American Gangster

American Gangster

Director: Ridley Scott

Cast: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Josh Brolin, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Ruby Dee, Cuba Gooding Jr., John Hawkes, Carla Gugino, Idris Elba

Released: November 2, 2007

Viewed in theaters: November 7, 2007

Oscar nomination:

Best Supporting Actress - Ruby Dee (lost to Tilda Swinton for Michael Clayton)

Best Achievement in Art Direction (lost to Sweeney Todd)

So after being nominated for Oscars in the same category (Best Actor) in two years (almost consecutive years; 1999 and 2001) and one being an extremely CLOSE race (I'm guessing!), Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe star in a movie together in 2007, this one. But wait! There's a couple of caveats! (That might not be the right word...) First of all, this was NOT their first movie together. No, film nerds (or Denzel and Crowe fans) know that they starred in the 1995 (and truly terrible) film Virtuosity. I caught the last five minutes of it on TV once and even watching that, I could tell it was a terrible movie. This was before anyone knew who Russell Crowe was in the States. I'm not sure how much screen time they share in that movie, but I'm guessing it's more than the screen time they share in American Gangster! That's my second caveat. Are they really in the movie together if all of their scenes (except one at the end) are separate? You have one story with Denzel's character and one story with Crowe's character. It's kind of like when Pacino and De Niro were in Heat together and only had one scene together in the middle. (Well, I guess technically they had a scene together at the end, but there was't much conversing as they were trying to run away from/kill each other!) I would say the ratio for screen time is 60/40 in favor of Denzel, which makes sense, as the story is really about his character. He plays Frank Lucas, a real-life man who smuggled heroin from Southeast Asia into New York and made a butt load of money. He was the bodyguard, driver, and collector for Harlem gangster Bumpy Johnson for fifteen years and after he died in the late '60s, Frank took over. He gets the idea for smuggling drugs when he's watching a news report about American troops becoming addicted to opium and heroin, which are "easily available and relatively cheap", that they get from Bangkok and Saigon. He learns that a "high purity of heroin is leading to an epidemic of heroin addiction among U.S. soldiers" and his eyes become dollar signs. He calls his cousin's husband who is in Bangkok and visits him there. He wants to take 100 kilos of heroin in the U.S. and wants to smuggle it in via helicopters. It's 100% pure heroin and Frank calls it Blue Magic (see, when I think of a drug with "blue" in the name, I think of meth! But maybe any drug that is of high quality appears blue? I really don't know anything about drugs or selling them!). Needless to say, business starts booming for Frank and he becomes even more powerful than he was before. One of the most well-known scenes in the movie is when he flat-out shoots Idris Elba in the head in broad daylight. Well, it was a dealer played by Idris Elba who owed Frank money, and Frank was sending a message to others when they don't give Frank what they owe.

Frank makes so much bank he is able to buy his mother (Ruby Dee) a mansion where they celebrate many holidays. Everything I learned about money laundering, I learned from Saul Goodman and Frank Lucas does not do a good job of laundering his money if he's flaunting it like this! He could probably take his own advice, which is what he tells his brother, Huey (Chiwetel Ejiofor) when he wears a super gaudy suit at a club: "The loudest one in the room is the weakest one in the room." There's a very Godfather Part II moment when he kisses him on the mouth and says, "If you weren't my brother, I'd kill you, you know that?" Oh, and if you happen to get blood all over his $25,000 alpaca rug, make sure you "blot that sh*t, don't rub it!"

At one of his clubs, he meets and falls in love with Eva, a young (much younger than him!) woman from Puerto Rico who won a beauty contest. When she meets Frank's mother, she calls Eva "an angel come down from heaven". Now that's a great mother-in-law to have. (Though of course they meet before she marries Frank.)

On the day of his wedding, right after the ceremony, corrupt cop Trupo (Josh Brolin) confronts Frank and his new bride to "congratulate" him. He tells them he wants "his share" of ten grand at the first of each month and threatens him that he's "special" because he's with the Special Investigation Unit. As you may have guessed, this does not make Frank happy and he responds by leaving him a live turkey at his front door on Thanksgiving, then blowing up his prized car.

In a later scene of the same day, Trupo pulls over Frank and Huey, who tells Frank they have drugs in the trunk. Not surprisingly, Trupo checks the trunks and takes the drugs. The whole interaction between them is great. He asks Frank, "What are we going to do about this?' To which Frank replies, "We don't do s**t about it. We close it up, throw it back in the trunk, everybody goes home, have some pumpkin pie, warm apple cider." Trupo tells him, "I got a better idea. Or would you rather me throw you and your brother in the f***ing  river?" Of course Frank gets the last word in when he says, "Or would you rather your house blows up next time?" Ooh, snap. Since Huey is the one who stupidly left the drugs in the trunk and since they lost a lot of money when Trupo took them, Frank smashes Huey's head against the car window after they both get back inside and breaks the window. Frank may not kill his brother, but he will beat the crap out of him. He has quite the violent streak and if I were his wife, I would be a little scared. 

Speaking of his wife, the most Denzeliest line is when he exclaims, "They tried to kill my wife!" to mafia boss, Dominic Catanno, who had guaranteed him "peace of mind", but he replies, "I don't feel so peaceful" after he and his wife go out one night to get some takeout and when she stays in the car when he goes to get it, he sees someone driving by really fast and realizes what they're going to do and is able to run to his car and grab Eva before she can get shot. He doesn't know who tried to kill her. Was it the mob or was it fellow mobster Nicky Barnes (Cuba Gooding Jr.)?  Understandably, his wife wants to leave (preferably the country), but Frank refuses. 

Russell Crowe plays Richie Roberts, the detective who is on the case to track down where the drugs are coming from. His story doesn't really become interesting until he figures out Frank Lucas is behind all of this. For instance, there's an ongoing story line where he and his wife (Carla Gugino) are going through a divorce, and, eh, I don't care. Every time he spoke, I could still hear a trace of his Australian accent, but when he was yelling his New York accent was quite good.

When we first meet him, he is a cop, but he's taking night classes because he wants to be a prosecutor even though he has a fear of public speaking. He and his parter find a million dollars in a trunk of an abandoned car which they got a tip about from a bookie. His partner doesn't want to turn the money in because they'll be pariahs and that, "Cops kill cops they can't trust." However, Richie does the right thing and turns in the money and is called a "f***ing Boy Scout (which is hilarious since it's Russell Crowe) and this becomes an ongoing storyline for him, how people can't believe he turned in the money. I have to wonder, would it be any better if he and his partner had kept the money?

When he is assigned to head the investigation of where the new drug is coming from, he meets his ragtag team which includes John Hawkes, who always seems to be chain-smoking (I think there's one scene where he isn't smoking!), and RZA from Wu-Tang Clan. He tells them their mandate is to make major arrests; they are looking for the suppliers and distributors, not just random "street guys." They discover the new drug called Blue Magic is twice the potency as the  regular stuff for only ten bucks on every street corner. Richie muses, "Who can afford to sell s**t twice as good for half as much?" Be patient, Richie. You'll meet this man soon. As Frank himself will say, he sells a product that's "better than the competition at a price that's lower than the competition."

Richie decides that the Narcotics Squad needs to start from scratch because they aren't getting anywhere. He "borrows" $20,000 from his boss where he pays someone at a Newark car wash to buy Blue Magic and he tells them it will be there tomorrow. When he and John Hawkes see the guy leave with the money, they follow him to see where he will take them. He's headed towards the city and John Hawkes isn't sure if they should follow him because the city is not in their jurisdiction, but Richie tells him to follow him because he wants to stay with the money that he's responsible for. Richie sees the guy enter some kind of fast food joint and just waits outside while he watches a group of men led by our corrupt cop, Trupo, take the bag with the money. He follows the men and stops them to tell them the money is registered and he needs it back. Trupo gives it back and says he can have the money "this time" and threatens him to never come into the city unannounced again.

Both Frank and Richie are at the Muhammad Ali/Joe Frazier fight on March 8, 1971 at Madison Square Garden. It was called the Fight of the Century so Richie figures anybody who's Anybody will be there. He notices Frank shaking Joe Frazier's hand and wearing a fur coat and sitting even closer than Dominic Cattano, the mafia boss, and takes picture of him, knowing that he's someone important. His team gets the plates of the limo he rode in. Frank is not only wearing a fur coat (a gift from his wife), but he's always wearing a fur cap that he doesn't take off. His wife was also wearing a fur coat, but at least she takes it off. Not only is this coat just the ugliest thing and makes him look ridiculous and stick out (maybe he should take his own advice that he told his brother!), but I don't know how he can stand being in a crowded arena with that thing on! Gah! The flashy coat is how Trupo found out about Frank and started exhorting him, so he angrily throws it into the fire with his wife watching him right there. I mean, honestly, I hope he would have thrown that hideous thing in the fire regardless, but it was a little rude to do it in front of the person who gave it to him!

Richie's group gathers intel about Frank. They learn about his connection to Bumpy Johnson and that he has his brothers and cousins working for him. They check out his brothers at their jobs which are spread out across Jersey and the five boroughs - one works at a dry cleaners, one makes custom furniture, one works at a hardware store, and one works at body shop (Frank has a lot of brothers!). All of those businesses are distribution and collection points for Frank's drugs and money. They track Frank's moves and note that he gets up at five every morning, has breakfast at a diner in Harlem by himself, takes a meeting with the accountant of his lawyer, usually stays home in the evenings, and if he does go out, it's to one of his two clubs or to a handful of restaurants with his wife. He takes his mother to church every Sunday. He is never seen hanging out with any organized crime guys. As Richie notes, "Everything about Frank's life seems unpretentious, orderly, and legitimate." He doesn't think they're going to get informants inside the family.

