Category: Comedies

Comedies

Barbie

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Image: Barbie, 2023

A new summer cocktail book has reignited my love of all things Barbie. Ginny Landt’s The Official Barbie Cocktail Book has so many wonderful (and wonderfully pink!) cocktails and mocktails that it inspired me to revisit a recent favorite, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie (Disc/Download).

Arriving in 2023 like a blast of color after the dark years of the pandemic, Barbie offered reassurance that we’d be okay. Cinema and imagination would survive. I don’t know what I expected from a movie about my favorite childhood toy, but Barbie was everything I didn’t know I wanted: fantasy, adventure, comedy, musical, feminist rallying cry, and Slim Aarons fever dream, wrapped in existential crisis. Being a woman is complicated, so it’s only natural the dolls who were made to represent us experience the same anxieties and societal pressures. The film’s message gets a little muddied by the end, but ultimately, I think it’s about treating everyone with dignity and respect, no matter their gender. Also: never let yourself be put in a box.

When this movie came out two years ago, I had no idea that by 2025 I’d be living in the Mojo Dojo Casa House timeline. Incompetent men have taken over, smart women have lost their power, and we all have to pretend to be interested in The Godfather and golf. It’s for this reason that I chose to make Ginny Landt’s “Movie Night” recipe because unlike a lot of the other cocktails in her book, it’s dark in color. Nevertheless, it’s bubbly and refreshing, because even in the land of “brewski beers”, there are pockets of joy. While watching Barbie, I recommend drinking a Movie Night cocktail.

Movie Night (adapted from The Official Barbie Cocktail Book)

1 ½ oz Gold Rum (I used Smith & Cross Traditional Jamaica Rum)

¾ oz Coffee Liqueur

½ oz Lime Juice

7 oz Coke

Add ice to a Collins glass. Pour rum, coffee liqueur, lime juice, and Coke on top. Garnish with popcorn.

Watching Barbie is always a delight because of the sets, costumes, and the mere presence of Ryan Gosling as Ken. No actor has ever made me laugh as hard as Gosling when he starts to play Matchbox Twenty’s “Push”, and in that moment, he is definitely Kenough. Kudos to the Disney Channel for preparing him for the role of a lifetime. If you need a break from our bleak human timeline and current events, then join me—Ordinary Barbie and my flattering top—on a trip to Barbie Land. Maybe, if enough people visit, we’ll be inspired to make it a reality someday. Cheers!

Classic Films · Comedies

The Girl Can’t Help It

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image: The Girl Can’t Help It, 1956

If you haven’t watched My Mom Jayne yet, STOP what you’re doing and go watch Mariska Hargitay’s stunning documentary right now!!! Then, after you’ve finished crying a river, check out one of Jayne Mansfield’s best performances in Frank Tashlin’s The Girl Can’t Help It (Disc).

Taken as a whole, the movie feels like a parody of itself. The producers knew Jayne was constantly compared to Marilyn Monroe in the press, so they got The Seven Year Itch’s Tom Ewell to play yet another schlub who miraculously catches the eye of a woman waaaaaay out of his league. The movie uses Jayne’s physique and exaggerated costumes to hilarious effect, with big chunks of ice melting as she walks down the street, and milk boiling over in the milkman’s hands. She swings those hips like Jessica Rabbit, as though her upper and lower halves aren’t even connected to the same body. Mansfield’s mob girlfriend character Jerri Jordan is reluctantly trying to break into the music business, which gives Tashlin an excuse to feature a ton of R&B artists from the time period. Acts such as Little Richard, Fats Domino, The Platters, and Eddie Cochran pop up in nightclubs and on television, and it’s wild to see the real people behind the voices I’ve come to know so well in my vinyl collection. But the greatest treat of all is Julie London, who plays “the one who got away”, appearing like a ghost to Tom Ewell’s agent character. Having owned Julie is her Name for many years, losing it, then somehow gaining it back from my deceased uncle’s estate, I feel like Julie’s ghost won’t leave me alone either.

