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A Movie Night

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My sister-in-law and friend, Jean, was here for a weekend visit.  Since it was pouring for most of the day on Friday, we mostly did indoor things.  We went out to lunch, poked around an antique/50's vintage store, visited the Lake Champlain Chocolates factory.  In the evening we decided to go to a movie.  We picked Beatriz at Dinner.

 Here's what Rotten Tomatoes has to say about the movie:
Beatriz (Salma Hayek), an immigrant from a poor town in Mexico, has drawn on her innate kindness to build a career as a health practitioner in Los Angeles. Doug Strutt (John Lithgow) is a cutthroat, self-satisfied billionaire. When these two opposites meet at a dinner party, their worlds collide and neither will ever be the same.

 They gave it four stars for its "timely social commentary" and powerful acting.

Well, if you like your timely social commentary delivered with a sledge hammer to the head, I suppose I can see the rating.  But you can save the price of a movie theater ticket and just watch the television news or read a newspaper. There's a big divide in the country.

I thought the movie was annoyingly obtuse.   Beatriz will never be the same, perhaps, but I did not I didn't see any kind of light go on for Doug Strutt.  Neither character was especially endearing.  My take-away was in thinking of soul development and it's clear that there is a whole lotta work in need of doing before any kind enlightenment is the norm.

Comments

  1. Margaret (Peggy or Peg too)June 26, 2017 at 8:20 AM

    Well you just saved me some money. I thought that looked like a good one. I also wish to see The Big Sick. I may need to wait until you've see it for your review. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. TaborJune 26, 2017 at 9:48 AM

    I had read that the conservative characters where very stereotyped and that their was no subtly in the film. I had wanted to see it because I love Lithgow as an actor.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Arkansas PattiJune 26, 2017 at 4:00 PM

    Thanks, you saved me money and a long trip to the nearest theater. Anymore, I am not thrilled with much that Hollywood has thrown at us lately.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Linda ReederJune 26, 2017 at 8:12 PM

    I was just thinking today of "enlightenment" as it applied to supporters of the current president. I also concluded we were "a whole lotta work" away from bridging the divide.

    ReplyDelete
  5. joaredJune 27, 2017 at 3:46 AM

    Thanks for your review. Had thought this might be a good movie because of actors, but sounds disappointingly not so.

    ReplyDelete
  6. joaredJune 27, 2017 at 3:47 AM

    Thanks for your review. Had thought this might be a good movie because of actors, but sounds disappointingly not so.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Granny AnnieJune 27, 2017 at 7:59 AM

    Yesterday at lunch a friend was telling us about a movie she saw previews for. She couldn't remember the name of the movie but wanted to see it because of the previews. Now it know it was Beatriz at Dinner. Sounds like she may have seen the best of the movie in the previews (as is often the case) and I will tell her not to bother.

    ReplyDelete
  8. SextantJune 27, 2017 at 9:42 AM

    "Timely social commentary delivered with a sledge hammer to the head!" Ouch! It sounds like a good one to avoid.

    ReplyDelete
  9. TomJune 28, 2017 at 12:05 PM

    B and I saw it last night. Agree it kind of hits you over the head with a hammer, but we thought the acting was very good. The eyebrow lifts, grimaces, eye rolls and body language all made the conversations much more believable ... and uncomfortable, as they were supposed to be.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Heidrun Khokhar, KleinsteMotteJune 29, 2017 at 10:59 PM

    I am more likely to watch movies from home now. But I believe Buddy has the new Spiderman on his wisj list and we'll do it VIP at the theatre since he has a July BD and it's coming out in a week/

    ReplyDelete
  11. Grandma KcJuly 2, 2017 at 5:53 PM

    Thanks for the warning. I went and watched the trailer and definitely won't be watching it. Like you said, there is enough nastiness on the news - especially lately!

    ReplyDelete
  12. BarbaraJuly 10, 2017 at 2:39 PM

    I rarely get to the movies anymore so this definitely won't be one I'll see when I do get there.

    ReplyDelete

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