They are able to obtain one of Frank's cousins, Jimmy, when they see him attempt to kill his girlfriend when they're having a fight outside their home and he shoots her, but doesn't kill her. They bring him in and tell him they have him for attempted murder which could be fifteen years in jail unless he helps them bring down Frank. They tell him he can avoid that if he straps a tape recorder to his body under his shirt (and remember, this is the early '70s, so this is a bulky piece of equipment...I'm surprise nobody even noticed!). He ends up recording a conversation when he's nearby Huey who's at a payphone, calling Frank, who is in Bangkok at the time to set up more drug shipments. The only thing the Narcotics team hear Frank say is, "Newark, short term, parking lot three" and a plate number. They know whatever it is, it's where the drugs will be coming in. 

While all that is going on, Trupo and his men barge into the mansion where Frank's wife and mother are and while they watch helplessly, tear apart the house to look for his secret stash of money. Not only does he find and take the money, but he shoots Frank's German Shepard since the money was buried under the dog house and the dog (who was on a leash) was guarding it. 

So as I was watching this, I really didn't understand why Ruby Dee was nominated for an Oscar other than it was a career nomination, but there is a scene between her and Denzel when Frank comes home and finds out what has happened and is ready to go get revenge, and this is when I realized it was this scene that got her the nomination. She tells Frank to not kill any cops and that his brothers look up to him and that "Even they know you don't shoot cops." She tells him, "I never asked you where all this came from because I didn't want to hear you lie." She then proceeds to slap Frank (the only person in the world who could get away with slapping Frank Lucas across the face is his own mother!) and yells, "Don't lie to me!" She tells him that his wife will leave, and that "I will leave you." This is really the moment where she gets to shine. 

So Frank has a nephew named Steve (played by T.I.) who has a great arm for baseball and Frank knows the Yankees' manager or coach (of course he does) and sets up a meeting for Steve to meet with him, but Steve skips it and tells his uncle he would rather do what Frank does. Really, Steve? You'd rather be a drug dealer than a world-class athlete? I mean, sadly, he probably does get paid better as the drug dealer. Unfortunately, it also cuts his life short. You could say he did not live his life. 

With the information they have, Richie and the Narcotics Squad is able to find the apartment complex where the drugs are being made and there's a lot of shooting and running and chasing. Definitely the most action-packed and tense scene of the film. Richie chases and apprehends Huey. While this is going on, Frank was at church, so when he comes out with his mother, Richie and the others are waiting for him. More than two hours into the movie, this is the first scene we get with Denzel and Crowe.

There must have been some kind of time jump in the movie because one minute Richie Roberts is the detective who captured Frank Lucas and the next minute he's the prosecutor in Frank's case. It feels like there's a conflict of interest there, but I'm not a lawyer, so what do I know? Literally, everything I know about law I learned from The Practice or Legally Blonde and I'm dead serious. Oh, and maybe that one season of Law & Order (thud, thud) I watched.

This is when we get the first scene (and only) of dialogue between our two main actors. Frank tries to bribe Richie, but it doesn't work on him. In the end, they come to an agreement with Frank giving the names of the cops that took the bribes and there are a lot of names. As more and more cops are being arrested, Trupo shoots himself in the head.

At the end of the movie Richie asks Frank if he wants a drink for his "good work" to celebrate and Frank asks him, "You got any holy water?" and they both laugh like they're best friends now. Yeah, that was a little weird. The tone just seemed off for them to be buddies. We get some information about their characters written in text on the screen such as Frank Lucas was convicted of conspiracy to distribute narcotics and sentenced to 70 years, but for his cooperation his sentence was reduced to fifteen years and he was released in 1991. Now that is a good deal; he shaved 55 years off his sentence! Frank and Richie's collaboration led to the convictions of 3/4 of New York City's DEA and Richie quit being a prosecutor to become a defense attorney and his first client was Lucas. So first he was this guy's prosecutor, and now he's his defense lawyer? There's gotta be a conflict of interest with that! 

The Bodyguard

Man on Fire
Director: Tony Scott
Cast: Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, Christopher Walken, Radha Mitchell, Marc Anthony, Rachel Ticotin, Mickey Rourke
Released: April 23, 2004

Here are three surprising things I learned while watching Man on Fire:

1. It is based on a novel (which looks like it was a series) from the early ‘80s by A.J. Quinnell. Based on what I heard about it, it is a bit different from the movie. I don’t want to spoil anything (and just to forewarn you, this movie will be spoiled), but there are characters that die in the novel that don’t in the movie and vice versa. The novel takes place in Italy and the movie takes place in Mexico. The 2004 movie is not the first film that is based off the book; there was another Man on Fire movie that came out in 1987 and starred Scott Glenn as the main character. Interestingly, Tony Scott was supposed to direct, but being that this was still really early in his career, he didn’t get the job. Of course he would end up directing this version, which is the version most people are aware of, anyway.

2. Speaking of Tony Scott, I was really surprised when I found out that this was only the second movie he did with Denzel Washington. I knew they did a handful of movies together (they did five), but after they did their first movie, Crimson Tide in 1995, it would be nine years until they did Man on Fire, then the three others (Deja Vu, The Taking of Pelham 123, and Unstoppable) all came pretty quickly after that. I guess I thought they did more movies in the ‘90s together, but nope.

3. And the third most surprising thing I learned is from the text that pops up on the screen at the very beginning: "There is one kidnapping every 60 minutes in Latin America." I accidentally read this as “60 seconds” at first, which really would’ve been quite shocking! As you can probably guess, this movie is about a kidnapping. The statistic goes on to say that 70% of the victims do not survive which is a little surprising since isn’t the only way the kidnappers make their money is to make sure they return the kidnapped person back alive? 

A wealthy couple, Lisa and Samuel Ramos (Radha Mitchell and Marc Anthony) living in Mexico City are looking for a bodyguard for their young daughter, Pita (Dakota Fanning). While Samuel is from Mexico City, Lisa is American (as well as white and blonde). There's no way that Pita (who is also white and blonde) is Samuel's biological daughter. They never mention it, but I assume he's her step-father. This makes sense because of their genetics and also makes sense for what will happen later on in the movie. The Ramos know because of their wealth, their daughter is a high target for being kidnapped. They hire John Creasy (Denzel Washington), an ex-Marine with an impressive resume; the only caveat is that he drinks. A lot. He tells this to Samuel, who tells him not to tell anyone he drinks, especially his wife. It should probably trigger a little warning about Samuel if he's willing to hire an admitted alcoholic to be a bodyguard for his daughter. I would almost say that this movie is a prequel to Flight, you know, the movie where Denzel plays an alcoholic pilot, but, uh, that wouldn't work.

Instead of Pita getting kidnapped right away, the movie establishes their relationship and takes its time. When Creasy brings and picks up Pita at school, she is very chatty and wants to know about him. He sternly tells her, "I'm not here to be your friend; I'm your bodyguard." Mexico City is an extremely bustling city and he always has to be on the lookout for any suspicious cars, people, or activities. Pita, who doesn't seem to have friends her own age (I'm sure she does, we just never see them as they're probably not important to the story), is very hurt by this, but Creasy can't be bothered. The first few weeks is like that and we see him drinking and he even tries to kill himself with his gun one night when he's in his room, but the bullet gets wedged. (What is it with Denzel characters trying to kill themselves, but not getting the bullet? Remember, that also happened in John Q). 

Meanwhile, Samuel has bought a dog for Pita and she names it Sam (well, I can't remember if she named the dog or if her dad already named it, but either way, it's weird that the dog is named after Mr. Ramos). You think the dog might serve some kind of purpose later on in the movie - whether it will do a heroic deed and die or whether it will get in the crossfires and die. The dog does not die, but the last time we see him is right before Pita will get kidnapped and we won't see the dog again. So what was the point of the dog? 

Pita is involved in her school's swim team and one day while she's practicing in her pool, Creasy helps her and this is when they start to bond. He had seen her at a meet where she flinched at the gunshot when she was on the block ready to dive in and because of that didn't get a good head start. He uses two bricks to clang together to use in lieu of a gunshot and tells her, "The gunshot has no fear!" and tells her to repeat it until she believes it. His help makes her better at her swim meets.

Have I mentioned that Christopher Walken is in this movie? I don't think I have. He plays Creasy's friend, Paul, who knew him in his days as a Marine and now owns a security company in Mexico City where he lives with his family. I really thought it was going to be revealed that Paul was behind the whole thing, but instead he just serves as an asset for Creasy to help him find the kidnappers. 

Days before her kidnapping, you know Pita and Creasy have gotten close because she gives him a little bear charm that opens and reveals a necklace of St. Jude, the Patron Saint of Lost Causes (hmm, how appropriate!) and tells him she named it Creasy Bear. I should mention that Pita's parents are extremely religious. They have a shrine in their home that has many candles lit at every hour of the day which seems extremely dangerous. I'm surprised their house never burned down! 

Pita takes piano lessons even though she would much rather concentrate on her swimming. Creasy takes her to a lesson and tells her if she burps, then the instructor won't want to work with her anymore. While he waits for her outside, he's playing with the dog (who we will never see again) and becomes very suspicious when he sees a couple of police cars plus a suspicious car he had spotted earlier. I don't remember how many kidnappers there were, but there's a gunfight between them and Creasy and he kills four of them, including both of the police officers. When he sees Pita come out of her lesson looking scared, he tells her to run. She does, but then he is shot and she runs back to him, screaming and sobbing. This is when one of the kidnappers grab her and put her in his car. Creasy is taken to the hospital and is under arrest for the murder of the two policemen and is suspected of kidnapping Pita. Obviously there were corrupt cops involved in her kidnapping. 

At a press briefing, Maria, (Rachel Ticotin), a reporter for a newspaper called La Reforma asks why the two officers were in uniform when they were off duty at the time and why they happened to be there when the kidnapping happened. She finds Creasy (who left the hospital prematurely) and tells him she wants to infiltrate an orginization called Le Hermandad, which protects high-ranking government officials, corrupt police, and organized crime. She thinks he and Pita are victims of it.

