Last week I had the pleasure of seeing a movie I\u2019d been hearing about for roughly half a decade or so: The Rewrite<\/i>, starring Hugh Grant and Marisa Tomei. What was the hook that got me to watch this maudlin piece of Hollywood tripe?<\/p>\n
It takes place in my hometown.<\/p>\n
Yup. Binghamton, New York. And seriously, it\u2019s no incidental mention. Binghamton is a character the way New York is a character in old Woody Allen movies. The movie is<\/i> about Binghamton. Or rather, it\u2019s about<\/i> Binghamton, and I have no idea how that plays if you\u2019re not actually from there. I spent nearly 30 years of my life there, and for the most part The Rewrite<\/i> nails it. Heck, the main plot line is that the protagonist hates that he has to live in Binghamton!<\/p>\n
Director Marc Lawrence, who has teamed with Hugh Grant now in four films, is a 1981 graduate of Binghamton University (we called it SUNY back then), and luckily for him Binghamton\u2019s been in a freeze-frame timewarp since then, so the Binghamton he remembers from 1981 is precisely what it looks like today. Well, it might be a little scummier but it\u2019s basically the same.<\/p>\n
Serling. Spiedies. Rain. Carousels. It\u2019s all in there. And who knew J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney were going to pop up in the film too? My thought pretty much was: my God, those are real<\/i> actors in this home movie\u2026 wait a minute, this is a real<\/i> movie.<\/p>\n
Predicable at every turn, The Rewrite<\/i> isn\u2019t going to win any Academy Awards. (Have you ever seen a chick flick before? Yup, you know how it ends.) But the characters, the acting, (some) of the scenery, and, in a starring role, the music<\/i> make The Rewrite<\/i> an ultimately enjoyable film, whether you\u2019re from Binghamton or not.<\/p>\n
And for your sake I hope you\u2019re not.<\/p>\n
Ha! They even get that right too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last week I had the pleasure of seeing a movie I\u2019d been hearing about for roughly half a decade or so: The Rewrite, starring Hugh Grant and Marisa Tomei. What was the hook that got me to watch this maudlin … Continue reading