Category: Comedies

Comedies

The Cat’s Meow

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Image: The Cat’s Meow, 2001

I’ve just returned from my summer travels, and wow, what a whirlwind! Ever hear the phrase, “I need a vacation from my vacation?” I understand it now, and so do the characters in Peter Bogdanovich’s The Cat’s Meow (Disc/Download). Was Hollywood producer Thomas Ince just “dying” to get off the Hearst yacht by any means necessary? Let’s set sail on a weekend full of mystery, intrigue, and maybe a little murder.

In telling the story of the untimely death of “Father of the Western” Ince, Bogdanovich gives us a fascinating glimpse into the world of William Randolph Hearst. It was a world full of lavish parties where guests of Hearst (think: politicians, titans of industry) would mingle with guests of his mistress, actress Marion Davies (think: lowly Hollywood folk) in boozy weekends full of stunning views and lush accommodations. In this case, it’s the Hearst yacht, carrying Charlie Chaplin, gossip columnist Louella Parsons, writer Elinor Glynn, producer Thomas Ince, and other prominent figures of the Jazz Age. They think they’re in for a fabulous cruise to San Diego, but what they don’t realize is that W.R. has trapped them in a game where he holds all the cards, and there are no winners. This man is so petty and paranoid that he spends the whole trip spying on his guests, certain they’re disrespecting him behind his back. And, admittedly, Marion is contemplating a dalliance with the little tramp Chaplin. This ship is full double-crossers and manipulators, and it’s a reminder of why I loathe cruising—you’re stuck in a confined space with insufferable people, and the solution is to either to swim for shore, or get unreasonably drunk.

One positive thing (maybe the only positive thing) I will say about Hearst is that he threw a hell of a dinner party. Even during Prohibition, he allowed his guests one cocktail apiece, plus all the Charleston dancing they could handle. Let’s toast the jubilant Jazz Age with this Charleston cocktail.

Charleston

½ oz gin

½ oz orange liqueur

½ oz maraschino liqueur

½ oz sweet vermouth

½ oz dry vermouth

½ oz cherry brandy

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Stir to chill, then strain into a glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon.

I was lucky enough to visit the Hearst Castle on my travels, and what a treat it was to see the spaces where Willie and Marion entertained their guests. Everything was so well preserved, it felt like Joan Crawford or Cary Grant could be coming up from the tennis court at any moment, requesting a cocktail before dinner. It preserves a moment in time where the stars came down to earth—mingling, dealing, and dreaming—in this pleasure palace on a hill. Cheers!

Classic Films · Comedies

Operation Petticoat

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Image: Operation Petticoat, 1959

What’s better than being trapped on a submarine with Cary Grant and Tony Curtis in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? Being trapped on a pink submarine with Cary Grant and Tony Curtis in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. This week, Blake Edwards makes military service look downright enjoyable in the 1959 romp, Operation Petticoat (Disc/Download).

We all have our favorite iterations of Cary Grant, but to me, the actor is at his best while playing a grumpy hero who is awkward around women. It’s not that he doesn’t know what to do with a woman; it’s that he doesn’t know what to do with a woman in this particular situation. It’s fun to see Cary try to squeeze past buxom actresses in the narrow, cramped hallways of a submarine, just as it’s fun to watch them wreak havoc on his calm, orderly operation. This navy commander simply wants to get through the South Pacific in one piece, but to do it, he needs every bra, girdle, and can of pink paint he can find. He also needs a man who knows how to get things, and since Morgan Freeman was unavailable, he’s stuck with playboy/petty thief Tony Curtis in dress whites.

When the crew runs out of time to cover their pink paint job with boring old grey, they act horribly embarrassed, but I think it’s fantastic. Why shouldn’t they have the prettiest sub in the fleet? While watching Operation Petticoat, I recommend drinking this boozy version of a “Pink Drink”, the Sea Tiger.

