Sunday, March 25, 2007

Potato is an entree?

Those of you coming in through Bloglines or Google Reader, do you actually pay attention when the "Movies I've seen this year" list displays as an updated post? If not, that's cool; I'm tracking that more for my own neurotic love of lists than anything else. On the off chance that any of you do peruse it, however, I feel compelled to clarify that the Kicking and Screaming I watched on Friday night was not this one from last year, starring the one and only Will Ferrell. Not that there'd be anything to be ashamed of if I had spent one of my four precious Netflix rentals for the month on a simple-minded slapstick movie to which Rotten Tomatoes gives a whopping 44% Rotten rating... After all, I apparently had few qualms with admitting I'd used a Netflix choice to see High School Musical, so obviously it's not like I have much pride.

In any case, the Kicking and Screaming I did see this weekend was this one, from 1995. To be fair, the Rotten Tomatoes critics didn't like this film by the same name much better (it pulled in a mere 53% rating on the site), but if they'd asked me to weigh in, it would have a much higher ranking than that.

So anyway, I'm wondering now... has everybody but me already seen this movie? If so, why didn't anyone tell me about it? If not, why didn't we know about it twelve years ago when it was released? Why didn't it fall into the canon of classic young adult slacker angst movies, alongside Reality Bites, Singles, Say Anything, Dazed and Confused, and Empire Records? Why didn't I watch it over and over with my friends, until it became one of those endlessly quotable movies that inexplicably bonds the people who've seen and related to it and perpetually annoys the people who haven't? I mean, come on... consider the evidence...

Oh! I'll tell you the worst thing about losing a foot... Hey, man!


- Is that a pajama top?
- No! ... Yes.


Oh, I've been to Prague. Well, I haven't been to Prague, "been to Prague," but I know that thing... That "stop shaving your armpits, read The Unbearable Lightness of Being, fall in love with a sculptor, now I realize how bad American coffee is" thing.


- How about worst case scenarios after graduation?
- Heart attack.
- Live in Milwaukee.


Go away, Cookie Man.


Oh great! A dictionary! I'm gonna look up "blowjob."


I'm nostalgic for conversations I had yesterday. I've begun reminiscing events before they even occur. I'm reminiscing this right now. I can't go to the bar because I've already looked back on it in my memory, and I didn't have a good time.


Look at this. There's like... food in here. There's food in the beer... It looks like a chicken wing, or a cheese fry.


- I hope you don't mind that I took my shirt off.
- Well, maybe just this once.


Potato is an entree?


I like that you drink. I like a bartender who drinks. Otherwise, I feel like I'm being poisoned.


Hold it. I'm having one of those times when my name sounds weird to me.


And my personal favorite...

- I gotta go. I gotta sleep with a freshman.
- OK, me too. Bye-bye.


Hee.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh my god oh my god ...I LOVE THIS MOVIE! LOVE IT!

And I resent the hell out of that Will Ferrell movie, because now whenever I talk about "Kicking and Screaming," I have to clarify that it's NOT that one.

That scene with Otis and the thing in the beer, and how he EATS it. It makes me hurl every time!

Are you wearing mascara?
No!...Yes.

I'd like to fuck her on the tennis court, if you know what I mean!

I'm going to be sixteen!
I guess that means you can read Sixteen magazine, and you'll get all the references.

You...do...NOTHING!

Wait, wait. I want to see if they get this stain out.
It's a commercial. Of course they're going to get it out.

Would you rather fuck a cow or fuck a chicken?
Cow.
Cow fucker.

I could go on forever!

Anonymous said...

Oh, oh! And my favorite is:

Oh, no. Please don't anger him. He'd already rather be bow-hunting.

Anonymous said...

Er, and it's Seventeen. I KNEW that didn't sound right. Could you fix it, pleasethankyou?

Stefanie said...

Nabb--YAY!! I knew someone else out there had to already love this movie! :-) And yes--I loved the bow-hunting line. Also one of my favorites. (I just wasn't sure it was as quotable out of context.)

I totally almost hurled when he drank the chicken wing. I'm near-hurling again just thinking about it. Ew. The best part? "No, no. It's OK. I actually like it better this way, really."

