Movie Log: Gregory's Girl and My Favorite Year

Probably the last double-shot of '80s comedy for a while; coming from Netflix today is Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic and I'll probably go in a different direction after that. So let us mourn for the lost glories of youth.

"It's hard work being in love, eh? Especially when you don't know which girl it is."

It's hard to describe exactly why that's my favorite movie quote, or exactly how Gregory's Girl helped me get through my own adolescence, but it is and it did. As I recall, Gregory's Girl was shown a lot on HBO (or maybe Cinemax; they blur together in memory) a lot in the early '80s, and I watched at least part of it every time I flipped past it. It was one of those movies that seemed to open a window into a brighter, more vibrant world, and I wanted to jump through that window, or at least figure out how they lived their lives so interestingly.

So I was more than a little apprehensive to see it again. I wanted to see it, but I desperately wanted it to be that wonderful movie that made me think life would be fun, if not necessarily comprehensible -- and made me want to be Scottish, too. Luckily, it was still a wonderful movie; it was nearly exactly the way I'd remembered it. (I had completely forgotten the gratuitous nudity that starts the film, though -- you'd think the thirteen-year-old boy I was then would have focused more on that.)

It's such a low-key movie, so focused on its characters in their day-to-day life, that it's hard to talk about. There's this teenage boy, Gregory, and he's just falling in love (as far as he can tell) with the girl who just took his place on the football (soccer) team and relegated him to goalie. His story is central, but all around him are other people who aren't just there to support him; even the characters with only a line or two become completely rounded figures with their own lives and thoughts. It's one of those few movies daring enough to just stop and watch people as they are, and let their stories unfold. I wish there were a million more movies like this. And I'm now thinking I should get my own copy; twenty years is too long to go between viewings.

"Ladies are unwell, Stone. Gentlemen vomit."

My Favorite Year isn't that good, but it's still very entertaining. And it's one of those movies where nearly every character creates a oh-isn't-it-that-guy! moment; everybody in it has been in lots of other movies and TV shows. It's the very thinly veiled story of how not-Errol Flynn went on non-Your Show of Shows, while, meanwhile, not-Sid Caesar gets in trouble with a mobster (who's probably not-somebody, but I don't know who). Meanwhile, a young writer (whom I'd always thought was not-Mel Brooks, but it's probably not-the actual screenwriter of the movie) on the show finally wears down the girl he loves and gets her to go out with him.

Peter O'Toole is of course wonderful, and sinks his teeth into the scenery, as he's supposed to. It might not be a great movie (as I think Gregory's Girl is), but its a good one, and a pleasant way to spend about ninety minutes.