Sea Tiger

1 oz fresh lime juice

1 oz unsweetened coconut cream

2 oz pineapple juice

1 oz dragon fruit syrup

3 oz gold Puerto Rican rum

1 oz PAMA pomegranate liqueur

8 oz crushed ice

Combine all ingredients in a blender. Blend for five to ten seconds, then pour into a Tiki mug or glass. Garnish with a flower.

Something I love about this movie is how the female characters bring this submarine to life. Sure, it’s fun to watch Tony Curtis foil Cary Grant’s plans for a professional, by-the-book military operation, but it’s even more entertaining to watch a gaggle of pretty nurses send him into a tizzy. Turns out, pink really is his color. Cheers!

Comedies

Chances Are

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Image: Chances Are, 1989

When people ask me to name my favorite movie, I always have a hard time answering. How does anybody pick just one? But when it comes to naming my favorite movie genre, it’s easy: Interdimensional Romance. I credit the Criterion Channel with coining this term, which basically means romance that defies the laws of space, time, and even death. You may have heard the phrase: “Every love story is a tragedy if you wait long enough”. But in an Interdimensional Romance, love doesn’t end with death—it merely changes into a new form. Chances are, you probably haven’t heard of the movie Chances Are (Disc/Download), but if you believe in the idea that love can’t be limited by our brief human lifespans, you should give this reincarnation rom-com a watch.

Featuring an absolutely stacked cast (Robert Downey Jr., Cybill Shepherd, Ryan O’Neal, and Mary Stuart Masterson), Chances Are follows Washington DC lawyer Louis Jeffries, who dies on the night of his first wedding anniversary, leaving his new bride widowed and pregnant. Upon arriving in heaven, he desperately pleads with the bureaucrats in charge to send him back. They agree to return him to Earth in a new body, however they forget to erase his memories before he departs. That reincarnated baby eventually grows up to take the form of Robert Downey Jr., and through a series of coincidences, Louis finds himself back in his old Georgetown home, triggered by the memories from his past life. Things get weird when he enters into a love triangle with both his wife and his daughter, which then becomes a quadrangle when Ryan O’Neal starts bedhopping. I think this is what they call “high concept”.

If you want to remember Washington DC as it was, with its tasteful, elegant Reflecting Pool and people in suits doing the very important work of keeping our laws, our journalistic integrity, and our cultural institutions intact, then you’ll enjoy seeing the city as it was in 1989. I also love the addition of a cherry tree named George, so while you’re watching Chances Are, I recommend drinking this “George” cocktail.

George

2 oz gin

½ oz Cherry Heering

1 oz lime juice

½ oz simple syrup

2 oz sparkling wine

Cherry garnish

Combine gin, Cherry Heering, lime juice, and simple syrup in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into a coupe glass. Top with sparkling wine, and garnish with a cherry.

I had another reason for watching Chances Are this week, and it’s not just my love of Cybill Shepherd’s power suits. You see, my book Follow the Sun recently got reincarnated with a pretty new cover and more marketing support:

I had to laugh, thinking about all the times over the last decade when I’ve said this book was dead. First, when a former agent sat on it for nearly a year, with no response to my emails. Then, when I tried to get a new agent, and again got no response to my queries. Then, when I finally got a great agent, but editors didn’t respond to the pitch (are you sensing a pattern yet?). Then, when I connected with a great editor, got a contract, and the book was finally being published, but marketing didn’t respond. At that point, I thought for sure I’d reached the end of the road. This book was officially deceased, buried under the millions of books published every year that you’ve also never heard of. But three years later, here we are—resurrected again, in a slightly different form. I used to call Follow the Sun my zombie book, but after watching Chances Are, I think I should call it my reincarnated book. Because the truth is, every time it dies and gets reborn, it comes back just a little bit better. This time, the words haven’t changed, but the packaging has improved. I don’t know if there’s another life in store for Follow the Sun after this, but if there is, I hope it’s a good one. I hope it finds the people who will love it. Cheers!