While Creasy was in the hospital for two days, a ransom of ten million dollars was being negotiated. Samuel's lawyer, Jordan Kalfas (Mikey Rourke) gets the money from a kidnap and ransom insurance policy Samuel has (apparently that's a thing, but it makes sense to have it in a country where this kind of thing unfortunately happens a lot). Somehow things go wrong and the delivery is ambushed by Le Hermandad and they end up taking the money and killing the nephew of the man who made the arrangements for the money. I have to be honest: I wasn't really sure what was going on. This angers the man (who is only known as "The Voice", or, "La Voz" and he tells Samuel, because he messed up, he has killed Pita. Even watching this the first time back when it was released on DVD, I knew Pita wasn't really dead. At least I was 99% certain.

This sets Creasy off and he vows to Pita's mother that he will kill everyone that was involved with her kidnapping and (supposed) death. This is where Paul comes in and helps him find the information he needs. He starts by finding one of the men who took Pita and Creasy tortures him by cutting his fingers off one by one when he's not satisfied with the answers he's given. He is nice enough to give the guy something to stop the bleeding, so there's that...although it's a moot point since he kills the guy anyway. The kidnapper just gives him the information that the guy who ordered him to take Pita goes by "The Voice". 

His lead takes him to a nightclub where he finds a twelve-year-old girl who was kidnapped the previous night so he knows there's a kidnapping ring operating there. He obtains a money card and he's trying to find the PIN. This scene drove me CRAZY because five different characters refer to it as the "PIN number". Aurgh!! :::tears out hair::: You don't say "PIN number" because it's redundant! It's like when people say "I'm going to the ATM machine." Dumbasses. I think the only person who refers to it the right way is Maria, but only the second time. She is also guilty of saying "PIN number".

So Creasy kills a lot of bad people along the way, but one guy gets a particularly nasty death. He's one of the more higher-ups of the kidnapping ring, thus the reason he gets such a gruesome death. In a nutshell, what happens, is that Creasy knocks him out and when he comes to a bit later, he and Creasy are under a bride in a secluded area and Creasy tells him he has a bomb up his you-know-what. That means that Creasy had to insert the bomb...ewww, so glad we didn't see that part! I also hope he was wearing gloves and scrubbed his hands thoroughly afterwards, cuz, yuck! He tells him he has a timer set for five minutes and when it's done the bomb will go off. It is implied that if the guy tells him what he needs to know, he will diffuse the bomb. For the first few minutes, the guy doesn't talk, but when it starts to dwindle down to the last couple minutes, he confesses some interesting information to Creasy. Of course we know Creasy isn't going to save the guy. The most Denzeliest line in the movie is in this scene where he tells him, "I've  got all the time in the world - you don't, but I do."

The interesting information he had found out was that Jordan Kalfus, Ramos's lawyer was involved. When he goes to confront Kalfus at his house, he finds him dead in his pool. Then he goes to confront Pita's parents, asking them if they had anything to do with it. Lisa is screaming and crying at her husband, asking him why Creasy would be asking them that. Samuel confesses he did it as a plan to get the insurance money to pay off a gambling debt. He tells Lisa that it was just supposed to be for a couple days and that Pita would be eating ice cream and watching cartoons the entire time. Yeah, this guy is a real scumbag. It was probably best for everyone when he offed himself. He was the one who had killed his lawyer.

Creasy gets more information about The Voice, who real name is Daniel Sanchez, at least enough to find his brother and his pregnant wife, both of whom he takes hostage. He is able to call The Voice, who offers him money, but he tells him he does not want his money and as he says this, he shoots the brother's hand clean off. This is when it is revealed Pita is still alive. He tells Creasy he will give a life for a life. He will give back Pita in exchange for his brother. Even though the kidnapper says the girl is worth more to him alive than dead, Creasy doesn't believe him and wants him to ask Pita what her bear's name is. When Daniel calls back with the right answer, Creasy Bear, he knows she is alive. Either that or it was an extremely lucky guess!

She will always love him

Creasy calls Lisa to tell her Pita is still alive and where to meet him to make the trade. I have to wonder if Lisa feels a little guilty that Samuel is dead now. He killed himself because he thought what he had done had killed his daughter. But his ass would be in jail; it was either death or prison for him. There's no way that he's staying married to Lisa and while Pita didn't die, she definitely wasn't watching cartoons and eating ice cream. I'm not entirely sure how long Pita was kidnapped. Maybe three or four days? We really never see her (obviously because they want us to think she's dead), but it is implied she's been in this dark dungeon setting. He meets Lisa at the secluded spot where the exchange will go down. He has the kidnapper's brother with him and gives Lisa a shotgun, telling her to shoot him in the head if anything goes wrong and not to let him go until Pita is with her. It's a very sweet moment when he goes to get Pita and she's hugging him and crying. I love it when she says, "I love you, Creasy, and you love me too, don't you?" I guess that's one way to get someone to say they love you, because what can you say to that?" Creasy replies that he does "with all my heart." I won't lie; this scene had me SOBBING, stupid manipulative movie. I mean, this movie isn't that good...not gonna lie. It's fine, but it's a bit overdramatic and violent at times. Pretty much all the time. So Pita runs to her mother and Lisa releases the one-hand man. What I don't get is that Creasy gets in the car with the kidnappers and leaves with them. I guess the only way for this movie to end is to have Creasy die. Maybe Denzel didn't want to do a sequel? I think he's only done one sequel in his entire career, so maybe that was the deal? He would only do the movie if his character died so he didn't have to make any more? I guess in the book, Creasy lives (which makes sense because it IS a series), but the girl dies. Now THAT'S dark.

The last moment we see of Creasy is him holding his St. Jude pendant, the one Pita gave him. We get an epitaph for him on screen, January 4, 1956-December 16, 2003.  Wow, so it was around Christmas when all this was happening!

How to Save a Life

John Q

Director: Nick Cassavettes

Cast: Denzel Washington, Robert DuVall, James Woods, Kimberly Elise, Anne Heche, Ray Liotta

Released: February 15, 2002

I assume this movie was overlooked by many because it came out during the middle of the Oscars campaign when Denzel was nominated (and won) for Training Day which came out in late 2001. While there are super cheesy moments that make me feel like I was watching a made for TV movie at times (the music, the slow motion), I thought this was pretty entertaining (but when has Denzel ever let us down?) and it has to be the most exciting movie I've ever seen about health insurance!

John Quincy Archibald (Denzel Washington) is a man who is trying to make ends meet, but it is hard for him and his wife, Denise (Kimberly Elise). He works at a factory where he's supposed to be full time but because they don't need him that much, his hours have been reduced to only twenty a week, and she works at a supermarket and has to wear the ugliest brown and yellow uniform. We are introduced to them on the morning their car is being repossessed, but despite that, they seem to be in good spirits. But the day is still young. While at their nine-year-old (??) son's baseball game, the young boy collapses while running from one base to the other. Michael's parents rush him to Hope Memorial Hospital in Chicago and are told by doctors that his heart is three times larger than what it should be (sounds like the opposite of the Grinch's heart!) and not enough blood is being pumped into it, thus making it work too hard. They have put him on a monitor for now where his blood pressure is at 88, when it should be above 90. If it goes below 70, that means heart failure. It's probably not a big surprise to hear that before this movie is over, it will go down to 68.

The hospital administrator supervisor, Rebecca Payne (Anne Heche), and Dr. Turner (James Woods), inform the Archibalds that their son's heart is useless and needs a transplant, otherwise he may only have weeks to live. The decision seems to be easy for the parents (by the way, stellar acting from Denzel here...tears are running down his face, while he's trying to remain composed as he's having the conversation): of course they want their son's name to be put on the donor list and get the transplant as soon as possible. Rebecca tells them that his insurance doesn't cover the procedure and if they do want the procedure, they have to treat it as a "cash account" which means it will cost $250,000 and will require a down payment of $75,000 before they can put Michael's name on the transplant list. This is horrifying news for parents of a dying child who only have a little over a thousand dollars in savings. As Payne coldly states, "It costs money to provide health care."

The next part of the movie focuses on the parents doing anything they can do to change the fate of their son. John talks to his boss about his insurance and is informed they recently changed carriers from a PPO to HMO (my eyes usually glaze over when any type of insurance is being discussed, so I really don't know the differences). As a non-management part time employee such as he is, John only qualifies for "second tier" catastrophic coverage, which only has a max payout of only $20,000. (Can you tell I was taking notes? No way I can remember all this! Though I actually take notes for all of my movie reviews). John argues that he was hired as full time, but is only getting part time hours because work is slow and his boss replies that the coverage is based on hours worked. He regretfully tells him there's nothing he can do, but John can file an appeal which will take seven working days to process. 

The parents talk to someone at State Services who tells them she can't help them because they already have medical insurance and that they should be on welfare, which surprises Denise because they both already have jobs. They next go somewhere for financial aid and they end up in the wrong line (which was already long to begin with) and had to enter another long line. I really felt for them in that moment. They're in a cramped, crowded room. They have other things they could be doing to progress things and standing in a line for hours probably makes them feel like they are not getting anything done. Worst of all, when they do finally talk to someone to see if they can get financial aid, the answer they get is, "No, you don't qualify." A defeated and angry John replies "My son is dying. I'm broke. If I don't qualify who the hell does?" 

The next week he gets back a reply to the appeal he filed and things are starting to look a little better until after he shows it to Payne and she tells him that he filed the wrong paperwork. The one he filed was an appeal for an already existing claim when he should have filed a grievance that will take a month to get. Oh, man, if I were him, I would have been so tempted to reach across the desk and slap her! Maybe tell these poor people what they need to do! 

We next see a montage of them raising money, and their church and neighbors, despite not having much money either, pitch in and raise money for them. (If ever there was a time for a Go Fund Me, this would be it, but unfortunately they were living in the archaic times of two thousand and two!) One of Denise's friends, who is a waitress, gives her tips to her. John goes to a pawn shop where he sells his wife's engagement ring and they have a garage sale where they sell their TV and car among other things. In the end, they come up with $22,000, which is pretty impressive, but still a long way off from the $75,000 they need.

