' ' Cinema Romantico: Apparently Not Everyone Thinks Kate Is Great

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Apparently Not Everyone Thinks Kate Is Great

The following is an approximate transcript of a conversation I had with a co-worker yesterday in our office's kitchen.

Him: "What are you doing this weekend? Seeing any new movies?"
Me: "'Carnage!' I'm seeing 'Carnage!'"
Him: "What's that?"
Me: "It's the new Kate Winslet movie!"
(Co-Worker rolls his eyes.)
Me: "Oh, come on! She's the-"
Him: "The greatest actress in the world. You've told me before. I know."

Some things are non-negotiable. Like the earth being round, or Kate Winslet being The Greatest Actress In The World.
Me: "Well, she is."
Him: "Yeah, I still don't get it. Her career really isn't all that special."
Me: "Isn't all that...have you SEEN any of her movies?"
Him: "What all has she done?"
Me: "I know you don't like 'Titanic' so we'll skip over that one. 'Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind?'"
Him: "She was okay."
Me: "Okay?!" (Regaining composure.) "'The Reader?'"
Him: "Nope. Didn't see it."
Me: "Heavenly Creatures?'"
Him: "Never heard of it."
Me: "'Little Children?'"
Him: "What's that?"
Me: "No one's seen 'Hideous Kinky' so never mind but......'Sense and Sensibility?'"
Him: "Nope."
Me: "She was Ophelia in 'Hamlet.'"
Him: "Mel Gibson's version?"
Me: "No, the Branagh version of the whole text."
Him: "Then I haven't seen it."
Me: "'Finding Neverland?' You must have at least seen 'Finding Neverland?'"
Him: "Nope."
Me: "Have you maybe seen parts of 'The Holiday' on TBS?"
Him: "Is that the one with Jack Black?"
Me: "Yeah, but-"
Him: "Ugh. No way."
Me: "But SHE'S fantastic in it. I'm telling you."
Him: "Sure she is."

How can you dismiss the entire career of an actress - especially The Greatest Actress In The World - when YOU'VE ONLY SEEN TWO OF HER MOVIES?????????

8 comments:

Andrew K. said...

This sounds a conversation I had with a workmate convincing her about Jude Lawe. Kate and Jude need to hook up on screen, I kept hoping that they'd turn out NOT to be siblings in Holiday and hook-up, but alas no.

Sigh.

Really, though, two talented Britons around the same age...why haven't then been sexing it up in a movie? I don't understand the world.

Sam Fragoso said...

This can't possibly be a legitimate conversation - but it is funny my friend.

Nick Prigge said...

Andrew: That does seem like a very strange missed (so far) opportunity. Plus, Cameron Diaz & Jack Black go together so much more than Kate & Jack Black. Though, of course, to be fair, Kate completely sells her swoonage for Jack Black.

Sam: I have to say, it's actually more legitimate than you think. It didn't quite flow as well as I made it seem here but, I swear, I really did list all those movies and he really did claim to have seen none of them.

Derek Armstrong said...

Your friend probably thinks Kate Winslet is snooty because she's British.

I thought she was good in Carnage. The movie? Not so much.

Nick Prigge said...

Ah! You didn't like "Carnage"? Really? Granted, it had some fairly forced symbolism in there but man, I could watch the escalating contempt of those four performances all day long.

Derek Armstrong said...

I think my problem was with the source material, actually, though I had problems with both Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly. I just don't think it translates to the screen the way it probably played on stage. I found it extremely irritating that people kept trying to leave but never actually left. I mean, wasn't Christoph Waltz supposed to be in a hurry? (He was my favorite part of the movie, by the way. That puts Kate in the second slot.)

I'm actually kind of a sucker for filmed plays, but artifice that works well on stage often doesn't translate well to film. I felt that about this film. I didn't hate it, but I wanted/expected so much more.

Nick Prigge said...

In the review I wrote of it over on Anomalous Material I referred to that constant attempt to leave as the New York version of the Midwestern "Long Goodbye". I don't know where you're from originally, but in the Midwest when you say you're going to "leave" you don't actually leave for another 20-30 minutes, at least.

Then again, that could ring false to New Yorkers. They may not actually have a Long Goodbye. But it made it easier, I guess, for me to buy.

Derek Armstrong said...

That explanation works for me to a certain extent. However, I think it makes much more sense when the people involved are friends, rather than adversaries trying desperately to be polite. What I thought was absurd was that they were basically in the elevator, having agreed on a plan to meet later, when Reilly is like "Come back in! Have some coffee!" Who DOES that? It's not like they were leaving in a huff -- they were leaving with definite plans to meet later.

I guess you could say that things like this don't bother you in a movie that's doing everything else right. That really tells me that Carnage wasn't.