Tag: Toni Collette

Comedies

About a Boy

LizLockeLeave a comment
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

Little Miss Sunshine

LizLockeLeave a comment

Little Miss Sunshine
Image Credit: Little Miss Sunshine, 2006.

When Little Miss Sunshine (Disc/Download) came out almost fifteen years ago, I related most to Olive- the little girl who would always be different and hadn’t yet realized this was a good thing. But now, I find myself identifying with Olive’s grandpa (Alan Arkin) and his end-of-life wisdom. He’s seen a lot, he’s lived to tell the tales, and he’s tired of the bullshit. Or, maybe he’s just plain tired.

Little Miss Sunshine is a multi-generational comedy about a family road trip and the tensions erupting along their journey. Young Olive makes it into the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant, so her weary mom, desperate dad, silent brother, depressed uncle, and heroin-addict grandpa pile into the VW bus. The vehicle itself becomes a character, breaking down along the way, forcing the family to work together to push-start it, mocking them with its broken horn. This is a comedy, but it’s equally balanced by tragedy. Death, suicide, and failure stand right alongside the hilarity of child beauty queens, with their capped teeth and miniature stripper outfits. There are sequins and hospitals, ice cream and Proust. And at the center of it all, a charming super-freak.

This sunshine-colored bus hides a lot of bitterness inside, so I think it’s appropriate to make a cocktail that’s both sweet and sour. While watching Little Miss Sunshine, I recommend drinking this Sunbeam.

Sunbeam

1 ½ oz Irish Whiskey

¾ oz Dry Vermouth

½ oz Lemon Juice

¾ oz Grapefruit Juice

¾ oz Simple Syrup

2 oz Club Soda

Grapefruit Bitters

White grapefruit or lemon twist

Combine first five ingredients in a shaker over ice. Shake until chilled, then pour into a Collins glass filled with ice. Top with club soda and a few dashes of grapefruit bitters. Stir gently, and garnish with a twist of lemon or white grapefruit.

Sunbeam

Maybe, like me, you’ve spent time believing you’re a loser. Watching other people who just seem to fit, be it with their career, or looks, or friendships, and feeling like you’d always be on the outside looking in.  But as grandpa says, “Losers are people who are so afraid of not winning, they don’t even try.” Rest assured, this super-freak is still trying like hell, with help from a talented supporting cast of friends and family. Cheers!

Comedies

In Her Shoes

LizLockeLeave a comment

in-her-shoes
Image credit: In Her Shoes, 2005

I’ve featured director Curtis Hanson’s films LA Confidential and Wonder Boys on Cinema Sips in the past, but this week I’m excited to write about one of his less-frequently lauded movies In Her Shoes (DVD/Download). An unconventional choice for Hanson, this quasi-rom com could have veered off into Hallmark Channel territory, but with his skilled hand it became a beautiful film about the relationship between sisters, the joy and pathos of aging, and the quest we’re all on to find professional fulfillment. The fact that it features sugary pink drinks and designer shoes, well, that’s just icing on the cupcake.

Adapted from the wonderfully fun novel by Jennifer Weiner (one of my personal favorite writers), In Her Shoes is about two sisters (Toni Collette and Cameron Diaz) who have a falling out, and struggle to find their way back to each other.  Along the way they reunite with a long-lost grandmother (played by Shirley MacLaine), and discover the love and self-confidence both had always lacked. Sure there’s some romance, a lot of cute shoes, and bikini shots of Cameron Diaz after she moves into her grandma’s retirement community. But there are also some great scenes about the struggles many of us face in life, and that really triumphant moment when finally, at last, you figure out what you’re meant to do. Watching this movie just makes me hopeful.

In an effort to bond with her too-cool-for-school adult granddaughter, Shirley MacLaine spends an evening watching Sex and the City and drinking cosmos. It’s a cliche, but I’m sorry, cosmos are delicious!  And for this movie, the drink fits. While watching In Her Shoes, I recommend drinking a Cosmopolitan.

Cosmopolitan

1 ½ oz Vodka

1 oz Cranberry juice

½ oz Cointreau

½ oz fresh lime juice

Lime wedge

Combine all ingredients in a shaker filled with ice. Shake until chilled, then strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a lime.

cosmopolitan

What always delighted me about this film was the spot-on depiction of Florida retirement communities. As a child of Florida snow-birds, I’ve always daydreamed about just running away to the land of early bird specials, white pants, water aerobics, and cocktail hour. It’s only the lack of decent Tex-Mex there that stops me. Fortunately, I’ve got In Her Shoes to remind me of what I’m missing. Cheers!