Unfortunately, the hospital can't wait any more and decide they're going to release Michael. I wasn't quite sure how much time had elapsed since Michael was first admitted to the hospital, maybe a month? John isn't there when this decision is made, so his wife calls him from a pay phone (yes, they were still using pay phones in 2002!) to tell him what's going on and hisses at him to "Do something." Now I'm sure when she told him this, she didn't mean for her husband to take an emergency room hostage (spoiler alert!), but rather try to talk some sense in the doctors and see if they can show a little compassion. To be fair, he does try to talk to the doctor first before he takes a drastic turn. He tells Dr. Turner that he did some research and found out the hospital does 300 surgeries every year which are $250,000 each and that comes out to $75 million and he doesn't understand why they can't perform the surgery on his son in good faith and promises him he will pay the rest of the money back. When the doctor apologizes and tells him he can't do this, John pulls a gun out of his jacket and tells him, "I'm not asking anymore; I'm telling you, you are going to give my son a new heart, do you understand me?" You can tell he really hasn't thought this plan through (or has never done anything like this before!) because he is nervous and doesn't exactly know what to do. The doctor tells him, "If you do this you are on an irreversible course of action."

John ends up bringing him to an emergency room where he locks the doors, breaks the security camera and tells the security guard (played by Ethan Suplee) to shut down the elevators. We get the first great Denzel line of the movie: "Hospital's under new management now: from now on, free health care for everybody."

Along with the doctor and security guard, there's also another young doctor (played by Kevin Connelly), a guy with a bleeding hand, an abusive boyfriend and his girlfriend, a Spanish-speaking mother with her baby, and a pregnant woman and her husband. He also lets a gunshot victim in and lets the young doctor work on him.

Word quickly gets out what is happening at the hospital and a team is quickly assembled outside. Robert DuVall plays Frank Grimes, the hostage negotiator who gets in touch with John. When he asks him if anybody is hurt, John replies, "It's an emergency room; everyone's hurt." When Grimes asks him his name, this is when we get the movie's title as he tells him to call him "John Q". (Can't give away his full name, though, let's be honest, they're going to find out!) John tells Grimes to find Rebecca Payne and to tell her to put his son's name on the donor list. He adds that if his son's name isn't on that list by 4:15, somebody will die. I think that gives them an hour.

John agrees to let a few hostages go and releases the mother and her baby and the pregnant wife and her husband (honestly, I'm surprised he let the husband go, but as we will soon find out, John Q is a stand up guy). When they are released, they tell news crews (by this time there's a whole crowd outside the hospital) that John Q is a "very good man" and they praise him for letting in the man with the gunshot or else he would have died. 

Ray Liotta plays Gus Monroe, the Chief of Police, and he wants to take more drastic measures, despite the fact that John seems to be cooperating with them and Grimes doesn't agree with his tactics. He wants to put a sniper in through the air ducts so he can take a shot at John. Payne is also brought onto the scene and tells Grimes and Monroe, "If you give in to this guy, there's gonna be guns in every hospital." She decides that she's going to lie and tell John's wife that she has decided to put Michael's name on the list and the hospital will pay for everything. Then Denise will tell her husband and he'll let the hostages go.

Of course Denise (who is with her son) is thrilled to hear this (and I think this may be the first time she hears about what her husband is doing?), she calls him to tell him Michael's name is on the list. Somehow, the local news is able to get live video feed of John talking to his wife, then to his son. (And the swarmy news guy says, "This is my white Bronco.") Rebecca is so touched when she sees this that she changes her mind and gives permission for the young boy to actually have his name on the list. This kind of surprised me that she changed her mind as she was portrayed as a cold corporate bitch who wasn't budging one bit...until she was moved to tears. Meanwhile, while John is distracted talking on the phone, the sniper Monroe has sent through the vents takes his aim at an unarmed John, who see's he's on TV right before he gets shot in the arm. He pulls the sniper down and punches him several times. I'm not sure how long it's been since he first took the ER hostage, but I love that he started as a bumbling everyday guy who didn't know what he was doing and now he's this bad ass who's also quickly becoming a hero as we will soon see when he brings out the sniper who he has duct taped his hands behind his back.

Grimes tells him, "Nobody wants to kill you" and an angry John yells "What is this?" and throws the sniper's rifle towards the lieutenant. By this time an even bigger crowd has gathered and they are cheering for John. They cheer in the right spots and they boo in the right spots (like when John shows the gun after Grimes tells him they're not trying to kill him.) We get a little foreshadowing as Grimes tells hm, "There's only two ways out for you: jail or dead." Without spoiling too much (or maybe I'm spoiling a lot!), one of those two things will happen. We then get what is perhaps the most Denzeliest line from this film, which was in all the trailers: before he lets the sniper go, he declares, "I am NOT going to bury my son; my son is going to bury ME!" I mean, even if you've never seen this movie, I'm sure you can hear Denzel say it. That line reminds me when he says, "We didn't land on Plymouth Rock; Plymouth Rock landed on us!" in Malcolm X. Probably because it has a similar structure and it's another iconic Denzel line that's said in a very Denzel-ish way. (I mean, if anyone can say their lines in the most Denzel-ish way, it's Denzel Washington!)

John's demands are that he want his son brought to the ER and he will let the hostages go. This is agreed upon and they prepare to receive the young boy. When John said he wanted his son to bury him, he was thinking the next day, apparently, because his plan is to kill himself and have his heart be given to his son. Dude, that's very noble, but a TERRIBLE idea. As the two doctors tell him, there are too many risk factors like bloody type, chest cavity measurements, and both blood tissues must be compatible. John tells them that they're both B positive, their tissues match, and his heart should fit since his son's heart is three times the normal size. I still think this is a terrible idea and there's still the slight chance his heart won't be compatible for his son and then he will have died for nothing. This is when the hostages find out that John's gun only had one bullet in it and he was never planning on killing anyone except for himself (interesting he had that suicide plan all along, but I guess it makes sense because he had to make sure his son got a heart one way or the other).

So John is lying down (not sure why), ready to shoot himself, but he first decides he's thirsty and needs a drink of water. Really, what does it matter if he's thirsty if he's going to be dead in a few minutes? Obviously, they're trying to prolong the moment and make it as dramatic as possible because while this is going on, the doctor who was staying with Michael receives a fax that a brand new heart that fits the criteria for Michael perfectly has just been harvested from a young woman who died in a car accident. I should back up here and say this is how the movie opens: we see a young, well-to-do woman driving her fancy BMW in Montana, I think. She's driving super fast through the curvy, mountainous roads and at one point she passes a truck in an obvious no-passing zone and while she's passing him, surprise, surprise, another truck appears in the view. Now this moron had plenty of time to pass the truck and get back in her lane and hopefully learn her lesson that it's not a good idea to pass cars on roads like these. Oh, she will learn her lesson, all right, but just more in the deadly way. I think she is able to pass the truck, but barely and her car gets clipped and spins in the other lane and she is hit by the oncoming semi. I don't mean to be callous or anything, but the dumb bitch kinda deserved it. Also, where is she going that she's in a hurry to get to? And why is she so dressed up? She appears to be in the middle of Nowhere, USA. I was very confused when I was watching this scene; I had no idea how she was internal to the plot, but once she was hit, I figured it out. I don't think you need this scene; especially not as the opening to the movie!

When Denise is informed about the heart, she calls her husband on the walkie, telling him she needs to talk to him, but he doesn't want to respond because he doesn't want to change his mind. I'm yelling at the screen, "Tell him you found a heart!!!" I found it a little bit weird that nobody is trying to stop him while he's "preparing" to kill himself. While there are people who don't agree with what he's doing, nobody is actively trying to stop him. In a very, very tense moment, he pulls the trigger with the gun pointed to his head, but oops-a-daisy! The safety is on. I mean, whew, right?

We see his wife outside the building and she's screaming something (presumably they found a heart), then in the very next scene we see a bunch of doctors, including John who is dressed up in scrubs. It's a weird scene because we don't see his reaction when he learns that 1), a heart has been found for his son, and 2), he doesn't have to kill himself after all. I guess they wanted it to be a surprise for the audience to see if he had pulled the trigger before it was too late. I personally would have rather seen his reaction as I figured he wasn't going to die. It didn't seem like that kind of movie; this is a guy you're rooting for, after all, they're not going to kill off the hero in such a horrible way.

The surgery is performed and the organ fits Michael perfectly so he now has a healthy heart. The ending of the movie shows John in court. We see all his hostages who are there to support him and most most likely gave witness statements. He is found not guilty of attempted murder and armed criminal action, but is found guilty of kidnapping and false imprisonment. I'm not sure what the sentence is, but his lawyer tells him she will try to get it down to two years. I'm thinking since everyone is on his side, it will be even less than that. But I guess they gotta show that he needs to do the time as he did commit a crime cuz you just can't hold everyone at gunpoint in a hospital even if your intentions are noble.

I'm not sure how realistic this movie is (something tells me not very) and it definitely is very emotionally manipulative, but it's a fun throwback early 2000s Denzel movie to watch.

Speaking of 2000s Denzel movies, I will be reviewing a few more this week, so I hope you enjoy those! I guarantee you will like them! 

Where Do Broken Hearts Go?