Because boobs (and milk) are such a running gag in this movie, I had to do a cream-based drink. The cherry flavor is sweet like Jerri, and it feels like a frothy confection in a glass—a cocktail version of Jayne’s final pastel evening gown. While watching The Girl Can’t Help It, I recommend drinking a Cherry Jordan.

Cherry Jordan

1 oz Vodka

1 oz Cherry Heering

½ oz White Crème de Cacao

1 oz Heavy Cream

Maraschino cherry

Combine vodka, Cherry Heering, crème de cacao, and cream in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into a Nick & Nora glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

Shot in glorious DeLuxe Color, The Girl Can’t Help It is a true feast for the eyes. The costumes and sets pop like a Powell & Pressburger picture, as if The Red Shoes had been directed by the guy who drew Looney Tunes. This movie is campy, fun, and surprisingly clever, and it’s the perfect way to celebrate a woman who was all these things, and more. Cheers!

Comedies

Summer School

LizLocke2 Comments
Image credit: Summer School, 1987

Congrats to all the teachers out there for making it through another school year! It hasn’t been an easy one (certainly not here in Gilead… er, Texas), but hopefully, you’ll be spending the summer sipping cocktails or mocktails in a Hawaiian shirt and not teaching remedial English like Mark Harmon in this week’s pick, Summer School (Disc/Download).

A movie that was on heavy television repeat during my formative years, Carl Reiner’s Summer School effectively scared me into getting good grades. If the alternative was taking summer classes with jocks, strippers, and a guy named “Chainsaw”, I’d keep that GPA up.  Even as an adult, the scene with the rabid bunnies is horrifying. Nevertheless, being married to a teacher has made me appreciate the heart behind the movie. Mr. Shoop thinks he just has to do the bare minimum in order to keep his gym teacher job, but in the end, all he really wants is for these kids to succeed. Success is not about teaching them to ace the final exam; it’s about helping them become better humans. Getting them to focus and study is part of that, but teachers do so much more. They are therapists, career counselors, surrogate parents, and sometimes, Lamaze coaches. Teachers may get summers off, but it’s because they’re burnt out from doing at least five other jobs throughout the rest of the year.

I’m slightly in love with Mr. Shoop’s beach bungalow, and totally in love with all his Hawaiian shirts. He may not have gotten to take that dream Hawaiian vacation, but he still lives an enviable life by the ocean. Lean into those summer beach vibes with this SoCal Spritz.

SoCal Spritz

1 oz Malibu Coconut Rum

2 oz Pineapple Juice

½ oz Lime Juice

2 oz Prosecco

1 oz Soda Water

Dried Pineapple Slice (Garnish)

In a shaker with ice, combine Malibu rum, pineapple juice, and lime juice. Shake to combine and chill, then strain into a hurricane glass filled halfway with crushed ice. Top with Prosecco and soda water, and garnish with dried pineapple slice.

I like to think Chainsaw and Dave became cinema darlings after attending Mr. Shoop’s summer school, eventually making their own horror masterpiece. Maybe they bonded with Guillermo Del Toro. Maybe Dave still wears that leopard beret. Maybe those bunnies are going to haunt me until my final breath. Cheers!

Classic Films · Comedies

40 Pounds of Trouble

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Image credit: 40 Pounds of Trouble, 1962

If you’re a Disney Adult who geeks out over the history of the parks, then you’ll definitely want to check out this week’s pick 40 Pounds of Trouble (Disc). With location shooting in both Lake Tahoe and Disneyland, it’s like someone said, “Let’s pick Liz Locke’s two favorite vacation spots and film a movie there!”

 Marking the directorial debut of Norman Jewison, this was the first movie granted permission to film in the park by Walt Disney. Unfortunately, The Enchanted Tiki Room was still a year out from opening, but we still get to see some of the greatest hits like the Storybook Land Canal Boats, the sadly defunct Skyway gondola, and a thrilling ride down the Matterhorn (or as I call it, the Tailbone Destroyer). The plot is thin but sweet, with a Tahoe casino manager (Tony Curtis) thrust into sudden fatherhood after a gambler abandons his little girl at the hotel. When the girl’s dad is found dead in a car crash, Tony knows there’s only one thing to do: give her the most magical day of her life at Disneyland before her world gets destroyed. If there’s one thing everyone knows about Disneyland, it’s this: in the park, the real world and all its problems cease to exist.

