double-decker movie day.

Okay, so, today, after reading a bunch of poems by students who were submitting them late, and other sundry work-related tasks, I went to the movies with my daughter. [Note for anyone wondering about the car dilemma in our household: we walked. Just a half-hour, briskly taken. Very refreshing. Nice pedestrian skywalk over the Bangerter, in case you're interested in taking a demi-godlike view of cars.]

We saw A Lot Like Love, the little cone of cotton candy starring Amanda Peet and Ashton Kutcher. While it's true that it's hard to make a great romantic comedy (I would have said Annie Hall, but I'm still suffering from my Woody Allen issues from last weekend), I also think it's possible to make a perfectly enjoyable flawed film. This film is a case in point. Much of its charm came from the fact that both the stars are very cute, and, in the case of Amanda Peet, actually quite talented. A sort of silly story that hinged on a few implausibilities, easily brushed aside for undiscriminating viewers such as myself, a lover of romantic comedies. If you, too, like this genre, by all means, go ahead and view this film with its very good-looking stars who have a tough time getting together (I bet you can figure out how it ends).

Then, my husband the historian and I saw A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He slept through a bit of it--not an act of bored protest, but really more an indicator that he was tired. I found this film to be quite enjoyable--pretty damn funny, and, since I have not read the book-that-spawned-a-zillion-fans, surprising and sort of fresh. Nice performances all round--special kudos to Mos Def, who has given me joy in several performances of late. And, let me also add that the audience seemed to be deeply pleased by this film. I take it that many of them were among the above-mentioned zillion, as they chuckled, they sighed, they said "awww," in all the appropriate places. Somehow, their approval enhanced my own enjoyment.

If I'm lucky, I'll get to see another movie tomorrow. That will make it a three-movie weekend, which should be the standard, if you ask me.

Note: go to Dr. Write's blog (dr-write.blogspot.com) for her reading meme. Very interesting, and you'll want to fill it in for yourself. For your personal records, as it were.