Waiting to Exhale
Director: Forest Whitaker
Cast: Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine, Lela Rochon, Dennis Haysbert, Gregory Hines, Donald Faison, Wesley Snipes
Released: December 22, 1995

It's always frustrating when you're about to watch a movie with four women as the leads and the only thing they talk about with each other is men and their relationships with men. This is one of those movies and they literally talk about nothing else. Sometimes you think they're going to talk about their jobs or something else, but the conversation will always veer back to men and how much men suck. I read the book right before I saw the movie and it's probably even worse because there's more of it. At least with the movie there are a few parts they took out for time. I had to laugh at one scene in the book where two characters are talking about (what else?) men and one of them says something like, "Can we please change the topic? We always talk about men" and I'm thinking, yeah, no sh*t, you really do, and then what happens? They go back to talking about men! :::bangs head against the table::: If I were friends with these women, I would be like, Please, for the love of God, please stop talking about your sh*tty boyfriends and the sh*tty men who want to date you! Don't you have any other interests? Apparently not.

So let me go through each character. We'll start with Bernadine who is played by Angela Bassett. She'll start out with long hair, but will get her hair cut pretty early in the film. It's kind of funny because her hair dresser friend, Gloria, doesn't want to cut her hair, so Bernadine cuts it herself and she ends up looking fabulous! She looks much better with short hair than she did with long hair. Of all the characters, she has the right to be the angriest at the man who screwed her over. Her storyline is her and her husband, John, are going through a nasty divorce. When we first meet her, she's getting ready to go to a New Year's party at her husband's office. When he suggests that they don't go, she looks relieved because she'd rather stay home, but then he tells her that HE is still going, but just with HER, meaning his secretary that he's having an affair with. Now she seemed to know who he meant so I was a little unclear of how long this affair had been going on and how long she had known about it. Were they going through with the divorce at this time, but were trying to keep up appearances for their kids' sake? I wasn't really sure about that. All we know is that he's leaving his wife of eleven years for a white woman. In the book, not only she is white, but she's supposed to be much younger, like mid-twenties. She's played by Kelly Preston in a cameo role who isn't that much younger than Angela Bassett in real life. It is made into a very big deal (especially more so in the book) that he is leaving her for a white woman. He even asks her if it would be better if he was leaving her for a black woman, to which she says no. I'm guessing they put that in because in the book I was kind of wondering the same thing. They almost make it seem (in both the movie and the book) that interracial relationships are much worse than, you know, cheating on your spouse. Three out of the four women in this commit adultery - yikes! And only one feels like she's doing something wrong. Besides cheating on his wife, John is just not a good guy. We learn a lot about him through exposition (done pretty obviously) when Bernadine is tossing a bunch of his clothes and other belongings in his car which she will set on fire. He is very successful with his own business (I don't really remember the specifics) that Bernadine helped him start and is a big reason of the success of it, even though he never acknowledges that. We learn in a throw away line that she wants to start her own catering business (even though we never see her cook and she never, ever talks about it with any of her friends), but John never allowed her to because he needed her to help with his company. Even though John is super successful which is evident from the house they live in, it turns out he has a lot more money that he was hiding from his wife. Not only that, but we find out, along with Bernadine, that he also owns an apartment building (!), 200 acres of farmland in California (!!), and a vineyard in Arizona (!!!).  She is finding this out for the first time, despite being married him for eleven years! He tells her to sell the house for money and offers to give her $300,000 on the spot, which seems like a lot, but she knows she can get more than that. She will find out that everything he purchased in the last ten years is in his name only, including the business that she helped build. Yeah, this guy is a douche bag and it makes me wonder if he was always this awful throughout their whole marriage or if she is just figuring this out. We're just kind of thrown into their marital problems so we don't really know about why they were together for so long. Bernadine comes off as very strong and confident, it really doesn't make sense why she was ever with this guy. She is also supposed to be super business-savvy, so the scene where she's having a garage sale and selling all of her husband's things (the stuff she didn't burn!) for one dollar each (including skis, golf clubs, and a CAR of all things) doesn't make any sense. This guy has some pretty nice stuff; WHY is she selling it only for a dollar? She could have been making a nice mini fortune, instead of getting, like, fifty dollars at the end of the day. I know, I know, it's supposed to be a statement that she's selling all his nice stuff so cheaply, but I don't think she really thought it through.

So now that John is trying to cheat Bernadine out of her fair share of their money, what does she do? Does she throw all of her anger into creating her catering business she has always wanted to started? Nope, she goes out with the girls one night at a club and starts dancing with a handsome man named Herbert who's an ex-football player and now is a sportscaster. Oh, and he's MARRIED. And it's not like she's just "friendly" dancing with him, no, she is all over him. She even tells her friends, "His wife's at home, he better watch out for me." She does end up sleeping with him. Um, does she even remember when she slapped the woman her husband is sleeping with? So by every right, Herbert's wife should be able to slap her. But as far as the movie is concerned, Mrs. Herbert never finds out. I guess Bernadine thinks it's okay to sleep with him since it doesn't mean anything, while her husband's adultery feels like more betrayal since he is leaving her to marry the other woman? :::shrug::: It sounds like she only slept with Herbert once (while in the book, it's way more than once), but he is calling and paging (hehe, how' 90s!) at "all hours of the night" and even showed up to her house unannounced. Geeze, this guy fell for her fast and hard.

While having a drink at a hotel bar (don't ask me why she was there), a man hits on her so obviously it's down-right cringey. Even she is not impressed. This man, named James (played by Wesley Snipes in an uncredited role) is not only married, but he's married to a white woman. (I mean, what are the odds for Bernadine to be hit on by a black guy who is with a white woman?) But guys, it's okay that he's blatantly hitting on Bernadine even though he is married because his wife is dying of breast cancer. (Haha, so in my notes, it says breath cancer, but I'm pretty sure that's not a thing!) I mean, dude, at least wait until your wife is GONE before you start looking for your next wife. They go up to his room to get it on and he tells her he hasn't had sex in over a year because his wife stopped wanting to. They don't have sex, but just spoon on the bed. Maybe it was because Bernadine felt guilty because the guy's wife was on her deathbed or maybe, unlike Herbert, she made a connection with James and actually liked him and didn't want to start their relationship being an adulterer. She does hear from James later in the movie via a letter he sends her. It is implied they will get together after all is said and done.

At the settlement, Bernadine wins big when she is rewarded 1.5 million dollars, $500,000 in stocks and bonds, a Mercedes station wagon, the house, and another house in Acapulco, Mexico. Hmmm, I almost think her husband cheating on her is the best thing that could ever happen to her! I'm sure there's a throwaway line about her starting her catering business, but I could be thinking about the book.

Next, we'll discuss Savannah, played by Whitney Houston. Now if you just watched the movie without having read the book, you might miss the part where she is moving from Denver to Phoenix, where the movie is set. In a very quick scene, you see her driving a car and in a voiceover she says she's moving because "all the men are dead" in Denver. Savannah, we all know you're moving to Phoenix because you got a job there. Also, because your friend, Bernadine, lives there. So in the book, she is introduced to the two other women (and is extremely judgmental of them, especially Robin, my God!), but in the movie, she's never introduced to them. We just see her interacting with them as though she's known them all her life. It almost feels like she used to live in Phoenix, moved to Denver, then moved back to Phoenix. They really just should have had this character be from Phoenix the entire time. One of the things that drove me f***king crazy in the book is that all the characters kept bitching about how boring Phoenix was and how much they hated it there. And it wasn't like it was one line, no, it was often repeated. Y'all are f**king fictional characters; you can live anywhere you want; STFU and just MOVE!  Thankfully they took all that out in the movie.

So Savannah gets to say the title of the movie. Of course she does since she's played by Whitney Houston (btw, there is a scene in the book where that character is listening to Whitney Houston...super weird!) It comes super early. She's at a New Year's Eve party slow dancing with a man named Lionel who she's met at the party as a blind date set up. You could say she wants to dance with somebody, she wants to feel the heat with somebody, yeah, she wants to dance with somebody - with somebody who loves her. Anyway, in a super cheesy voiceover, she says, "And then I did it....I closed my eyes and I exhaled and pretended the man was mine and he was everything I dreamed of." Okay, so technically she didn't say the actual title, but she got to exhale after waiting so long for a good man to come along. Now don't get too excited. We're not even ten minutes into the movie; there's no way this is the man she's been waiting all her life for. In fact, right after their dance, another woman comes up to them and tells Lionel he hasn't danced with her yet and Lionel introduced her to Savannah as "his friend". Yeah, whatever.

We do find out that Lionel called Savannah after their date and they end up going out and sleeping together. We also learn that Savannah finds out she doesn't even like the guy, but is so desperate to get laid, she just deals with the stuff that irritates her about him which includes finding out he has no income (yep, that's a deal breaker!), he chain smokes (she smokes too; but she seems to be more of a social smoker...I was kind of surprised that three out of the four women smoke in this!); brags about being a vegetarian, but inhaled three hots dogs (dude, you're not a vegetarian, then!) and she gave him twenty dollars for gas which only cost $7.18 (for gas, can you imagine! Oh, to be living in 1995 (much better than 2020, am I right?!?!) and he didn't even give her any change.

He quickly disappears and Savannah's ex, Kenneth, calls her out of the blue, telling her he's coming to Phoenix for a conference and would like to see her. On paper, Kenneth seems like a great catch. He's good-looking, well educated, I want to say he's a doctor, maybe? He's also going to be the POTUS in a few years and fight some terrorism alongside Jack Bauer cuz he's played by Dennis Haysbert aka President David Palmer aka the All State guy. Unfortunately, Savannah was NOT in good hands with him! (I can't take credit for that joke!) The man is married, for one thing, and has a seven-year-old daughter. He tells Savannah that he married his wife when she was five months pregnant. I'm not really sure why they broke up in the first place. He tells Savannah that she is the only woman he's ever loved (so he married a woman he didn't even love? Yes, I realize it's complicated cuz there's a child involved). We get a super cheesy sex scene between them with lots of slow motion and a slow song.

Savannah calls one of her friends, asking, "How will I know if he really loves me? I'm asking you cuz you know about these things." Kenneth calls his wife, telling her he's going to have to probably visit Phoenix a few more times for more "conferences", uh-huh. He keeps telling Savannah he's going to divorce his wife for her, but of course, he never does and she soon realizes it's never going to happen. The real kicker is when he tells her she's going to have to wait a little bit longer because his wife is having a baby. It's like, dude, are you serious?