Because this is such a fun, frothy comedy, it seems appropriate to enjoy a frothy cocktail with it. This one invokes the color and “snow capped peaks” of The Matterhorn, minus the spinal injuries. While watching 40 Pounds of Trouble, I recommend drinking this Matterhorn Fizz.

Matterhorn Fizz

1 Egg White

1 ¼ oz Empress Gin

½ oz Grand Marnier

½ oz Fresh Lemon Juice

¼ oz Orgeat

2 Dashes Angostura Bitters

Soda Water

Combine the egg white, gin, Grand Marnier, lemon juice, orgeat, and bitters in a shaker and shake without ice for 30 seconds. Add a mix of crushed and cubed ice, and shake again for another minute. Strain into a highball glass. Wait about 10 seconds, then top with soda water.

*If necessary, add a few drops of Butterfly Pea extract to achieve the right color.

Although I’ve talked a lot about the Disneyland scenes, the shots of Lake Tahoe are fantastic too. It totally takes me back to swimming in Sand Harbor, one of the prettiest spots in the US (in my opinion). If you need a little respite from the real world this week, take a vacation with Tony’s blue eyes, Suzanne’s vintage dresses, and a charming romp through Fantasyland. Cheers!

Classic Films · Comedies

Paper Moon

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image credit: Paper Moon, 1973

If your summer plans include a road trip on a budget, then I’ve got just the movie for you. Paper Moon (Disc/Download) travels a long, hilarious path through the small towns of the American Midwest, fueled by hot dogs, whiskey, and get-rich-quick schemes. Forget baseball; grifting may as well be the national pastime of the good ole’ US-of-A.

Starring real-life father and daughter Ryan and Tatum O’Neal, Paper Moon is yet another Peter Bogdanovich classic that wouldn’t be nearly as special without the input of his ex-wife Polly Platt. Thanks to her, we have the precocious, stunningly good Tatum in the role of newly orphaned Addie, and it’s because of her performance the movie succeeds as well as it does. The way this little girl spars with her off-screen (and maybe onscreen??) dad is electric, and it’s a shame only Tatum won the Academy Award for this because Ryan turned in some amazing work too. If you like road movies set in 1930s rural America, such as O’ Brother Where Art Thou?, Sullivan’s Travels, and It Happened One Night, you’ll find a lot to love about Paper Moon. It’s a portrait of Americana, of people doing whatever they had to do to survive, yet not losing their heart along the way. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that Addie and Moses Pray (that name!!!) find their hearts, and it’s the big payoff neither of them expected.

Tatum O’Neal’s record of being the youngest competitive Oscar winner in history still stands, and if you haven’t seen pictures of this little girl in a mini tuxedo, I urge you to look it up. It’s even more remarkable that she was only eight years old when the movie began filming, especially considering she’d never acted before. She smokes cigarettes and spars with prostitutes like she’d been doing it her whole life (maybe she had… I still need to read her memoir). Anyway, let’s toast young Tatum with this Prohibition-era cocktail, the Ward 8.

Ward 8

2 oz Rye Whiskey

1/2 oz fresh-squeezed Orange Juice

1/2 oz fresh-squeezed Lemon Juice

2 tsp Grenadine

Maraschino cherries (garnish)

Shake whiskey, orange juice, lemon juice, and grenadine in a shaker with ice until chilled. Strain into a coupe or Nick & Nora glass. Garnish with cherries.

The production design, locations, and costumes of the film are all stunning, but of course they were with Polly Platt in charge. The movie is timeless because she made it so, placing it in a very specific era and place that would never show its age. To watch Paper Moon is to feel like you’re watching a movie made in the 1930s, when the scripts were sparkling, the stars were dazzling, and the road of cinema seemed to stretch on forever. Cheers!

