is not only fascinating to watch, but their relationship truly drives the flick. Upon the film's conclusion, I was left with the overwhelming feeling that these guys have been a screen team for years and that, my friends, is a testament to the amazing depth and breadth of talent these two seasoned actors exhibit.

And let's not forget about the film's creator, Jim Jarmusch. First of all, you gotta love a guy who's been sportin' this do for a bazillion years...



In addition to his upswept locks, Jarmusch can always, always be counted upon to provide a film with an exquisitely twisted premise, intriguing characters and cinematic vistas that cut a cross-section through the human landscape.

More of my Murray faves:
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou;
Lost in Translation;
The Royal Tenenbaums;
Rushmore;
Groundhog Day;
What About Bob?; and
of course all those SNL classics...

More of my Wright faves:
Basquiat; and
Syriana.

More of my Jarmusch faves:
Night on Earth;
Mystery Train; and
one of the best guest appearances ever on a show that was SO wrongly cancelled, Fishing with John.

The quirkfest continued this weekend last with a screening of Little Miss Sunshine...




"Olive is a little girl with a dream: winning the Little Miss Sunshine contest. Her family wants her dream to come true, but they are so burdened with their own quirks, neuroses, and problems that they can barely make it through a day without some disaster befalling them. Olive's father Richard is a flop as a motivational speaker, and is barely on speaking terms with her mother. Her uncle Frank, a renowned Proust scholar, has attempted suicide following an
unsuccessful romance with a male graduate student. Her brother Dwayne, a fanatical follower of Nietzsche, has taken a vow of silence, which allows him to escape somewhat from the family whose very presence torments him. And Olive's grandfather is a ne'er-do-well with a drug habit, but at least he enthusiastically coaches Olive in her contest talent routine. Circumstances conspire to put the entire family on the road together with the goal of getting Olive to the Little Miss Sunshine contest in far off California."

Come on...any film that references Nietzsche, Proust and Rick James before its conclusion is alright in my book. Really though, if you haven't seen this film yet, you must. The cast is well chosen, the scenes are brilliant exhibitions of great writing combined with equally great acting and this film is fun-ny...yes, this flick is sure to provoke more than a few laughs from its audience.

Toni Collette was just brilliant as the flawed family matriarch. Greg Kinnear was imminently endearing in his consistent striving to ascend the mediocrity in which he finds himself using his self-devised 9 step methodology. Steve Carrell? Can you say gay, suicidal, Proust scholar? 'Nuff said. Alan Arkin had me in side-splitting fits of glee, while Paul Dano and Abigail Breslin gave performances assuring them many a future cinematic gig.

Jeez, have you seen this film yet?

More of my faves by this star-studded cast:
Definitely check out Collette in Muriel's Wedding, The Sixth Sense and About a Boy;
Kinnear in Nurse Betty, As Good as It Gets and Mystery Men (it doesn't get much quirkier than this film);
who doesn't love Carrell in The Office; and
Arkin parts too numerous to detail, check this list.

Any quirk factor movies you'd think I would like? Let me know in my comments!

Happy Monday everyone!

17 comments:

Madge said...

Delurking to say that I'm a big big fan of the quirk.

As for films...

Death to Smoochy
Mars Attacks

are two faves. Oh, and The Big Liebowksi (Coen Bros. get a big thumbs up for redoing Raymond Chandler).

Heather Cox said...

I enjoyed Sunshine and loved Broken Flowers. I adore Bill Murphy. :)

I love the Coen Bros. movies too, the Big Lebowski & Fargo are my faves.

The Fisher King is another of my all time faves. It's directed by Terry Gilliam (of Monty Python fame) and stars Jeff Bridges, Robin Williams, Mercedes Ruehl, Amanda Plummer.

Also Blast from the Past with Brendan Fraser, Alicia Silverstone, Christopher Walken, Sissy Spacek. Love that one.

Megan said...

If you like Muriel's Wedding's Aussie quirk, might as well pick up The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (about two drag queens and a transgender driving a pink bus from Sydney to Alice Springs) and Strictly Ballroom (part of Baz Luhrmann's Red Curtain Trilogy).

Anonymous said...

I'm a huge Jim Jarmusch fan, but Dead Man is my favourite.

Kiki said...