Guess who my least favorite character in this movie is. You'd think it would be one of the many loser men that these women keep finding themselves attracting, but nope, it was Savannah's mother. This woman....ugh. First of all, she's the one who gave Kenneth Savannah's number even though she knew the man was married. When Savannah mentions this, she says, "How happy can he be if he went and found me to get to you?" She tells her, "Every woman needs a man", which is not only extremely sexist and setting feminism back about fifty years, but also a little bit homophobic, no? I'm just saying if Savannah told her mom she was with a woman, I don't think she'd take it very well. After Savannah tells Kenneth once and for all to get out of her life for good, her mother calls her to tell her that Kenneth called her, crying, and tells her, "Men don't cry over woman unless they love them" and asks her how she could be so insensitive. Why is Savannah's mother taking this man's side over her own daughter's? I feel like she's the one who's being insensitive! Savannah tells her, "I am sick of you telling me how I should live my life, who you think I should love, marry. I'm sick of it!" I'm all, Yes! You tell her, Savannah! And then her mom has the gall to say, "It isn't too late! He's begging on his knees and you're letting him get away." Again, why is her mother not listening to her? Savannah tells her, "I have a job. I have friends. I have interests you don't even ask about. (She does?) Only one thing counts with you, Mama."  She tells her mom that she should be proud that she'd rather live alone then crawl up behind some two timing loser like Kenneth. This woman keeps defending Kenneth! She tells her daughter "He's a good man, he's just in a bad situation right now and trying to get out of it." Savannah snaps at her "Why don't you f**king marry him, then?" and hangs up on her. Oooooh, burn! She does call her back to apologize because the movie has established that they do have a good relationship even though her mother sucks. She tells her she didn't mean to disrespect her, but she meant what she said about her life. He mom tells her she just doesn't want her to end up alone like her. What happened with her and her husband? I don't know. But maybe stop trying to set up your daughter with married men.

I should probably mention the theme song since Whitney Houston (duh, obviously) sings it. It's played in the movie for about sixty seconds when she's about to meet Kenneth and then we never hear it again. It's possible it's played during the ending credits after "Count on Me" which is the first song that's played as the credits roll, but I didn't watch all the credits to find out. I like the song just fine, but I feel like when it was written, they couldn't think of any lyrics during the "Shoop, shoop, shoop, shoop de doop" part so they just made up words and just forgot to go back and put in actual words.

Now let's talk about Robin played by Lela Rochan. She's dating a married man (of course) named Russell who she's very attracted to. Well, I don't know if "dating" is the right word because he's the one who decides when they're going to meet and when it's most convenient for him. She is trying to meet other men so we see her in her bedroom with Michael, a man she works with at an insurance company where he's been promoted to her marketing team. I don't know if they've been on a couple dates before or if she works this fast. Something tells me it's the latter because she is clearly not attracted to him. He is a little bit overweight and has an extremely annoying personality. They have sex even though she is clearly not enjoying it. Why is she sleeping with a man she's not attracted to or even likes? I don't know. Because she's stupid. It's a good thing she's pretty. They're trying to make it a hilarious scene, but really, it's just awkward and uncomfortable. There's a moment when she thinks, "I could have had a V8". She'd rather have a blended vegetable drink than have sex with that man. Again, why are you sleeping with him?? These are the moments when I really hate this movie. Afterwards, Robin has this stone cold look on her face and Michael asks her how it was for her. Dude, read the f**king room! He tells her, "Tell me what you want, what you need. Because whatever it is, I'm gonna see you have it." The things she says do make sense, but the way this speech is said is a bit odd. Let me list each point she makes:
-First she says she wants a house in Scottsdale and Michael tells her he has a house there. Okay, that's fine.
-Next, she says she wants to get married and have kids, again, which is fine.
-Then, she says she wants to eat out 2-3 times a WEEK! At first, I thought she was going to say a month, but no, A WEEK! What the actual f**k? Does that seem a little extreme to anyone? She's not going to be able to maintain her figure if she goes out to eat that many times a week! Why does she need to eat out that many times in a week? Why is this the third thing she lists?
-Then she tells him she wants to have babies. Um, you mentioned this already in your first point when she said you wanted kids. Same thing.
-Then she mentions she would like to go away for long weekends. Okay, fair enough.
-Then, AGAIN, for the THIRD time, she says she wants to have a family. We get it! You want to get married and have kids. You've already told him this like five seconds ago!!
-Then she ends that she wants to be happy which is a good way to end this terrible speech. I mean, seriously, where were the editors for this screenplay? Did they not realize she was being super redundant in this? Also the whole eating out thing was weird. Yes, it's in the book, but we don't always have to keep everything from the book. She only mentions wanting kids once, though, in the book.

Michael tells her he can give her all that, plus more, and they have much better sex. However, their relationship doesn't go anywhere. She ends up firing him because he challenges her or something. I wasn't quite clear, but they break up. When she's out with her friends at a club and sees him entering with another woman, she looks super jealous.

She starts dating another guy, Troy, who she picked up at a grocery store and who she's much more attracted to. They've known each other for only three days and I don't know which is more surprising:  a) that he wants her to meet his mother already, or b) that he takes her to a coke party. And I'm not talking about the drink. It's funny because he's smoking as they're driving to the drug party and we hear her voiceover say, "I wish he didn't smoke, but I can live with one bad habit." Oh, you have no idea, honey. Run far, far, away from this one. When she finds out there are drugs at the party, she just wants to go home and eventually they do leave. She figures since this is the first time a man has asked her to meet his mother, "maybe he's not into this stuff all that much and maybe if we got to know each other better, I might be a good influence on him." Uh-huh, keep dreaming, honey.  In the end, Robin decides not to meet his mother.  He comes to pick her up two hours later, higher than a kite, wearing jeans and a black leather vest (in Phoenix in the summer!) and complaining how hot it is. He also mentions he has a thirteen-year-old son that she didn't know about.

So we get an interesting phone call between Robin and Savannah, who seems to know an awful lot about cocaine and the people who use it. This is a bit unfortunate; history was not kind to this scene. Robin tells Savannah she can't find her wallet and Savannah predicts that Troy took it. Robin gets another call from Russell, the man she's trying to break away from because she's just his mistress and he's never going to leave his wife, but when he asks her if she wants some company, she answers yes right away, explaining why he has her wrapped around his finger. This woman is so desperate, it's really quite nauseating. We get an explanation from Robin, telling us the last time she was with Russell, he told he he wanted to spend the whole night, except he had to take his mother to church the next morning. Please tell me she did not fall for this bs lie!

While taking to Savannah (for some reason there were quite a few scenes with just Savannah and Robin, even though Savannah was closest to Bernadine; they also matched up Bernadine and Gloria often), we learn that Robin had an abortion. After Savannah tells her about Kenneth, Robin says, "There was a woman in your same situation. This man kept saying he was going to leave, too. Quit her job, moved to the city he lived in. Found out she was three months pregnant. Dumped the woman because he didn't want to hurt his kids." Then Savannah asks her, "What show was this on?" because she thinks Robin is talking about a segment she saw on a daytime talk show. Doesn't she realize Robin is talking about herself? DUHHHH. Robin replies with, "I've never been on Oprah."

Robin, who has always wanted a baby, is pregnant with Russell's baby (again), but this time she's going to keep it and tells him she doesn't want anything from him.

Last, but not least, is Gloria, played by Loretta Devine. She is my favorite of the four women because she has the least drama. She is a hairdresser who has her own salon, but they should have made her the one with a catering company. They probably didn't do this because they didn't want to make the "fat" one of the group the one who likes to cook (even though she likes to cook). I get the feeling she's supposed to be a lot bigger in the book, maybe to the point of being obese. She has a heart attack (they took it out in the movie) and Savannah being the total judgmental bitch that she is has the gall to tell Gloria that she could probably get a man if she lost some weight. Luckily they kept this out of the movie.

Gloria has a teen son named Tarik (played by Donald Faison, who was also in Clueless the same year), who instead of going to college where he has been accepted to Arizona University, wants to travel to Spain to play the saxophone in the Up with People International Choir.

Tarik's father, David, who was never married to his mother, is coming to visit, but he doesn't want to see him because they don't have a very close relationship. He's also mad that his mother slept with him the last time he visited and she is planning on doing so again because Tarik is spending the night at a friend's. David, who is, er, was, bi-sexual, tells her he is now just gay so he has no interest in spending the night with her. When I was looking at the cast list for this movie, I saw Giancarlo Esposito's name in this and I was racking my brain, thinking of who he played, but he was David! He looked so different! I guess I'm used to seeing him as Gus Fringe in a yellow button down shirt and being super menacing. Also, after watching him in many episodes of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul; it's weird when he doesn't have an accent!

Gloria has a new neighbor, Marvin (Gregory Hines) who she introduces herself to. There's this super weird moment where the camera lingers on his crotch and butt and he's wearing super baggy jeans. I should mention this movie was the directorial debut of Forrest Whitaker and let's just say he should stick to acting. There was some weird choices, this one included. There was just too much '90s cheese on this. Marvin, who is a widower, tells Gloria that he "likes women with a little meat on her bones" and mentions that his wife was a "big woman" which is an adjective I'm sure every woman loves to be called.

Gloria invites him over for dinner, telling him, "It's just leftovers: collard greens, corn bread, candied yams, potato salad, fried chicken ham, and peach cobbler." We see one of the meals she made; I think it was friend chicken with biscuits and cole slaw and it looked delicious; this is why she should have been the caterer. Where is Bernadine's mouth watering food? Oh, right, we never see her make anything! I do love that Gloria is the only one to end up with a man; good for her. Oh, well I guess Bernadine also ends up with a man.