Action/Adventure/Heist · Comedies

The Fall Guy

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Image credit: The Fall Guy, 2024

I didn’t post a “Best of 2024” list in December because in general, movies are terrible now. However, if I had made a list, The Fall Guy (Disc/Download) would have been included. In a barren wasteland of sequels, franchises, and edgy (read: depressing/scary/boring) indies, this movie stands out for its delightful script, star power, and rarest of all, its romantic plot line.

David Leitch is a director I’ve had my eye on since Bullet Train, and his winning streak of comedic action films continues with this tale of a washed-up stuntman trying to revive his career and his love life. Ryan Gosling is a natural fit for the sarcastic adrenaline seeker, while Emily Blunt is perfect as his former flame/current director who hides her vulnerability behind a tough, capable exterior. It’s only when she’s alone with Gosling that she lets the weight of her responsibilities fall for just a moment, and who better to catch her than the guy who’s made a career out of absorbing blows? Their banter is great, and while the film’s central plot about a stunt double trying to rescue his narcissistic leading man from a group of “very bad people” is a little far-fetched, it leads to some great action sequences featuring flaming boats, a mid-air helicopter grab, and the expert skills of Jean Claude, the French-speaking attack dog.

They say every great character or story has to have a goal, and in this case, that goal is drinking spicy margaritas on a beach somewhere, and maybe making some bad decisions. While watching The Fall Guy, I recommend drinking this Spicy Margarita.

Spicy Margarita

1 Tablespoon Kosher Salt (for rimming)

2 oz Blanco Tequila

1 oz Cointreau

1 oz Lime Juice

3-4 slices Jalapeño Pepper (plus extra for garnish)

Run a lime wedge around the edge of a glass, and dip it in the salt. Fill with ice, and set aside. Fill a separate shaker with ice, and add the tequila, Cointreau, lime juice, and jalapeño pepper slices. Shake to chill, then pour through a fine mesh strainer into prepared glass. Garnish with more jalapeño slices.

If the only way to get romantic movies out of Hollywood is to fill them with extreme stunts and explosions, then I suppose I’ll have to accept it. But pretty please, also fill them with great actors like Gosling and Blunt, hilarious banter, and some really tasty cocktails. Cheers!

Classic Films · Comedies

A New Leaf

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Image credit: A New Leaf, 1971

After a recent read of Carrie Courogen’s Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius, I’ve been working my way through all the creative breadcrumbs Miss May left throughout her time in Hollywood. Some, we’ll probably never know about until after her death. But others, like this week’s film A New Leaf (Disc/Download) are a smorgasbord of dark humor and wit, meant to be watched again and again.   

Written and directed by Elaine (her first time in the director’s chair), she also stars as botanist Henrietta Lowell, the target of broke playboy Henry (Walter Matthau) who is in search of a wealthy wife—a wife he also plans to kill, once her money becomes his. May’s Henrietta is sweet, trusting, and most importantly to Henry, the sole heiress to an immense fortune. If you like the movie Arthur, you’ll probably enjoy Matthau’s performance as a shameless snob who can’t imagine a world in which he can no longer afford lunch at Lutèce or custom-tailored suits. Yet there’s a heart under that elitist nonsense, one he doesn’t discover until he finds someone who’s even less capable of navigating the real world than he is. Henrietta has more money than she’ll ever need, but no desire or knowledge of how to manage it. And in that respect, they’re a perfect match. What one lacks, the other provides. All Henrietta needs to do is stay alive long enough for Henry to realize she’s the heart and purpose he’s been missing all these years.

Henrietta’s lack of life skills extends to the cocktail arena as well. When her suitor offers her a drink, she requests something called a Malaga Cooler, which is Mogen David kosher wine, lime juice, and soda. If you forget the recipe, it’s right there on the bottle! I’ve never had kosher wine before (it’s extra-sweet reputation precedes it), but I’m willing to give this a go. While watching A New Leaf, I recommend drinking a Malaga Cooler.

Malaga Cooler

2 oz Morgen David Wine

1 oz Lime Juice

1 oz Topo Chico sparkling water

Blackberry + Mint (garnish)

Combine wine and lime juice in a shaker with ice. Shake, and strain into a coupe glass. Top with sparkling water. Garnish with a blackberry and sprig of fresh mint.