I LOVED Little Miss Sunshine!! I was hooked from Alan Arkin's very first expertly-spewed expletive about the chicken! :)

I haven't seen Broken Flowers yet but I will definitely pick it up!

Susan Schwake said...

well, not only do we have the same taste in MUSIC, but in films. why do you live on the OTHER coast?
great lists here ms.LL

Anonymous said...

Check out [url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0381505/]Pretty Persuasion[/url] for a quirky dark comedy. Evan Rachel Wood is fantastic. And you get a little Ron Livingston of [url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151804/]Office Space[/url] fame.

Nano said...

If you like quirky thrillers, check out Guy Ritchie's Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels & Snatch. Unfortunately, I think Ritchie peaked with these 2 films and I haven't seen anything worthy of comparison since. Bagdad Cafe, a blast from the past. Lots of quirkiness and great cast chemsitry. And finally, because for a first time post, I'm trying to keep this short (Haha), these are worth a look: Coffee & Cigarettes (Jarmusch), City of Lost Children, The Saddest Music in the World, 11:14, and Big Night.

Maggie The LadyHawk said...

So I'm writing your list down and come here to comment, just to write MORE down from the suggestions from your lurking fans.

I just hope my small town video store has some of these!

Ellen Bloom said...

"Mystery Train" is one of my all-time faves! Alan Arkin in "The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming" is another classic!!!

Netflix is my best friend.

lisa solomon said...

SO ODD - just talking about mr. jarmush like 20 minutes ago.... dead man... gotta love dead man.....

xo

Desperate Housewife said...

Hmm, I can't think of any good quirk, I'm a horror and chick flick gal all the way. But I'm dying to see Sunshine.

Anonymous said...

Old, small, foreign, "War of the Buttons" just sick and twisted with a small cameo my Robin Williams "Shakes the Clown"

Tandi said...

Great reviews! I too am a lover of the quirk.
Little Miss Sunshine was great. The ending simply can't be topped. Broken Flowers- not so much, a little too slow for my taste. But I LOVED Happy Endings with Lisa Kudrow and the hot EMT from third watch and Tom Arnold and Maggie Gyllenhall.
And The World's Fastest Indian, although it's not super quirky.

Stephen said...

I should be able to list a gazillion, but I get mindfreezewhen I think about films (maybe there are too many in my head). I liked Broken Flowers, but need to see Little Miss Sunshine! I really love Toni Collette, but can't look at her without playing "Dancing Queen" over and over in my head...

I have gotten into Aussie films some down on this end of the earth. You might like Soft Fruits, Mullet, and Alexandra's Project, although that's a bit more psycho than quirky...

stuffed said...

Love Bill and Jim. Maybe a little too much.

Megalion said...

Addicted to Love... a romantic comedy with Meg Ryan and Matthew Broderick that is definitely not your norm. Falling in love while stalking your ex's?

I also highly recommend I.Q. also starring Meg Ryan...quirk factor here coming from Walter Matthau playing Meg's grandfather/uncle? An he's Einstein.

If you've not seen Adventures of Baron Munchausen ... you ARE MISSING OUT!! Quirky Fantasy FUN!

Associate. Ok so not clearly quirky but anytime Whoopi gets dressed up in old white man drag, sign me up!

Bandits. A con man/bank robber caper flick with Bruce Willis, Cate Blanchett and Billy Bob Thorton. Quirk Factor: the romantic triangle.

Being John Malkovich. Quirk factor: being john Malkovich! It's literal not metaphorical!! I need to watch this again pronto.

Best In Show: I know I already mentioned this but not kidding here!

Benny & Joon - chances are you've seen this but if not... Depp is a wacky kid assigned to caretake for Mary Stuart Masterson who is ... I think autistic? Some kind of disorder where she's pretty functional but does very weird things sometimes.

If you like stupid boy type of quirky, meaning Pauly Shore, I recommend his "Son-In-Law", "Encino Man", and "Bio-dome" movies. The latter is especially "stupid" but sometimes you're in that kind of mood.

For a more smarter college boy prank movie... go with Real Genius (80s movie with Val Kilmer)

And oh jeezus... there's an entire TV show full of quirk in Boston Legal. James Spader & Will Shatner make a fabulous team!! Denny Crane!