One of the very few scenes where the four women are together is Gloria's birthday. We see this amazing cake, that looks like it came from a bakery, but it's possible she made it. This scene would be the perfect opportunity for them to talk about anything but men, but guess what they talk about? I'll give you one guess (because you're going to guess it correctly!) Savannah mentions that none of them have a man. Who the f**k cares? Then she says, "I'm 33 and I still look good." (FYI: she's 36 or 37 in the book). WHAT THE ACTUAL F**K??????????? What is that supposed to mean? Thirty-three is not that old; damn, I would hope you still look good at the age of 33 or else you have a huge f**king problem!! Then we get some huge whiplash from Bernadine. One minute she's about to angry call her husband's new girlfriend, then she's crying, then she's giggling and laughing as they dance to "Creep" by TLC (great song). This all happens in the span of about ninety seconds.

Another scene where all four of them are together is at the end when they're headed to a New Year's party, so we've just spent an entire year with these women. The last shot is the four of them by a bonfire and there's a weird super slow motion of them hugging. Okay, I'm done with this review...I can now exhale!

One Day

The Sun is Also a Star
Director: Ry Russo-Young
Cast: Yara Shahidi, Charles Melton, John Leguizamo
Released: May 17, 2019

This is a movie based on a young adult book by Nicola Yoon, who also wrote Everything, Everything; another movie I also reviewed (and read the book). Even though Everything, Everything is her first novel, I read The Sun is Also a Star first and since I liked it a lot, I read her first book, but didn't really care for it (or the movie). The movie version of The Sun.... is not as good as the book, but it's better than Everything, Everything. I think the actors portraying the romantic couple in it have more chemistry than the two actors portraying the romantic couple in Everything, Everything. But I could just be biased since I liked that story better.

I read The Sun is Also a Star in the summer of 2018. I was a little worried I wouldn't have enough time to read it because I had checked out three or four other books from the library at the time and by the time I got to it, it was due in two days! Usually you can re-check a book three of four times! Now it is possible I did recheck this one at least once, but I noticed there were a few people waiting for it and if there's a certain amount of people waiting for a book, they don't let you re-check it. You have to return it so those people get a chance to read it. True, I could had just returned it, then checked it out again, but I decided to see how much of it I could read before I had to return it to the library. The book is 384 pages, which is quite a lot! But luckily for me, it read very fast and I was able to finish it in in time. The POV switches back and forth from the two main characters and a few other characters. The book is definitely better than the movie, but that's not surprising. This is a story that takes places in a day. You have 384 pages of the book to get to know these characters and read their story while you only get almost two hours for the movie. While you get to spend a day with these characters in the book and the movie, the day they spend together in the movie is truncated.

The day begins with seventeen-year-old Natasha (played by Yara Shahidi; she's the oldest daughter on Black-ish) going to an immigration office because her family is being deported to Jamaica tomorrow. She has lived in New York City since she was eight and is trying to find a way to be able to stay. Her parents have Jamaican accents, but she has a very American accent. I assume her younger brother, who moved to the U.S. when he was four, does too, but I honestly can't remember if he even has any lines. We will find out later that her dad works in a kitchen at a restaurant and he was there when ICE did a random raid and that is why they're being deported. I do not know when this happened, but they are scheduled to leave the country tomorrow. In the book, her father was pulled over for drunk driving and that is when it is revealed his visa had expired. (I admit I had to look this up because I didn't remember everything since I read the book a year and a half ago!) It was not clear in the movie if the family had a visa and it had expired or they had been in the country illegally all that time. I suspect they didn't want the negative aspect of the father driving drunk so they changed that. And that they didn't have time to really focus on the parents like they do in the book. The guy tells her there's nothing he can do, but she's going to be okay because she's going to Jamaica (cue Beach Boys song here) and not some godforsaken place like Syria or Afghanistan. She is not happy by this and tells him she's sick of people telling her it's going to be okay, so that is what her parents must keep telling her. He gives her the number of an immigration lawyer, Jeremy Martinez, who does pro bono work and if there's anyone who can help her, it would be him. She calls the number and his secretary tells her he's extremely busy today. After begging, the secretary tells her she can have fifteen minutes with him at noon, during his lunch break, and Natasha is satisfied with that. Throughout the movie we will see her keeping in touch with her parents via texts and phone calls. They want her home so she can start packing, but it will be awhile before she actually goes home.

Then we are introduced to our main character, Daniel (played by Charles Melton; he plays Reggie on Riverdale, a show I have never seen. I figured since I've seen The Vampire Diaries, I'm good and I don't need to see this show. I don't know why I'm comparing those shows together; I just feel like they're probably pretty similar....there's probably vampires and witches in Riverdale, right?? IDK! I do know the Reggie character because I know the theme song to the animated show: "Archie's here, Betty's here, Veronica too; Reggie's here...") Anyhoo...Daniel is a seventeen-year-old Korean-American who has an interview with Dartmouth College later on that day, except it's not really affiliated with the college, so it's kind of confusing, but I'll come back to that when we get there. His parents, who came to New York from South Korea, think it's very important that he become a doctor and that he do well at his interview. He has an older brother, Charlie, who's a bit of a douche and a bully. While they try to give him somewhat of an important role, he is much more fleshed out in the book. I had to laugh when he pronounces Dartmouth as "Dart Mouth." It reminded me of that episode of Boy Meets World where Eric pronounces Yale as "Yah-lay" (and poor Mr. Feeny is just giving him an exasperated look!). Of course, Charlie was just being facetious while dumb-ass Eric legitimately thought that was how Yale was pronounced!

Daniel's appointment isn't until later, so he's just going to chill with his friend for now. I don't know. They're on the subway, which Natasha is also on, listening to her headphones, but at the moment neither of them are aware of the other. The subway suddenly stops and the motorman comes over the intercom to calm everyone and tell them a story. He tells them he usually takes his daughter to school every morning and one day he was late because he was talking to his friend and they missed the train. While he's saying this part, everyone looks pretty irritated or impatient as they look at the time on their phones and just want the train to get fixed and be on their way. You know, typical New Yorkers. One guy says, "Shut up, a**hole" which makes Daniel and his friend crack up. But when the motorman reveals the day they were late happened to be 9/11 (THE 9/11), everyone looks super solemn and/or guilty for having the reactions they did. The guy who called him an a**hole looks super guilty; Daniel and his friend immediately wipe the smirks off their face. And of course it is revealed that the guy's friend worked at the World Trade Center and because he missed the subway, he missed work, and thus he survived a day he otherwise probably would have died. There's a moral to his story as he tells them, "Don't panic because of you being late. You never know why you were meant to be here at this time." Now if the train being late had caused Daniel to meet Natasha because perhaps she was on a different train and now they ran into each other because of it, that would make sense, but they're both on the same train and they don't even meet at this moment, but whatever, I'm just being finicky. The motorman ends with what sounds like a fortune you would find in a fortune cookie: "Always remember to open up your heart to destiny." It's probably not more than five minutes later when Daniel will repeat this line to his friend who doesn't even remember what he's talking about and therefore Daniel has to remind him (and the audience, I'm sure) it's the last thing the motorman said.

So what happens is that Daniel and his friend (can you tell I don't remember his friend's name? It's probably because after this scene we will never see, hear, or speak of him again!) are on the upper level of Grand Central Station people-watching the patrons below them. This is when Daniel notices Natasha who is looking up. She's not looking at them, but I guess there are images of the constellations at GCS that she was staring at. He notices her and thinks she's very pretty and likes that she took the time to look up, because most people don't look up. (Well, duh, why would they?) When she turns around, he notices the back of her jacket says "Deus ex Machina", the exact same phrase he had written down in his journal that very morning. Dun, dun, dun! This is when he repeats the "Always remember to open up your heart to destiny" line. He thinks this is a sign and has to meet this girl. They go downstairs, but since this is Grand Central Station, it's super crowded and she has seemed to vanish into thin air. Rejected, he gets on the subway after parting ways with his friend and who does he see on the next car? Yep, Natasha. Now I don't know if he was originally going to get off at the same stop that she does, but something tells me no because he is running fast after her to make sure he doesn't lose her in the crowd. I do find it a little problematic that at this point he's basically following her. He will notice that she's about to cross a street and get run over by a car that's going crazy fast and because she's lost in thought listening to her headphones (probably listening to Nirvana because in the book she's a Kurt Cobain fan), she's not paying attention and he runs and pulls her back to safety. So basically she has no idea that he was actually following her. The car scene does happen in the book, but I don't think he was following her, but maybe I just don't remember. This whole thing is about chance meetings and fate and destiny (think of this as Serendipity for teens), so wouldn't it have been better if they both got off at the stop and he never saw her on the subway? Honestly, this just makes him look like a total creeper. And that's not good.

After he pulls her back on the sidewalk, she takes off her headphones and says the super cliched line, "You saved my life. Thank you." They introduce each other then sit down to talk in a nearby park because I guess you're required to sit and talk with your life saver? IDK! For their first conversation, the topic is pretty heavy: love. Natasha asks him what he has in his notebook and he tells her he writes poems, mostly about love. So...a) what modern teenager carries around a notebook? None, I'm sure, and b) What modern teenager wants to be a poet? Now this will make sense in the course of the movie and will come full circle, but I don't buy that "I want to be a poet" crap. Because nobody wants to be a poet. Like, for an actual career. Maybe for a hobby sure, but this dude wants to make a career out of it. Give me a break. Daniel quickly learns that Natasha might not be as romantic as he hoped. She tells him that she doesn't believe in love, saying, "If you can't use a scientific method on it, then it's not real." When he questions her, she tells him what people are feeling when they feel love are hormones and says, "We just call it "love" so that we have something grand to live for. Otherwise, life seems really mundane and a random series of events that you have no control over until you die." Cue the violin opening to "Bitter Sweet Symphony". This is when he gets up, tells her it was nice meeting her, and goes on his merry way. No, that doesn't happen, but it would be pretty amusing (and a short movie!) if it did. No, instead Daniel is up to the challenge and tells her he can get her to fall in love with him if she gives him one day. If I were Natasha, I would have laughed in his face, but instead she tells him she doesn't have a day. When he asks her if she has an hour (an hour! Good Lord, not even Romeo and Juliet fell in love within an hour!) she decides to humor him.