I’m serving this up, the way they do in the movie, however if I were to make this again, I’d probably serve it over ice with a higher ratio of sparkling water. If Elaine has taught me anything, it’s that films and cocktails are never really finished. There’s always more tweaking to be done, at least until the studio sues for control, forcing you to go on the lam with the film canisters… but that’s a story for another time.  Cheers!

Comedies

About a Boy

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Image credit: About a Boy, 2002

Look who’s comin’ round the bend… it’s Hugh Grant and Nicholas Hoult in this week’s pick About a Boy (Disc/Download)! I’m shocked I haven’t covered this on Cinema Sips yet because A) it’s a Christmas movie (kind of) and B) it’s one of my all-time favorites. College-aged Liz saw this multiple times in the theater, watched the DVD on repeat, and fantasized about someday possessing enough time and disposable income that I could spend all day watching game shows, eating in nice restaurants, and having my hair carefully disheveled. Two out of three ain’t bad, I suppose. Who needs game shows anyway?

Based on the Nick Hornby novel, About a Boy pairs Grant as the single, unapologetically selfish Will, with young Hoult in the role of Marcus: a sensitive boy with a depressed hippie for a mother. The two meet through a mutual acquaintance, and soon Marcus is coming over to Will’s house after school to watch television. TV eventually turns into life advice, then friendship, and before you know it, Will’s snagged an invite to what is one of the most realistic and hilarious blended family Christmas gatherings I’ve ever seen. Marcus’s mom (a brilliant Toni Collette) gives her son a crappy tambourine for their Roberta Flack sing-a-longs, while Will gets him a Mystikal CD and portable player. As it turns out, Will is the only one who pays attention to Marcus’s needs and desires because all the other adults are too busy dealing with their own dysfunction. Interesting that it took the person who’d been stranded on his own lonely island to show up with a life raft.

Because Will’s life is basically a vacation from real adulthood, he commits to living like he’s on a sun-drenched tropical isle. He separates his daily activities into small units of time, seeks out simple indulgences, and carefully curates who is allowed to fly in for a visit. I too adopted the Island Living ethos during the pandemic, so I know for a fact that movies and tiki cocktails are a perfect match for this lifestyle.  While watching About a Boy, I recommend drinking an Island Living Swizzle.

Island Living Swizzle

1 oz Light Rum

1 oz Overproof Rum

½ oz Amaretto

1 oz Pomegranate Juice

¾ oz Lime Juice

¼ oz Cinnamon Syrup

Splash of soda water

Dried Citrus Wheel

Dusting of nutmeg

Combine rums, Amaretto, cinnamon syrup, pomegranate and lime juices in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill and combine, then strain into a glass filled with fresh crushed iced. Top with soda water and stir gently. Garnish with dried citrus and dusting of nutmeg.

Not only does About a Boy contain my favorite Hugh Grant performance, but it’s also wild to see current heartthrob Nicholas Hoult as a small pre-teen with crooked bangs and an ugly rainbow jumper. If you need a holiday movie and cocktail that are the perfect blend of acid and sweet, join me on this island and give About a Boy a watch. Cheers, and warmest wishes for a jolly holiday from Cinema Sips!

Comedies

The Daytrippers

LizLocke1 Comment
Image credit: The Daytrippers, 1996

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of being woken up at your parents’ house the day after a major holiday to the sound of a vacuum cleaner or a dishwasher being unloaded at 7am, then you’ll understand the comedic brilliance of this week’s pick The Daytrippers (Disc/Download).

Greg Mottola’s directorial debut is a fun, frenetic tale of family drama at Thanksgiving, made at the height of the independent film craze of the 1990s (back when $50,000 got you… a great movie, apparently!). Eliza (Hope Davis) suspects her husband (Stanley Tucci) is cheating on her, so she and her entire family hop in the station wagon and drive to Manhattan in an attempt to catch him in a lie. Other people may spend their Black Fridays at the mall, but the Malones prefer to be crammed into a car with no heat, listening to Eliza’s sister’s boyfriend (Liev Schrieber) describe the plot of his novel. For anyone who has stood by while an author desperately attempts to summarize their own work, you know this special torture. Parker Posey is fantastic as flaky sister Jo, but it’s Anne Meara who steals every scene with her smothering yet hilarious presence. Don’t go into the light, Rita!!!