Comedies

Ed Wood

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Image: Ed Wood, 1994

I’m finally recovered after a whirlwind trip to the Ambler 35mm Film Festival at the historic Ambler Theater, which means it’s time to get back to the business of movies and cocktails! I saw a lot of great flicks at the festival, but the one that most surprised me was Tim Burton’s biopic of a cross-dressing 1950s B-movie director, Ed Wood (Disc/Download).

Although I owned a VHS copy of this back in the day, watching it on the beautiful 35mm print provided by the Odyssey Film Institute was like watching it for the first time. Shot in black and white, Burton intended Ed Wood to look like a classic film. The textured graininess of 35mm helps to achieve this, making the audience believe they’re experiencing a strange relic from the 1950s, unearthed like Bela Lugosi from his coffin. If you love movies about the business of movies, then you’ll appreciate this peek at what was happening outside the Hollywood studio system. Ed made quick, gimmicky schlock on a shoestring budget, utilizing flashy hooks and fading stars like Lugosi to sell his product. Did it make him a rich man? Not exactly. Did it make him famous? Still no. But did it make him infamous? Absolutely.

When Ed needs to round up financing for Bride of the Atom, he throws a party for potential investors at the Brown Derby. It’s super fun to see this Hollywood hot-spot recreated for the film, so let’s toast it with its namesake cocktail, the Brown Derby.

Brown Derby

1 ½ oz bourbon

1 oz grapefruit juice

½ oz honey syrup (1:1 ratio honey to water)

Grapefruit twist (garnish)

Combine bourbon, grapefruit juice, and honey syrup in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into a coupe glass. Express the oils of the grapefruit peel over the drink, then drop it in.

Brown Derby Cocktail

Similar to the films of John Waters, Ed Wood is a movie for anyone who has ever felt like they don’t fit. It’s inspiring when Wood declares matter-of-factly that he likes to dress in women’s clothes, just as it’s inspiring to watch him sell his bizarre movie concepts to an unprepared, conservative audience. He has faith in himself, which makes us have faith in him, too. The world wasn’t ready for Ed in 1952, but I like to think he could have found a place in 2026. “Revenge of the AI Ghouls”, perhaps?  Cheers!

Comedies · Sci Fi · Uncategorized

Men in Black

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Image: Men in Black, 1997, Columbia Pictures

The nice thing about the lack of good movies being released in our current cinema death spiral is that I have time to go back and revisit the ones I missed when I was either too young or too cool in the 1990s. One of these is Men in Black (Disc/Download), which basically had its own wall at the local Blockbuster. Now that we have a newly iconic extraterrestrial in Project Hail Mary‘s “Rocky”, it seems like a great time to check out a flick about aliens and humans coexisting under the watchful eye of the MIB.

I’ll admit, I had zero interest in this movie as a teen. But as an adult, I can appreciate the stellar chemistry between alien-enforcers Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith. Buddy cops (or buddy alien police) need to hone their banter and timing just like all the best rom-com couples, and these two are basically another classic New York love story. Additionally, Men in Black, with its thirty-year-old tech, looks better than most of today’s AI slop , making me wonder why we’re depleting natural resources to make stuff that 1990s audiences would have scoffed at. The premise that aliens are hiding within plain sight under the skin of human hosts allows for some fantastic transformation sequences, as well as some gnarly deaths. Shooting those aliens was akin to being slimed on Double Dare; I feel bad for the production assistants tasked with clean-up.

Image: Men in Black, 1997, Columbia Pictures

My favorite Men in Black scene is the emergency squid birth along the side of the New Jersey Turnpike. The parents look normal, but then when the baby pops out, you realize they’re… a little different. While watching Men in Black, I recommend drinking this classic Octopus Tiki cocktail.

Octopus

1 ½ oz orange juice

¾ oz passion fruit syrup

¾ lime juice

1 ½ oz overproof rum

1 ½ chilled club soda

1 dash Angostura bitters

Mix all ingredients except club soda in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into a Tiki mug or hurricane glass filled with fresh crushed ice. Top with club soda and stir gently. Garnish with an orange slice and orchid.