They go to a small eatery called Caffe Reggio where they have lunch. Natasha's mom calls to tell her she wants her home to start packing and she tells her she will come home after her appointment at noon. Daniel gets a call from his interview asking him if they can reschedule it for tomorrow morning and he is happy to oblige so he can spend time with Natasha. While they eat lunch, Daniel tells Natasha about a study where researchers put a bunch of couples in a lab and had them ask each other thirty-six intimate questions. Natasha's reply is, "Sounds ridiculous." Really? Is it really that ridiculous? What is so ridiculous about it? This girl would irritate me in real life, I think. He asks her a few random ones, starting with "Where are the five key ingredients to falling in love?" The nerdy girl has a very nerdy answer: "Mutual self-interest and socioeconomic compatibility." Apparently she doesn't know how to count because she doesn't give three more. But, yikes! Those aren't terrible things, but they seem pretty pedestrian. Daniel's answers are a little better. Well, most of them, anyway: "Friendship and chemistry, some sort of moral compass, common interests, and the X factor." When Natasha asks what the X factor is (yes I'd like to know that, too), Daniel replies with, "Don't worry. We've got it." My eyes rolled at that. Such lazy writing. They've known each other less than a hour and he's claiming they have "The X factor?"

They talk about their futures and what they want to do. Natasha tells Daniel that she wants to be a data scientist (such a nerd!), someone who "takes large amounts of data and strategizes on how to apply it practically." Daniel tells her about the interview he has with Dartmouth and how his parents want him to be a doctor and how important it it to them he become one. But he would rather be a poet and his parents don't approve of that. 

Natasha's appointment is soon and they walk to it together. Daniel recognizes it is as the same place his interview will take place tomorrow (but was originally scheduled for the same time as her appointment) and tells her, "You have to admit this proves my point: fate is real." Natasha says it was just a coincidence. When she goes in for her appointment, Mr. Martinez's secretary tells her that he was hit by a car when he was biking to work (the very same car that almost hit Natasha, in fact, Daniel sees him clip a guy on a bike first, then realizes he's about to hit Natasha) and won't be in until 4:30 since he's at the hospital. Daniel is waiting for her in the lobby and is thrilled when he realizes they have four more hours to spend together, but Natasha tells him she has to go home because her parents are expecting her. When she tells him it takes about an hour to get home and another hour to return, he points out that doesn't make sense to be wasting all that time and she agrees with him, so she calls her parents to let them know she won't be coming home until later.

Daniel needs to drop off something for his father at his parents' store which sells black hair care products. Natasha is incredulous that his parents own a black hair care store, but he explains to her that it's really not that uncommon for Koreans. She doesn't get the best first impression from his family, unfortunately. She and Daniel share a moment where they're about to kiss right in the middle of an aisle, but Charlie, his douchey brother, interrupts them and accuses Natasha of being a shoplifter. When Daniel introduces Natasha to his dad, Mr. Bae offers her a relaxer for her hair so it won't be so big and she tells him she likes her hair. I mean, I think the girl wouldn't have it that way if she didn't like it! Of course Daniel is just cringing during this whole exchange. Unwoke parents can be the worst!

To kill the rest of the time, they go to a planetarium (Natasha's idea, of course) and hold hands as they look up at the screen. This is when they start to become touchy-feel-y and when they're on the subway, she has her head on his shoulder and she's playing with his hair. They have a conversation about poetry and Natasha complains that whenever she reads a poem it's usually about one of three things: love, sex, or the stars. This is when we get our film's title (well, sort of) when she says, "Why not more poems about the sun? The sun's also a star." Yep. She used a contraction. The title is The Sun IS Also a Star; not The Sun's Also a Star. I mean, really, you think they would have the actress say the actual title right! Also, I'm pretty sure if you looked hard enough, there are plenty of poems about the sun out there. If I really cared, I would try to find a few, but I don't really care that much to look for poetry.

They next go to Korean karaoke which is called Noraebang and is a bit different from the karaoke most people are used to as they have their own private room. I'm pretty sure this is a challenge they've done on The Amazing Race when they've been in Seoul. I remember contestants having to memorize a song in Korean, then having to perform it. I get having a private room if you're a small group, but with two people? That's just super weird. I do remember this scene in the book when Daniel sings Abba's "Take a Chance On Me", a super corny song choice and a bit on the nose. They must have thought the same thing when they were making the movie because he sings "Crimson and Clover" instead. As he's singing the song, we see flash forwards of Natasha imagining what their life could be like if she is able to stay in New York. We see them dating, getting married, having children, the whole she-bang. I would be super embarrassed if some guy I just met that day was singing to me in this intense way, but she is eating it up. In fact, when he's done singing, they just go at it and start making out. Now it makes sense why they need a private venue! She freaks out when her phone beeps, alerting her that her appointment is in half an hour and she is brought back down to reality and runs out. Daniel runs after her, asking her what's wrong. She drops the big bomb, telling him she will probably never see him again because she wasn't born in this country and her family is being deported tomorrow.

They part ways and Natasha goes to her immigration appointment with Jeremy Martinez who is played by John Leguizamo, easily the biggest name in the movie. He gives her a glimmer of hope when he tells her he had a chance to review her file and he's going to see the judge who issued the removal order. He knows that judge and think he might be able to file a motion to reopen the case so she won't have to leave tomorrow. He's playing it close with time because he won't have an answer from the judge until the next morning and wants to meet her again at ten. If everything works out, he will ask for a new trial and submit a petition for permanent resident status for her and her family.

With a new burst of hope in her, Natasha wants to reconnect with Daniel, but doesn't have his number, so she goes back to his parents' store where Charlie is at the cash register. She asks him for his brother's number and while he gives her a bit of crap, he easily gives it to her. So she calls Daniel and apologizes and they meet up again. They hang out some more and talk some more and kiss some more. They end up going to Roosevelt Island where they end up spending the night in a park which doesn't seem like a very safe thing to do. Also, I'm surprised nobody noticed they were roughing it outside.

They wake up  the next morning a little after seven and they need to hurry because Daniel's interview is at eight. This dude spent the night outside, is wearing the same outfit he wore yesterday, and hasn't taken a shower in god knows how long. You know he reeks. And he's going to an important interview that will determine his future. So get this...it turns out his interview is with Jeremy Martinez. Why is an immigration lawyer giving an interview with a kid who wants to attend Dartmouth? Why is the interview being held at this place? I really have no idea. I mean, it will be for the sake of the story because Natasha will barge in later, wanting to know if her family can stay and they (Daniel and Natasha) will just stare at each other and take it as another sign that they're meant to be together. But yeah, it makes no sense the same guy who is giving Natasha legal advice is also a Dartmouth rep. Unfortunately he tells Natasha that her family is unable to stay and of course this makes her upset. She puts the blame on Daniel telling him, "You promised this wasn't going to happen." Yeah, he did say that to her. Pretty stupid thing to say.

It's only now that Natasha realizes that she should probably call her parents to tell therm she's okay and on her way home. She hasn't been in touch with them since yesterday; maybe right before they went to Roosevelt Island, I can't exactly remember the last time we saw her contact them. She must have turned off her phone because surely her parents have been trying to get in touch with her. She brings Daniel with her and naturally her parents are upset with her. Daniel tries to intervene and tell them it's his fault, but her dad shuts it down. Yeah, I'd be pretty annoyed if my kid was out all night when they were supposed to be home packing and then have the gall to bring some random kid home with them and call them their "guest".

Earlier in the movie when Daniel was telling Natasha about the experiment scientists did with couples that she called "ridiculous", after they had asked and answered their questions, they were supposed to stare into each other's eyes for four minutes so that's what they do outside the airport. (Guess Natasha's parents were cool that he tagged along!) If I saw two people outside an airport holding hands and staring into each other's eyes without saying anything, I would probably roll my own eyes. Thankfully we don't have to see the full four minutes. Instead we see flash forwards of what their lives actually turn out to be: Natasha looks to be an astronomy teacher (I thought she wanted to be a data scientist?) and Daniel is a poet. At the end of the four minutes she tells Daniel that she loves him and he tells her that the experiment worked. Well, it did and it didn't.

The movie fast forwards five years later and we see Natasha back at Caffe Reggio listening to live music. She is meeting Mr. Martinez there and we learn her student visa came through for her to attend grad school at Berekely where she will be flying out the next day. She asks Martinez if she remembers Daniel Bae and if he knows any way of contacting him because she can't find him online and it's almost like he vanished. Okay. Hold the phone. In what world, in this century, in this year, would a twenty-something not have some form of social media? It would be odd for a thirty, forty, of even fifty something not to have some kind of social media or email address. I call total BS on this. I can't remember exactly how this happened in the book, because they do lose touch with each other after Natasha goes to Jamaica. If the two young girls from Beaches in the late '50s can keep a correspondence with each other, then there's no excuse two teens from the twenty-teens can't stay in touch with each other!

Well, wouldn't you know, when Natasha is about to leave, we see Daniel, who works at the cafe, take off his apron (I guess he was on his break when Natasha ordered?) and tell the audience he's going to read a poem about the sun. The very first poem ever written about the sun, apparently! Natasha turns around and they see each other and smile at each other, then kiss, which is super weird. If I haven't seen somebody in five years who I only spent one day with, I certainly wouldn't just start making out with them. I guess neither of them are in relationships at that moment. Natasha tells him she only has one day and he replies he only needs one day. We never hear his poem about the sun. In the book, ten year passes and they're both on the same airplane and there's no reunion kiss.

If you've read the book, you might enjoy the movie, but just know the book is much better.