rom com feb

It's that time of year again. When I remind you that my birthday is in two weeks (that's February 8 for the calendar challenged). While I know some people will let their birthday pass and not tell anyone, I am not that person. I'm still young enough to be glad to add another year to my tree ring, and I'm obnoxious enough to want to draw attention to myself in such a way. Hey, at least I'm not in denial about that.

For the first time in years, I don't actually have school on my birthday. I'll have papers to grade, but those can wait until February 9. But this lack of school leaves me without structure for the day. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with myself. As a film fanatic, I want to go to the movies. I may even splurge and go Arclight! However, I have no idea if anything decent will be playing. January is a shit time for movies. February has some promising releases (see below), but they all come out after my birthday. There is the possibility of a free screening, though, since they tend to occur on Thursdays.

It appears that February will be romantic comedy month for me, when I will definitely see three flicks from my favorite genre. Yeah, I'm serious. I enjoy a good documentary, maybe a taught thriller, certainly a comedy of high-brow proportions, but I consistently watch romantic comedies of all stripes. Call it a fetish if you will, but I'm quite comfortable with my film kinks. It's a complicated relationship I have with these films, because I don't really want what the formula espouses, but it'd be nice to have a funny romantic interlude (without the miscommunication).

Ok, anyway, the three films are (in the order I found out about them): Music and Lyrics (Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore), Gray Matters (Heather Graham...this one is actually a bit of a twist on the formula), and I Could Never Be Your Woman (Michelle Pfeiffer and Paul Rudd). I mean, come on, like I can pass up a movie with Hugh Grant or Paul Rudd as the male romantic lead. And they both look so young. They are trying to pass Rudd off as 29 when he's going to be 38 in April, and it looks like it works (in the trailer anyway).