The update

I can't believe I forgot to mention that I saw a celebrity on the way over here, and no less than three times. First, I was standing in the security line at Heathrow and at one of the desks I saw the receptionist chick (a.k.a. Lucy Davis) from The Office. Then I saw her again in departures.

Once I got to LA, we were in the line waiting for immigration control and I saw her again going through and talking to the guards.. so she must be out here on business or something. I also found out she's Jasper Carrott's daughter, crazy. Perhaps she can bring back some more American words for her father to popularise.

I've been knocked down with flu for the past few days, so if I haven't been in touch, I apologise. Yesterday I had enough energy to do something non strenuous, so I went to the theatre and saw 'The Passion of The Christ' and the first sneak preview screenings of 'The Girl Next Door'.

The Passion of The Christ

You cannot escape The Passion of The Christ here. It's been America's biggest film for the last month or something. It's approaching half a billion dollars in takings, and it was made entirely on Mel Gibson's dime. The story is simple, it portrays the last 12 or so hours of Jesus's life in all its violent and bloody glory. And, boy, is it violent.. if you want to see a man get whipped, beaten, punched, and then realistically nailed to a cross for two hours, this is the film for you. Even better, the whole film is in ancient Aramaic and Latin, so enjoy the subtitles folks. That said, I didn't mind the film, it was powerful, it was emotional, but possibly a little overproduced.

The Girl Next Door

The Girl Next Door doesn't open in the US till April 9, and in the UK till April 16, so it was nice to get into the preview screening.

It's a late teen comedy, much in the vein of your American Pies and Road Trips. The big star is the delectable Elisha Cuthbert from 24, but the whole cast is great and comes off with such charm.

The story is that our main male lead is a bit of a geek at school and is unhappy with how school has gone, but is focusing on a shot at a big scholarship in the coming week. Our Elisha turns up as a 'hot chick next door' type and she sweeps him off his feet, they start dating, and getting up to all sorts of crazy stuff. Being a bit of a stick in the mud, this whole experience 'changes' the guy and before you know it the movie is full of porn shoots, swearing, parties, and hookers.

It sounds lame, but it was extremely well done, considering the whole teen genre is getting really overbaked. The cast had charm, the story was... okay, and the twists were smart. It had an amazing soundtrack to boot, with The Darkness' "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" being used for the TV ads.

The 'R' rating

The one thing which gets me about American cinema is the 'R' rating on movies. R supposedly means you need to be 17 to see the movie, which is fine. But it also allows parents to take their children of any age in to see the movie. So you can be 5 years old, and get into an 'R' movie with your parents. Considering many UK '18' movies are 'R' movies in the US, this just screams 'bad idea'.

There was a 6 or 7 year old boy in the row in front of me, and this film has the F word all over the place, simulated blowjob scenes, topless action, and poledancing!! None of it was particularly harsh, it was a teen comedy after all, but isn't it a tad irresponsible to take your kids to that? Then they wonder why, several years later, the kid is telling them to F-off and is out selling crack on Hollywood Boulevard. :-)

Posted by peter at March 21, 2004 11:50 PM