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Popcorn Reviews
With Cybèle: There's Something about Mary
By Cybèle Elaine Werts
CybeleW@aol.com
First published
in the Shelburne News, Shelburne Vermont
Popcorn Kernel Rating (four possible):
2.5 Kernels for being amusing despite my better judgment.
Last year I joined an on-line matchmaking
service called Matchmakers. For those of you who are single,
this is a great way to meet people. There are literally
thousands of ads, and hundreds in the local area complete with
long profiles and photos. Anyway, while browsing local guy’s
profiles, I noticed that nearly 100% of the guys listed There’s
Something About Mary as their favorite movie. All my male
friends, old and young, married and single, tall and short, and
bald or hairy, loved it too. Pretty astonishing really,
considering the lack of violence, car chases and gun shots.
There is something about this movie (if you will) that speaks to
the heart of America’s men. I rented it to find out what this
is.
There’s Something About Mary is about a
dweeby guy who falls in love with a pretty girl, loses the girl
via a series of crushing humiliations, and is still dreaming
about her 13 years later. This is not a wildly unusual story.
But Ted (Ben Stiller) is every American man, even the ones who
look confident in high school. He is clutzy, sexually absorbed,
and afraid of everything. Mary (Cameron Diaz) is every American
man’s fantasy: tall, thin, blonde and braless. She is kind to
animals and children, and so openhearted that she is offended by
nothing. Who wouldn’t be in love with her? Through a series of
mishaps, misapprehensions, and mistakes, Ted fights for the
girl, loses the girl, and ultimately (you guessed it) wins the
girl. But this is not a romantic comedy; it’s more of an
"Airplane" style comedy with a lot of sexual
embarrassment thrown in. Despite myself, I did laugh throughout
and you probably will too.
Suggested Gustatory Accompaniment: A Baby Ruth
candy bar. Do you recall it’s famed place in Caddyshack? It
didn’t have an encore in this film, but the phallic form seems
appropriate nevertheless.
Copyright 2000
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