I was surprised to see Steven Spielberg’s name in the credits of Men in Black as a producer, though I guess I shouldn’t have been. Are there any major alien encounter movies from the last fifty years this man hasn’t been involved in? In checking my list of possibly-decent 2026 releases, I see I’ve got the next Spielberg flick Disclosure Day highlighted. The premise? Alien encounters. Of course. Cheers!

Classic Films · Comedies

My Man Godfrey

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Image: My Man Godfrey, 1936

I don’t know about you, but I could really use a Godfrey: a charming, steadying presence who brings me breakfast in the morning, makes me cocktails at night, does the dishes, and generally takes care of all life’s pesky details so I can focus on being fabulous. Because I’m not wealthy enough to afford a real-life Godfrey, I must make do with the fictional one in My Man Godfrey (Disc/Download).

As one of the most iconic screwball comedies of the 1930s, My Man Godfrey plays the grumpy/sunshine romance trope to perfection. William Powell stars as Godfrey, a “forgotten man” (read: homeless) who is plucked off an East River garbage dump as part of a gross high-society scavenger hunt. At first he resists the idea of going to a fancy soiree at the Ritz as someone’s “prize”, but then, when he realizes he could ensure the ditsy, pretty Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard) triumphs over her awful sister Cornelia, he relents. It’s an opportunity to tell off the 1%, but it’s also a chance to help a stranger. And Godfrey, it turns out, thrives on being helpful. After winning the trophy, Irene hires him to be the new Bullock family butler, a task not for the sensitive or soft. Godfrey runs the gauntlet of spoiled, hysterical women, and manages to come out the other side with his dignity intact. What the women who order him around don’t realize, however, is that Godfrey is one of them! He’s secretly a wealthy trust-fund baby who’s already rejected the life of the rich and idle. And this is how Godfrey stays one step ahead of everyone throughout the whole movie—he knows their game, and he’s already won it.

A great butler is one who anticipates your every need before it even enters your head. Morning coffee? Check. Stock tips? Check. Scathing comeback for your bitchy sister? Check. Let’s toast Godfrey with this Prohibition-era cocktail that’s perfect for a man born to serve, the Leave It to Me.

Leave It to Me

1 ½ oz gin

1 tsp raspberry syrup

1 tsp lemon juice

¼ tsp maraschino liqueur

Fresh raspberry (garnish)

Combine gin, raspberry syrup, lemon juice, and maraschino liqueur in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a fresh raspberry.

After Godfrey leaves the Bullock family, he opens a swinging nightclub called The Dump. Not only does it give jobs to other “forgotten men”, but it also provides housing for them! Now that’s what I call true service (and possibly, the greatest name for a bar, ever). Cheers!

Action/Adventure/Heist · Comedies

The Princess Bride

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Image: The Princess Bride, 1987

One movie has been requested more than any other in the decade-plus that I’ve been writing Cinema Sips, and with Valentine’s Day approaching, it seems like a great time to watch what is apparently everybody’s favorite storybook romance: The Princess Bride (Disc/Download).

Directed by the late, great Rob Reiner, this is a movie with a little bit of everything: swashbuckling action, comedy, kissing (gross), and even a tender friendship between a Spanish swordsman and his Giant friend. Told as a story from a grandfather to his grandson, this construct helps the viewer understand that the medieval tale we’re about to see is actually coming from the imagination of a child. The production design alternates between cheesy backdrops and actual locations, and the plot seems to have a million different things going on because this is what it is to be a child—everything seems big and scary and important and exciting, all at once! Romance viewers will connect with Buttercup, the farm girl-turned-fiancé of the villainous Prince Humperdinck, and her true love Westley, who has become the Dread Pirate Roberts in the years since they parted. Westley must now rescue Buttercup from Humperdinck, but first he has to rescue her from a ragtag group of kidnappers, each with their own motivations and grievances.

In terms of alcohol, there’s a great scene involving poisoned wine, and while you’re welcome to open a bottle of your favorite red, I’m incorporating it into this frothy sour. While you’re watching The Princess Bride, I recommend drinking an “As You Wish”-key Sour!

