16 October 2007

John Hughes' Hidden Gem

The Breakfast Club? Ferris Bueller's Day Off? Sixteen Candles? Absolutely not. These are clearly classic movies that made me weirdly attracted to Molly Ringwald but they are not John Hughes' best kept secret: She's Having a Baby.

Now I don't just dig this flick just because we're about to have a baby. I fell in love with this film in my early 20s, while single, nursing a hangover, lying on the couch, discovering it while channel surfing on TBS or something (okay, okay, I'll admit - it was on WE).

A few weeks back - now in my 30s, on the couch, nursing a hangover, while channel surfing, I saw that it was coming on TV and dutifully watched it (yes it was on WE - leave me alone). It spans the life of a young man who gets married seemingly right out of college and follows his trials and tribulations as he grapples with his dead end job, suburban surrender, and his friend that is living the jet set new york lifestyle.

It is also a great Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon backpocket film to keep in mind, as it connects Kevin Bacon (main character) to Alec Baldwin (best friend) (who as an aside is frickin' hilarious in 30 Rock).

Some choice quotes I jotted down:

(in a car, before Kevin Bacon's wedding, with Bacon with cold feet)
Alec Baldwin: This is your destiny, to be forever caught in the cross-fire between your head and your heart.
Kevin Bacon: Do you think I am going to be happy?
Alec Baldwin: You want to be a (insert fantasy job here).....you also want to be a husband...maybe it will work out, who knows?....Yeah, you'll be happy....You just won't know it that's all...

(Kevin Bacon reflecting on his corporate job and suburban mcmansion)
The job....the house....the furniture....the fights.....those were the symptoms. The disease was growing up.

(Kevin Bacon, musing on his growing anxiety over his impending fatherhood)
I had stumbled into a marriage....drifted into a career....backed into fatherhood. It was too easy. I couldn't convince myself that everything was simply going to be alright.....

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