If you’re going on a wild goose chase through the city with your zany family in tow, you’ll need a beverage that seamlessly makes the transition from breakfast to cocktail hour. Maybe you need to start imbibing as soon as the vacuum cleaner plays its reveille- no judgment here! While watching The Daytrippers, I recommend drinking this Rise and Shine cocktail.

Rise and Shine

1 ½ oz Bourbon

½ oz Kahlua

¼ oz Maple Syrup

1 oz Cold Brew

2 Dashes Chocolate Bitters

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into a martini glass.

One of my favorite Thanksgiving movies is another Parker Posey classic, The House of Yes, which features an even more dysfunctional family than the one in The Daytrippers. Really, the Malones look pretty normal compared to the Pascals, though Parker is an equally weird, funny ingenue in both. Why not settle in and make it a double feature? Maybe you can even convince your mom to turn off the coffee grinder and join you. Cheers!

Children's · Comedies

The Ugly Dachshund

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Image credit: The Ugly Dachshund, 1966

Childless Cat Ladies, meet Childless Dog Lady. Defying cinematic norms of the 1960s, as well as conservative politicians of today, the Disney live-action classic The Ugly Dachshund (Disc/Download) bravely exposes the reality that not all families look alike, and motherhood comes in a lot of different forms. It’s a story that was just as contemporary then as it is now, and I’m thrilled to be watching it again with a cocktail!

Starring Dean Jones and Suzanne Pleshette as the happily married, child-free owners of purebred show dogs, The Ugly Dachshund has essentially become my blueprint for adulthood. Sure, the movie is a fun romp about an adopted Great Dane who grows up with a litter of tiny dachshunds, but from my viewpoint, it’s also about female agency. Pleshette’s Fran doesn’t need to have kids in order to create a home. She’s allowed to marry a handsome artist and spend her days pursuing her passions, taking photos of her dogs, and setting out drinks and snacks on handmade pottery. As someone who spends most of her days doing exactly this, I can confirm—it’s a wonderful life. I’ve never for one second felt that I’m missing out on something. Also, as a firm “adopt don’t shop” girl, I appreciate that while the movie talks about champion dogs and purebred lines, it also makes space for a pup in desperate need of a family. I think Brutus the Great Dane lucked out when he landed a spot with two loving parents and a bunch of mischievous dachshund sisters, and they lucked out when they got the sweetest, most protective big brother.

It wouldn’t be a classic Disney movie without scene-stealer Charles Ruggles, who you might also remember from The Parent Trap. This wonderful character actor had a huge career spanning from the silent era all the way up to the 1960s. The Ugly Dachshund was one of his last films, and I love that he goes out on a high note as kindhearted veterinarian Doc Pruitt. If you want to drink like Ruggles, then I suggest following his own recipe for an Old-Time Martini, which has just been reprinted in Jenny Hammerton’s 1933 Celebrity Cocktail Book, featuring a collection of recipes from a cocktail contest at the Del Mar Hotel. The book is available for purchase on Etsy, but as a special treat to Cinema Sips readers, I’m sharing the Charles Ruggles Old-Time Martini recipe here.

Old-Time Martini

1 dash Angostura Bitters

2 dashes Maraschino Liqueur

1 pony (1 oz) Old Tom Gin

1 wine glass (2 oz) Dry Vermouth

Two small lumps of ice

¼ lemon (wedge)

Shake and strain into a large cocktail glass into which has been placed one-fourth slice of lemon, and serve.

This book would be a great addition to any home bar, and I know I’ll be using it to mix up some drinks for my favorite classic films. In the case of The Ugly Dachshund, it’s pretty fabulous to sit down after a long day, make myself a strong cocktail, cuddle up with my dog, and watch a fun, lighthearted movie where females make the difference.  Cheers!