“As You Wish”-key Sour

2 oz rye whiskey

1 oz lemon juice

¾ oz simple syrup

1 egg white

½ oz red wine

Pour the rye, lemon juice, simple syrup, and egg white into a shaker. Shake for thirty seconds, then add ice. Shake for another thirty seconds until chilled and frothy. Strain into a rocks glass filled with fresh ice. Slowly pour the red wine over the back of the bar spoon, to float on top of the drink.

Although this is admittedly not my all-time favorite movie, I can appreciate how much other people love it. I think it’s fantastic when any story connects with fans on such a deep level that they’re tattooing “Have fun storming the castle!” on themselves, or standing at the altar as a clergyman or friend proclaims, “Mawwwage is what brings us together.” Ultimately, it’s movies that bring us together, no matter what kind of fan you are. Cheers!

*NOTE: I highly recommend the Criterion edition of The Princess Bride, which contains special features I enjoyed even more than the film itself!

Comedies

The Weather Man

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Image: The Weather Man, 2005

While Phil Connors might be THE prognosticator of prognosticators (or maybe it’s the groundhog…), there’s another cinema weather guy who happens to be just as skilled with the green screen: Dave Spritz in this week’s film The Weather Man (Disc/Download). If you watched Groundhog Day and thought, let’s do this again but make it darker, funnier, and more relatable, then you’re in luck: Gore Verbinski has given us a winter weather movie for everyone who feels stuck, though not necessarily in a time loop.

Starring Nicolas Cage as Chicago weatherman Dave Spritz, this film is less about meteorology and more about the small tragedies and triumphs of everyday life. As Dave tries (and fails) to predict the “Spritz Nipper” of the week, his family is falling apart. His son is being groomed by a pedophile, his daughter is walking around oblivious to her camel toe, his ex-wife has moved on with Joe Jr. from While You Were Sleeping, and his famous writer dad (played by Michael Caine) was just diagnosed with terminal cancer. Did I mention this is a comedy? In one of Nic Cage’s best performances, Spritz has to navigate his shortcomings as a husband/father/son along with his relative success as a weatherman. Every public interaction is potential for disaster—either he’ll disappoint someone asking for an autograph, or they’ll be mad about the forecast and throw fast food at him from a moving car. The guy can’t win, but that doesn’t stop him from trying.

One of my favorite food assaults comes when our beleaguered weatherman gets a McDonald’s apple pie thrown at him. If you’ve ever had one of these pies, you know the middle is incredibly sticky and tenacious. Dave is now forced to attend his dad’s living funeral with apple pie smeared all over his winter coat. Oddly, the pie smear follows him through multiple scenes, an indicator that he’s pretty much given up on life. While watching The Weather Man, conjure the flavors of McDonald’s apple pie with this Spritz Nipper.

Spritz Nipper

2 oz apple brandy

1 oz cinnamon syrup

1 oz lemon juice

3 oz hard cider

1 oz sparkling water

Cinnamon stick garnish

Build drink over ice, stirring gently to combine. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.

The Weather Man is a movie I always think about when our local guy is lamenting the nasty comments people leave on his social media channels after a big storm shifts track, or we don’t get the rain we so desperately needed. As Spritz learns, it’s all just wind. You can’t predict it with a hundred percent accuracy, and you certainly can’t control it. All you can do is live your life like a Bob Seger song—like a rock. Cheers!

Comedies

Slap Shot

LizLocke1 Comment
Image: Slap Shot, 1977

You may have seen Paul Newman flex his shirtless physique in movies like The Long, Hot Summer and Cat On a Hot Tin Roof. You may have also seen him wear a bowler hat in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and look incredibly sexy doing it. But until you’ve seen him in hockey padding and 1970s leisurewear in Slap Shot (Disc/Download), you haven’t seen the best of Newman.

