Saturday, February 25, 2006

Wallace and Gromit rule the world

I don't know if it's available in the US yet, but I just purchased (for about $1) a DVD of the Wallace and Gromit feature-length movie, 'Curse of the Were-Rabbit,' and it's about the funniest thing I've seen in the last few years. (I have a vivid memory of me and a friend of mine laughing our asses off at a showing of 'Being There' in 1979. There were only about ten other people in the theater, and they weren't laughing at all. But that movie has never been quite so funny again; you'd probably have to be nine years old and laughing out loud in public with your friend to get the same kind of experience. I also remember a night with a couple friends at a bar in Seattle ending with a viewing of 'The Stupids,' and us laughing our asses off at that, though it was clearly not a great movie. I remember that evening with slightly less clarity, because it began at a bar, and since it was not a theater, I can't just look up the release date of the movie, but it must have been 1998 or 1999. I went to see 'Death to Smoochy' with a friend when it came out in 2002 (was it already that long ago?) and, once again, we laughed a lot, though I think I'd say my ass remained attached on that one. It was a fun evening, though, even if there was some sort of unspoken tension between us that may have helped provoke the uproarious laughter, and that certainly smothered the conversation on the ride back from the theater. But I was surprised later, in any case, to read all the terrible reviews of the movie, because I thought it was great cheesy fun.) Anyway, like I was saying: 'Curse of the Were-Rabbit' is hilarious and you should see it sometime, if you haven't already.