Bulworth - this was a surprise cause I don't think much of Warren Beatty but I do adore Halle Berry. Quirk: political suit looking for votes has some kind of brain stroke and ends up getting into the ghetto scene and becomes a homeboy.

Calendar Girls - If you've already seen this... my secret love I mentioned earlier is BETTER imo. If not, it's surprising fun with more women in their 50s and up.

Connie & Carla - I'd be shocked if you haven't seen this since you appear to love Toni Collette. But if you haven't... WATCH IT!!

Cutthroat Island - ok I have to confess, I love pirate movies, even "bad" ones. My all time favorite movie ever that I'd want if I was shipwrecked on an island is the uber camp "The Pirate Movie" from 1982, movie parody of musical Pirates of Penzance. So... Geena Davis playing an empowered female pirate lady in search of her father's buried treasure? FUN FUN FUN! Yes it's not the best movie. It's campy at times. But so what? It's a FReaKING PIRATE MOVIE!! The quirk of this movie has a lot to do with Geena's dialogue and actions.

Defending Your Life - Albert Brooks movie that an ex introduced me to. He dies and finds himself in some kind of limbo area that looks and feels like a resort where he is forced to... defend his life and choices he made. IMO the whole premise is pretty quirky and its well executed. Meryl Streep is wonderful in this.

Diary of a Mad Black Woman - I'd never heard of Tyler Perry before seeing this movie but now I adore him. He's a crotchety old black woman in a black man's body. So what does he do? He lets her out in the form of Madea who isn't the woman in the title but steals the movie anyways. He wrote and directed it and the follow up "Madea's Family Reunion" which is also not to be missed. You will love Madea as much as I do I'm sure.

Disorderlies - 80s comedy starring the Fat Boys, typical weak plot line but I dunno, it's always really struck my funny bone. Quirk: It's the FAT BOYS, what else do you need? I think this is easily one of those you either love it or hate it. I for one HATE Death to Smoochy and am really not fond of Mars Attacks as mentioned by someone else but I know other people love them so.. I think this is the same. It also helps if you have a fondness/nostalgia for 80s screwball comedy cause this and Real Genius are prime examples of them.

Distinguished Gentlemen - one of the last (if not last) REALLY funny movies that Eddie Murphy made... it seems to cap the end of the great funny movies he made in the 80s and early 90s. Yep... a check on IMDB confirms it. Yea some of the later movies are funny but none really capture the Eddie from Golden Child, Beverly Hills Cop, Coming to America, 48 Hours, etc. Quirk: Eddie plays a small time con who figures out that government is the biggest con of all and decides to run for Congress and get his piece of that pie.

If Adventures of Babysitting is one of your 80s madcap zany comedy loves... check out "Dont Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead"

Dream a Little Dream - one of those where I watched it first cause of the Coreys (hey I was a kid!) but it was just a weird movie til I rewatched it several years later when I was mature enough to get the movie's concept. Quirk: what you want more than the Coreys?? Ok.. try an old man who is trying to transcend consciousness or something like that and ends up switching bodies with one of the coreys... I think Haim? So then you have a ViceVersa/Like Father Like Son/Freaky Friday dilemma going on. But what makes this one stand out more is that it's also a love story about the love that the old guy has for his wife. It was definitely weird subject material for a movie that I think was intended for kids/teens. I still watch and enjoy as an adult though.

Duets - this is the ONLY movie that I like Gwyneth Paltrow in. It's an ensemble cast featuring Huey Lewis, Paul Giamatti, Scott Speedman, Maria Bello, etc. It's about a bunch of people who are or get involved with the karoke circuit. Quirk: It's Karoke!! And Road Tripping!

Reese Witherspoon is an actress that I don't like but am forced to admit, she's good in most of what she does. But the one movie where I actually truly like her for doing and her performance in it is Freeway. Quirk: well not much of an obvious one but the way she plays a girl with no seeming inhibitions or morals who runs away and then ends up beating the crap out of Kiefer Sutherland... was very intriguing. I must now rewatch this again immediately.

I think why Meg Ryan ruled as queen of romantic comedy was how well she pulled off zany and quirky. But when I list French Kiss in this lineup, it's Kevin Kline who is more the quirk in this RC. Meg's slightly neurotic character winds up in Paris by herself and Kevin is a thief who snuck his latest "find" into her bag in the airport in order to get through customs where he is always well searched. Then he has to try and get it back from her.

