Someone's Been Very, Very Naughty..."The To Do List"

What's a girl to do?

Oh my!

The Story:

Brandy Klark (Aubrey Plaza) is the uptight valedictorian of her class (of '93).  However, as she prepares for a summer of work and college in the fall, she feels pressured by her friends and older sister to...
Well, stop being a virgin.

Soooo....

Brandy makes a list of things she thinks she needs to accomplish before the fall, and then sets out to accomplish her naughty "to do" list, with anyone she can "to do it" with!

Well, that was unexpected!

I'm still not sure how to approach this rated R (with good reason) coming of age comedy.

It's like a female version of American Pie, but less virgins trying to end their suffering.

Instead, it's all Brandy trying to learn all the ways of being a woman, even many ways that her sluttier friends and sister haven't tried yet.

With her job at the local pool working for Willy (Bill Hader), Brandy is the subject of hazing as the noob, but she's got her eye on the last item on her list: Rusty Waters (Scott Porter).  She'll use her friend Cameron (Johnny Simmons) and anyone else to gain the experience she thinks she's lacking.

However, along the way she's going to realize that sex without feelings isn't as great as everyone made it out to be.

Used briefly, but effectively, Clark Gregg as Brandy's dad.  He's hilarious in what he doesn't want to see happen to his daughters.  He literally squirms with discomfort in nearly every scene.

Final Grade: B-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Probably not, at least for a few years.  It's funny enough though.

Things Don't Always Turn Out Like You Expect..."When Harry Met Sally"

Would you like to have what she's having?

The Story:

Two college graduates, Sally (Meg Ryan) and Harry (Billy Crystal) carpool to New York together.  Harry is the boyfriend of Sally's best friend, what'sername... and the two share a ride and a conversation across country.  The movie catches up with them a few years later as they bump into each other again, and the seeds of friendship begin to grow.  However, as Harry points out early, a man and a woman cannot be friends because sex will always get in the way.

Let's see if he's right.

Written by the late, great Nora Ephron, this was probably her big break which helped move her out of the writer's seat and into the director's chair.  Her strength was in writing, and while giving her females a great part, she didn't treat the guys as losers or anything.

Conceivably, Meg Ryan owes her career to Ephron, with this plus Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail cementing her as *the* leading lady of romantic comedies from the late eighties/early nineties.  Naturally, this film is remembered mostly for her climactic (pun fully intended) demonstration of Sally showing Harry just how in control of relationships the women really are. 

To credit the movie for that alone though, would seriously undermine the comic relationship that Harry and Sally endure throughout the course of the movie.

But really, for a movie written by a woman, she gives Billy Crystal all of the great lines and wonderful insight into relationships.  Whether he assisted with his lines or it was all Ephron's doing, his delivery is pitch perfect whether he's sending off a verbal zinger or waxing philosophic.

Billy Crystal is not the first actor you think of when you role into a romantic comedy, but between this and Forget Paris, I think he was woefully underused in the genre.

Thankfully, at least he made City Slickers. :)

Then of course there is the sure, steady hand of one of the best,  most underrated directors of all time, Rob Reiner.  As with much of his filmography, he simply crafted another gem that has become a classic.

While not a family friendly film, it is a great blueprint for how to have your romantic comedy characters act, interact, behave and misbehave.

Totally recommended.

I finally caught this film for the first time within the last 5 years.  It was as good as advertised.  If you've never seen it, don't wait for the 25th anniversary...

Final Grade: A

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Really funny movie, and was picked up after the first viewing and added to the DVD library.