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I watched an odd and entertaining movie-- Better Off Dead (1985). In spite of the title, suicide is averted, and the main character may end up with a good life.
It's a teen comedy, with being a teenager portrayed as mostly nightmarish, though victory turns out to be possible. The movie might be a cross between teen comedy cliches and maybe fractional light-hearted David Lynch. It switches smoothly between hyperbole, nightmare, and surrealism. It's the sort of mainstream use of science fiction which has no world-building or science. It's pretty funny.
Gender relations: Oy.
Jewish stereotype: Double oy. That is, the Jewish girl is smart, outspoken, and fond of money. I like her.
Midge (the French girl) is quite a superior person. I wish her well. Perhaps this movie should be viewed as being like Heinlein, where the viewpoint character isn't the most impressive person in the story. Same for Sherlock Holmes.
I'm old enough to have some sympathy for the father. He's a fool to a large extent, but he means well and has no idea of what he's doing.
I've mentioned Dick Francis (and possibly his wife) as writing novels which are unusually kind to middle-aged women. I'm never sure what I'm contrasting him with, but this movie might do as an example. The godawful mother (means well, but little sense) and the horrifying bullying neighbor are the only major middle-aged women in the movie.
People are mostly socially constrained from telling the truth about much.
I wonder if it took a pretty movie-aware audience to sort out the various levels of reality in the movie, to the extent such is possible.
Anyway, it's streaming on amazon, but maybe not for long. Let me know about other movies that drift into various distances from the real world.
One of the commenters on Facebook said it was the only teen comedy they could still stand.
There's a sequel called One Crazy Summer. I'm expecting it to be funny, but probably not as weird.
It's a teen comedy, with being a teenager portrayed as mostly nightmarish, though victory turns out to be possible. The movie might be a cross between teen comedy cliches and maybe fractional light-hearted David Lynch. It switches smoothly between hyperbole, nightmare, and surrealism. It's the sort of mainstream use of science fiction which has no world-building or science. It's pretty funny.
Gender relations: Oy.
Jewish stereotype: Double oy. That is, the Jewish girl is smart, outspoken, and fond of money. I like her.
Midge (the French girl) is quite a superior person. I wish her well. Perhaps this movie should be viewed as being like Heinlein, where the viewpoint character isn't the most impressive person in the story. Same for Sherlock Holmes.
I'm old enough to have some sympathy for the father. He's a fool to a large extent, but he means well and has no idea of what he's doing.
I've mentioned Dick Francis (and possibly his wife) as writing novels which are unusually kind to middle-aged women. I'm never sure what I'm contrasting him with, but this movie might do as an example. The godawful mother (means well, but little sense) and the horrifying bullying neighbor are the only major middle-aged women in the movie.
People are mostly socially constrained from telling the truth about much.
I wonder if it took a pretty movie-aware audience to sort out the various levels of reality in the movie, to the extent such is possible.
Anyway, it's streaming on amazon, but maybe not for long. Let me know about other movies that drift into various distances from the real world.
One of the commenters on Facebook said it was the only teen comedy they could still stand.
There's a sequel called One Crazy Summer. I'm expecting it to be funny, but probably not as weird.