Galaxy Quest - if you are a star trek fan or even just like star trek and have been in any kind of "fandom" at all... you'll love this. It's such a fun sendoff of fandom that it's not even funny. This was my first introduction to Sam Rockwell who is an extremely versatile and talented actor (and definitely kinda cute). I was amazed to find out that I'd seen him before in other roles, like a psycho meanie in The Green Mile. Sigourney Weaver getting a chance to do a send up of the typical female's role in sci fi is also very worth watching. Alan Rickman alone is worth this dvd's weight in gold.

If you like any of the current dance related "reality shows"... you might enjoy this 80s take on it. Girls Just Want to Have Fun featuring Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt. I remember seeing this movie as a girl and really noticing Helen... I KNEW she would be big one day and boy did I cheer when she became a TV and movie star!!

Walter Matthau made some really funny comedy movies in his late years. Admittedly I've never seen his earlier work cause I have a hard time watching things made earlier than 1980 but he and Jack Lemmon in Grumpy Old Men and its sequel, Grumpier Old Men are not to be missed. And then they did Out to Sea which was also a lot of fun. When JL died... I felt so sad for WM cause their on screen antics really spoke of a good off screen friendship. It didn't seem to be so coincidental that WM died not long after JL.

Alright so I really have a thing for cross dressing movies or gender switching... but Hot Chick stands out from the crowd because I can't think of any other movie where the main character is a woman switched into a man's body. Usually it's vice versa. Ellen Barkin in Switch comes to mind... also a great not to be missed movie. But Rob Schneider plays the male body and boy he does a really good job of it too. Rachel McAdams (from Notebook) is the female spirit and she's really good at playing Rob's gross slobby male character too!

Kevin Smith. He's an amazing writer and director. All of his movies are extremely quirky and also filled with a lot of cussing/dick & fart jokes but the heart that is in them is amazing. I highly recommend Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy and Dogma to anyone. Especially the latter two. Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back will only make sense to people who love/adore the first four movies. It took me a couple viewings to love it cause I was hoping for more of a cohesive power punch that is Amy & Dogma... it's more of the first two movies combined and amped up on steriods. But... here's where most of his fandom split... he'd cultivated a huge following among men who are really into movies with smart dialogue but also lots of stuff that pander to their GUYness. So Jersey Girl was a huge departure from this because it's about a man and his daughter and finding love again after losing the love of his life in childbirth. This movie is borne out of Kevin's reflections of being a father and a husband. So essentially it's a Romantic Comedy but the quirk is that you have Kevin Smith's dialogue in it and the man is a wizard at it. George Carlin plays the grandfather and he is not to be missed.

Ok another favorite "genre" of movies that I love besides cross dressing/gender/body switching is... "fish out of water". (well if you think about it, the former is a subset of the latter!) That's why Star Trek IV is my favorite because Kirk and Spock in SF in the 1980s? VERY out of place. Now do it again as a knight transported into the 90s with his manservant... and cast Jean Reno as the knight and you have a fantastically fun movie. For me "fish out of water" stories are usually Quirk personified because the fun of watching someone trying to navigate a whole new world to them is never old. BTW Meg Ryan did one of these... in Kate & Leopold but since it was a flat out romantic comedy, it didn't quite hit the quirk button as hard. That's another reason why I like Just Visiting so much, because Jean Reno doesn't fall in love with the girl (Christina Applegate) at the end. She's actually his many great granddaughter I think.

Quirk... romantic triangles are common but sometimes you can throw some quirk into it... say by throwing in a priest and a rabbi? Ben Stiller & Edward Norton in Keeping the Faith... I believe it was Ed's directing debut? In any case, very fun watch. It's also a rare movie lead appearance by Jenna Elfman.

Speaking of Fish out of water stories... how about John Goodman playing a typical "big dumb American" who turns out to be the last surviving heir to the British throne when the rest of the Royal family is killed in a freak accident? King Ralph!

Ok maybe I push the line a little bit when I throw in Life as a House. It's a drama about a father and son who are estranged. Father (Kevin Kline) finds out he is dying and decides to try and repair his relationship with son (Hayden Christensen) who is going through a very rebellious, angry and lost teen period... but without telling him about his impending death. Quirk: they are living in a glorified shack in the equivalent of Malibu shoreline and Kevin tries the force the bonding process by making Hayden work on building a new house with him. The toliet is in a freestanding wardrobe :P

The Mexican surprised me. I was expecting some kind of typical romantic story deal but kind of like Addicted To Love, it ended up being very quirky with its non RC elements. Like a gay hitman who is not what he seems played by James Galdofini (perhaps its just funnier cause its hard not to think of Tony Soprano when you see him), Brad playing kind of a goofy guy who's barely keeping his shit together. But I guess now that I've told you that it's kind of weird and zany... you'll be expecting it and it won't seem as such to you. But oh well. It was quirky for me :)

Mona Lisa Smile. Kind of a younger and female version of Dead Poets Society minus death. Maggie Glyllenhaal is my favorite in this ensemble female cast. Forget Little Women, I'd take this movie any day. Trivia: Kirsten Dunst is in both movies.

Let's take a little departure here for a moment from romantic comedys, dramas and etc. What about action movies? The 2 quirkiest action movies for me are both ones where the female lead wasn't just some damsel in distress but was the WIFE of the male lead as well. In True Lies, the madcap fun was seeing an ordinary housewife who didn't know about her husband's secret life as a action movie hero and falls for a con man who pretends to be one.... but then she finds out that she's already married to the mysterious danger spy that she fantasizes about. In Mr & Mrs Smith, the wife is a kickass "spy" type herself... but neither knew about each other until they wind up both being hired for the same hit. Hard to imagine that you haven't heard of either one of these but being "action" movies, you might have passed before... but both movies are extremely funny for dealing with the situational quirks of what do you do when you're married to a bad ass secret agent type?

Mr. Mom, 80s "fish out of water" comedy that was funnier back then cause we were less used to seeing Daddy doing Mommy duty but I still think it's worth watching. Michael Keaton was hilarious.

ooohhh Mumford!!! Ensemble cast with multiple storylines revolving around a guy who moves to a small 2 psychiatrist town and sets up shop as psychiatrist #3. The quirk? Besides the patients who are unusual quirky people... he's not really a psychiatrist.

Out of Sight... I guess this classifies as action movie too but if you loved the Ocean's movies and thought George Clooney was fantastic as the dapper con man (oh what a coincidence, he plays one in O Brother Where Art Thou as well)... well then you can get more Dapper George in this flick that costars Jennifer Lopez well before she was JLo. The quirks abound between the dapperness and JLo's conflict of interest. Don Cheadle is also in this movie as a kind of thuggish wannabe dapper but isn't criminal.

Another queen of romantic comedy especially the screwball "fish out of water" kind is Goldie Hawn... and Overboard remains a favorite of mine where she's a rich snobby wife who pisses off small town carpenter/odd jobs man, Kurt Russell, but then she gets amensia and no one claims her so he figures he will and get his revenge by making her his housemaid by convincing her that she's his wife. Goldie's very whiny in this but that's good cause what else would you expect from a rich beverly hills woman who finds herself in this situation? Isn't that what the novelty behind The Simple Life was all about?

Outrageous Fortune, my introduction to Bette Midler and Shelly Long... AND George Carlin. Another zany 80s screwball adventure. LOVE this movie.

Playing By Heart, another ensemble deal with a stellar cast. I feel that it got overshadowed by another ensemble movie released around the same time (can't remember which one it was) but it's still very good. It's the Deep Impact to Armageddon... the Thirteenth Floor to Matrix. Quirk: The three daughters/sisters and their personalities... and the "anger ball"!

Ready to Rumble... I don't know if it's really quirky in itself or its just quirky that I ended up loving this movie that's about wrestling so much. We have Scott Speedman again along with David Arquette as boys who've never really grown up even though they're technically adults. They live and breathe wrestling and embark on an adventure to meet their wrestling hero played by Oliver Platt.

which reminds me of a movie I skipped over... Gunshy... fantastically quirky movie about an undercover cop, Liam Neeson, who is suffering severe PTSD from an previous operation gone bad. He's being forced to go under again and deal with a ruthless mafia character played by Oliver Platt. The quirk? How Liam decides to treat his PTSD and the truth about Platt's character. Both of which I don't want to say cause its more fun when you find out by watching. Look for Sandra Bullock in a delightful smaller role. This was her debut as a producer which is why her onscreen presence is so much smaller, she wasn't in this to be the female lead as she normally is in movies.

