Dahling,
The writer’s strike is over! The writer’s strike is over! What kind of amazing abundance of fruit do you think was created on laptops during the break? Do you think we’ll have more movies about cyborgs taking over the universe, and men in tight-fitting shirts and pants defeating them?
I hope so!
While the spandex men are busy showing off their muscles and one-liners on beaches, near babbling brooks, and in office buildings, I am going to cozy up by a nice warm fire and watch old Cameron Crowe flicks, hoping he is writing a new film.
I can’t help the romantic in me. You can take a girl out of the romance, but you cannot take the romance out of the girl!
Well, you probably can, if she has enough trauma, but let’s not overthink things. I just want to see a new magnificent, beautiful love story on screen. Something epic! Something foundational! Something revolutionary!
If Cameron Crowe won’t create it, I am sure there is someone who can, but let’s still take a moment and sit back and marvel at the beauty and wonder of the Cameron Crow Love Story. Shall we? Because watching these films can surely inspire the most amazing romantic comedies/dramedies!
1. Say Anything
Lloyd Dobler is cute, unassuming, and audacious. He is an underdog, a kickboxer who barely goes to class. But he has an astute vision, this big heart, and such spirit. You can never underestimate spirit in a person. No one expects Lloyd to get the most intelligent girl in the school, Diane Court, but all he does is call her up and ask her out. It is so simple. He has a 3-pronged approach. He calls and says hello, tells her where they last saw one another. Then he says “Let’s go out.” When she declines (she does not even know this guy), he persists. He is convincing and persuasive about her need to attend a very historical high school function. She is so moved by the spirit in him that she says, “Okay, I’ll go.” And the rest is…the movie! Watch it, babycakes, I just think it is adorable and divine. (There is this side story about her father being a total lying snake but that part is less interesting to me than the non-egoic love Lloyd has for the smartest girl in the room.)
#boomboxesforever
2. Singles
Linda is deceived by this cute foreign guy who draws a picture of her and makes it seem like he is going back to Spain, but really that is his line for every beautiful woman he meets and beds. Linda is pretty upset and hurt, and yet she still goes to concerts and dances to grunge with her best friend, because she has to let it out somehow. (It was the 90s. Pearl Jam is in this movie! And Chris Cornell! There are mosh pits in every club in Seattle!) Steve sees Linda across the room of people, gyrating under red lights and walks over to introduce himself. He is totally authentic. Quirky, cute, and willing to make a move. (Do men do that these days, in the era of the 2020’s? Do they make moves, or just movies?) Anyway, Linda is so broken up about the deceit of her previous love affair, that she kindly rejects Steve’s advances. Yet Steve is persistent. It seems that in Cameron Crowe movies, persistent men win! I think Hillary Clinton said to persevere or something, too, but maybe it only works in movies and for men, and not for women in presidencies. Who knows? Anyway, this movie is so cute and there are a bunch of other couples in Seattle trying to make life happy on cloudy days while listening to new hip sounds from one of the most amazing genres of music ever created. I love this movie. Like, so much. Rock on, let’s watch it together.
#historic_chili_dogs
3. Jerry Maguire
Here is the Cameron Crowe biggest hit because he cast Tom Cruise as Jerry Maguire. What would this movie have been like with, um, an unknown quirky guy? Still very good, but it wouldn’t be Tom Cruise, and Tom Cruise does such a lovely job playing a sports agent who knows how to flash a smile and get a deal made. Who doesn’t feel their heart open when Tom Cruise shows his perfectly white teeth? When he brushes his brown bangs from his eyes and offers an intense opinion on something? It works until it doesn’t anymore…at least in the film. Jerry Maguire begins to realize that there are people’s lives involved in his decisions as a sports agent, and that he is actually putting his clients in harm’s way by allowing them to get hurt all so he can keep signing contracts, making deals, earning hefty commissions. Damn, he starts to feel bad about this. A 10-year-old kid sees right through him. So Jerry has a sort of existential crisis, sweats a lot, does sit-ups in a hotel room in his underwear (Tom Cruise’s whole career may be based on him performing well in white briefs), and composes a long memo to the company. Maybe it’s a mission statement. No one can remember what it is called, but it is an opus about what matters, what is valuable, and how people in the agency ought to behave going forward. Put people and families first, then profits, he declares! He is scared of how it will go, and everyone pretends they like it, but this memo/mission statement is not good for business, so he gets the boot. Thankfully, there is this sweet woman named Dorothy who has been eyeing Jerry from afar and is willing to stand by him even when no one else will. He’s an imperfect dude, and his life is crumbling, but he still gets the lady! Can you believe the grace bestowed upon Jerry? Watch it! This movie is so good, and I don’t know any other movie by a white male director of 90s-era film that tackled the topic of white and black America so adeptly and eloquently as Cameron Crowe—with humor, love, and perspicacity!
#showmethemoney
*Sigh.
Well, dahling, if you watch good movies like this—from Cameron Crowe, especially—you start to understand arcs and rhythms and themes and flows and the power of taking the fringe and the edge of reality, and merging it with what a mainstream audience wants! You may have such enlightenment about our 3D existence on planet earth while watching Cameron Crowe films, you could become a screenwriter and director yourself!
Do you want to try it, honey?
I do. Let’s go! We can join the writer’s guild today!
(Thank the unions for this flash of inspiration, Sweetcheeks.)
Hugs,
Ms. Wonderful
Here is one of my favorite Lloyd clips if you aren’t busy: