Merry Green Land

I wonder if Jenna Maroney’s song “Rum-Soaked Tampon” helped bridge the gap between her “Balls” era and “I Caught Crabs in Paradise.”

The thing about adaptations that change a lot of stuff from the original is that, however legitimate it is for an adaptation to do its own thing, it is really noticeable when the changes result in something that is less interesting/intelligent/distinctive than the original. It might even be okay but I don’t think it’s media illiteracy to point out that someone took a filet mignon and made it into Hot Pockets.

I also don’t think the “oh, we’re not going to have sex tonight just because the government expects us to” resolution works when the state-sanctioned sex night is so stingy. You only have twelve hours, it’s not a holiday, and you don’t even get free condoms. It sounds like a very begrudging government sex night! You’re just policing yourself beyond what the state demands!

I remember years ago when that movie Leap Day came out and people dunked on the “Amy Adams is going to propose to her boyfriend on Leap Day, because (per Irish tradition) that’s the one day a year women can propose to men” concept. Which probably wasn’t helped by the fact that she never actually proposes to her boyfriend or her real love interest in the movie. But, crucially, nobody’s forcing Amy Adams to adhere to that rule. She will not be thrown in Irish or American prison if she proposes on another day of the year. She will pay no fine. She will not be excommunicated by the Catholic Church (assuming she’s Catholic in the first place). Honestly I don’t think the “women proposing” bit ends up figuring that much into the movie? Which is a different problem. The point is that Leap Day only asks you to wrestle with issues like “why do women construct prisons for themselves” and “how offensive is this movie to the Irish.” Not “if the penalty for violation of the sex ban is merely a fine except in the case of repeat offenses, does this mean that having sex is essentially legal but expensive for the rich/very rich but potentially life-ruining for the poor/medium-income, just like stealing or illegal parking in real life?”

One of my issues with Easy A was that I could never get on board with even slightly frowning upon Olive for telling Mr. Griffith about his guidance-counselor wife cheating on him with a student and giving him chlamydia. I get the utility of having a protagonist make impulsive choices that hurt others and I don’t think cheaters should be exposed at all costs, but the guidance counselor is so awful and it’s so fucked-up that she tells Olive about that stuff that it just doesn’t work for me.

It’s directed by the same guy who did Easy A? Fascinating.

My thing about One Night Only is that I really fucking hated The Lobster for entirely subjective reasons. For those who aren’t familiar, The Lobster is about a bizarre world where everyone has to be coupled up or the government turns them into animals. The couples justify their compatibility by citing generally surface-level similarities (being good at singing, having nosebleeds, etc.). Also, there is a band of single outlaws who live in the woods (but their prohibition of romance/sex is also rigid). I think it’s a good movie, objectively. The target of its satire is general social attitudes around romantic relationships, not oppression by institutions, and I think it executes its goals effectively. However, the movie’s virtues aren’t great enough to overcome how incredibly unpleasant I find it. I wish I’d never seen it. And it sounds like One Night Only is actually a way worse movie both formally and ideologically, but my initial negative reaction was purely “ugggggh The Lobster vibes.”

I’m gratified that Stephen Sondheim thought that it was important that an audience be able to understand the lyrics in a musical. Like in a basic “what words are the characters saying” way.