Should be no surprise that I include Sorority Boys here. 3 guys who get kicked out of their frat need a place to stay and get a lightbulb that dressing up as girls and getting to stay in a sorority house is a suitable idea until they're able to get back into their frat. Barry Watson, Michael Rosenbaum, and Harland Williams are all fantastic. Everytime I watch the movie, I keep changing which one is my favorite character, it goes around in a circle.

Tank Girl. She personifies quirk. I've never read the comic that the movie is based on but oh how I adore the movie. I'm really sad that it didn't hit bigger because then we might have gotten sequels. But then again, back then nobody knew how to make a sequel worth watching really. Lori Petty is a strong willed and minded feisty girl in a post armageddon desert world where water is king and thus power since no one can survive without it. Malcolm McDowall is a power hungry dictator and it's oh so fun to watch them match wits... like taking candy from a baby and Malcolm is not pleased. Also watch for a very fun musical dance number with a Cole hit "Let's Fall In Love". You've probably already seen this given your life for scifi ish stuff but in case you missed it (not hard to do)... now you know!

Teaching Mrs Tingle. Definitely not politically correct and probably just unpleasant for a lot of people these days given the unfortunate war ground that schools have become. In fact the original title of this movie was Killing Mrs Tingle but then Columbine happened and they changed the title. I think we have Barry Watson again along with Katie Holmes and a 3rd sidekick. Someone's desperate for perfect grades so they can get a badly needed scholarship but one teacher stands in the way. Helen Mirren is a bitter older teacher who seems to get some perverse pleasure in setting the bar impossibly high for her students. So someone gets the bright idea to kidnap her and change the grade in her book and turn it in and then release her only after its too late for her to change the grade back. Disturbing subject matter aside, I remember it to be funny and quirky and a great introduction to Helen Mirren's acting abilities.

If you think Tarantino's quirky, then you'll probably also like The Way Of the Gun which is very Pulp Fictionesque but in a linear format. Benecio Del Toro and Ryan Phillippe are two seemingly average joes who turn out to be small time criminals on a trip... to nowhere really. They just kind of cruise along and all kinds of weird things happen. I remember popping it in, not expecting much but watching it because of the actors and being completely shocked at the outcome of the opening scene in a movie theater parking lot. The guys are just hanging out against a car, car owner yells at them to get off, they basically say "make us" and the guy's girlfriends starts screaming at them and talking up all kinds of shit to the point where the guy has to fight them or look like a fool. If what happens next captures you as it did me, you'll love the rest of the ride.

If slap comedy, physical comedy, pratfalls tickle your funny bone... you might try the Jackass movies. I turned my nose up at them too but then a friend exposed me to actual clips and dammit I couldn't help laughing myself silly. When we went to see Jackass 2... we both about died AND peed ourselves laughing in the theater. It's amazing how inventive they can get in finding new ways to either hurt or disgust themselves and other people. I'm really excited about Jackass 2.5 coming out with new stuff soon plus SteveO mentioned being told to rest up for beginning filming on Jackass 3 in the spring. Give Jackass: The Movie a try and if you find yourself loving both movies and wanting more... there's the Jackass tv show... Viva La Bam... and the WildBoyz all of which feature the same basic cast/crew and antics. This definitely hit or miss stuff. Love it or hate it. But if you think you hate it yet have never actually seen any of it. Give it a try first.

Weekend at Bernies - two office grunts are "invited" to the boss's Hampton beach house for the weekend. It's a setup by the boss but he ends up being the one to be setup in that he's killed before they get there. Quirk? When they freak out... they decide the best thing to do is pretend that Bernie is still alive and spend the rest of the weekend trying to prevent anyone from realizing this. Yet another 80s screwball gem that might have been overlooked.

Not on my list but I just thought of it. Keeping Mum. Maggie Grace. Just watch it.

Ok that's a massive list but I just love movies, especially quirky movies or any movie that has some kind of quirk in it that makes me sit up and take notice. A movie that surprises me almost always gets a spot on my "movies I love and will tell everyone about" list cause these days they don't seem to happen that often.