And I knew you meant Seventeen... Unfortunately, I can't edit it as I'm lame and still using Blogger for my comments, and Blogger doesn't let you do that. Sorry about that! :-( It's OK. Everyone will see your correction and forgive you, I think.

shelleycoughlin said...

I totally have this movie in my Netflix queue, so I refused to read any of your quotes. Ok, I read a few. But then I stopped because I'm excited to see it!

Anonymous said...

I've never seen this movie, but it sounds entertaining. I'll be sure to catch it when Turner Classic Movies airs it in thirty or forty years.

Noelle said...

I'm a Google Reader Reader, so I admittedly only see your sidebar when I come over here to comment. I do look forward to checking out your recent search engine results! I'll have to add this movie to my Netflix queue when I finish watching the 1,001 movies I must see before I die!

lizgwiz said...

I feel old. I don't really love any of those movies. (Well, I haven't seen Kicking and Screaming, so I'll reserve judgment on that one.) I actually HATED Reality Bites. I just kept thinking "oh, she's making the 23-year-old decision...she is SO gonna regret that." Hee.

-R- said...

I have not watched "Kicking and Screaming" OR "High School Musical." I will have to rent one of them. Probably the former. Not that I am judging you for renting "High School Musical." I only judge you for liking Andrew WK.

don't call me MA'AM said...

I haven't seen the entire movie, but, yes... definitely a classic!!

One of my good friends was madly in love with Eric Stoltz at the same time, so she knew EVERYTHING about him. As in, did I know that he was hired on at the last minute to be in this movie, and did I know they didn't even have a real part for him, so much of it was ad-libbed? Yeah. Great. ;-)

Reel Fanatic said...

Kicking and Screaming is indeed just a minor masterpiece .. had I come across this blog earlier I would have recommended it to you, I promise

Stefanie said...

NPW--Totally understandable. I was actually thinking it was wrong of me to list off quotes if people hadn't seen it yet, but I rationalized that it was OK because most of the quotes I chose were in the theatrical preview that's included on the DVD and that I decided to watch just for the heck of it before starting the movie. Several of them also pop up on the menu screen before you choose "Play movie." So I figured that made it OK. :-)

Darren--Ha. No, now that Nabbalicious knows you haven't seen it, I suspect she'll remedy that sooner than Turner Classic gets around to it.

Noelle--Yes, I would definitely say it's at least as worth watching as several others in your list of 1,001. Also, does Google Reader not display the movie list as a new post when I update it? Bloglines does, so that's why I thought people might be seeing that post each time I update the list. (Heck no do I expect people to regularly click on it from my sidebar.) ;-)

Liz--What you said is exactly why I am surprised I still liked this movie now, when I'm sort of ten years too old for it. That's why I wish I'd known about it back when it was released instead. As for Reality Bites, I understand your point, but I was 20 when it came out, so the 23-year-old decision made perfect sense to me. Besides that, the 23-year-old decision was Ethan Hawke. And we all know how I love him.

R--I am sure I can find plenty of ridiculous things to judge you for, if I try hard enough, so you just watch yourself, little missy! ;-) See if I ever invite you roller skating again!

DCMM--I used to have a thing for Eric Stoltz... I'm sure it started with Some Kind of Wonderful and then came back years later when I had a boyfriend (the pothead) who looked sort of like a cross between Eric Stoltz and Steven Weber (circa Wings). Then I saw Eric Stoltz in some role where he played a creepy teacher with an inappropriate fondness for one of his students. He was a little too believable in that, I guess, and he's unfortunately seemed smarmy to me ever since. Such a pity.

Reel fanatic--OK, I believe you. :-)

L Sass said...

It sounds like I have to see Kicking and Screaming!

I do check out your movie list--anxious to hear how you liked The Namesake, since I'm just wrapping up the book!

Stefanie said...

L Sass--I really liked The Namesake. I thought it was really well done. I didn't read the book, though, so I probably didn't have the same expectations you likely will. I read The Interpreter of Maladies (by the same author) and loved it, but haven't read The Namesake yet. I assume that one's great as well?

180360 said...

This is a great movie! I went on a Parker Posey kick for several years and watched every movie of hers. Anyway... it's pretty sad that people can't come up with original titles for movies.