Filmed in the Rust Belt town of Johnstown, PA (about thirty miles from where I grew up), director George Roy Hill and screenwriter Nancy Dowd perfectly capture the scrappy defiance of the area and its people. Coarse language; opinions as outdated as the clothing; a general cold, grey filter over the entire landscape—watching Slap Shot is like coming home. Newman stars as a minor league hockey player on a losing team, who discovers the fans only want to see a brawl, not a game. He convinces his fellow players to lean into the violence, hoping the increased publicity will lead to the Charlestown Chiefs being sold, instead of outright dissolved. This leads to a lot of bruised knuckles, bloody noses, and in the case of the Hanson brothers, broken eyeglasses. At night, Newman can be found parked on a barstool, juggling the ex-wife he still has feelings for, along with a couple of other dissatisfied, horny WAGs. He’s one big flirt, making Reggie Dunlop my favorite Newman character. The man looks like he’s having the time of his life, and his cheeky charisma is infectious.

Although a case of Rolling Rock beer would go really well with a screening of Slap Shot, I prefer to make a variation on the whiskey sour. Think of the pomegranate liqueur as the bloody lip at the end of the game, and imagine you’re drinking it in the local dive bar wearing polyester and a perm. While watching Slap Shot, I recommend drinking this Sucker Punch Sour.

Sucker Punch Sour

1.5 oz bourbon

1 oz PAMA pomegranate liqueur

½ oz lemon juice

½ oz simple syrup

½ oz egg white

3 dashes Angostura bitters

Combine bourbon, pomegranate liqueur, lemon juice, simple syrup, and egg white in a shaker. Shake well for about thirty seconds, then add ice. Shake for another thirty seconds, and strain into a glass filled with fresh ice. Top with a few dashes of Angostura bitters.

Hockey is back in the zeitgeist thanks to Heated Rivalry (a show I loved!), but as sexy as these young players + lovers are, they can’t hold a candle to Paul Newman in Slap Shot. Plus, with a soundtrack that includes hits by Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, and Maxine Nightingale, I think I’d rather hang out at the dive bar than the cabin. Cheers!

Classic Films · Comedies · Holiday Films · Uncategorized

We’re No Angels

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Image: We’re No Angels, 1955

If you want to get me excited to watch a movie, all you have to do is tack on VistaVision before the opening credits. Paul Thomas Anderson has been bringing the format back into the zeitgeist with his 2025 release One Battle After Another, but there are so many classic films that benefited from its vivid colors and wide aspect ratio. One of these is the 1955 Christmas movie, We’re No Angels (Disc/Download), starring Humphrey Bogart, Peter Ustinov, and Aldo Ray as a trio of escaped convicts on Devil’s Island.

I confess, I had to look up Devil’s Island on a map to see what kind of setting we were dealing with. Turns out, it’s solidly in what I like to call “Rum Country”, off the coast of French Guiana in the Atlantic ocean. In 1895, our three main characters escape from the island’s penal colony and take refuge in a general store. They convince the manager to let them fix the roof, with the intention of robbing him blind. But then, they get sucked into the manager’s family affairs, soon realizing they enjoy selling unnecessary junk to customers, cooking a (stolen) Christmas dinner, and menacing some evil relatives. But the true MVP of this movie is Adolphe the snake, who has no lines, but is the most integral to the plot. An honorary “fourth angel”, he’s judge, jury, and executioner all in one.

Because of the film’s tropical setting, I’m inclined to make a Tiki cocktail. There’s a great scene of a woman buying a bottle of Chartreuse for her Christmas celebration, and if you can find some these days, that’s reason enough to throw a party. While watching We’re No Angels, I recommend drinking A.C. Davidge’s 1949 classic, the Palm Breeze.

Palm Breeze

½ oz lime juice

½ oz dark Jamaican rum

½ oz white crème de cacao

¾ oz yellow Chartreuse

1 tsp grenadine

Gummy snake (suggested garnish)

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a gummy snake.

It’s fun to watch these tough guys get into the holiday spirit on a tropical island, and for that reason, I think We’re No Angels would make a great double feature with Donovan’s Reef. Just remember to keep the rum flowing and watch your wallet…  

Cheers!