Softly, softly...

While everyone is going nuts attending Return of the King (and in some cases, going back to watch the movie again), we who reside in the cinematic hinterlands must make do.

(I stuck "cinematic" in front of hinterlands as an afterthought... that way, we here don't come off as simply living in the boondocks, which would be equally descriptive, though for the most part, I like living in the boonies!)

Which is a somewhat longish introduction to Galina and my having watched a screener of Le Divorce last night, starring a pair of young ladies with typical Hollyweird looks and completely unfamiliar names (though I recognized a number of supporting cast members, such as Stockard Channing, Matthew Modine, Glenn Glose and Leslie Caron).

The packaging describes the film as an "unabashedly romantic comedy." Whoever wrote that has spent too much time experimenting with new and not quite stable drugs, and I suspect the copywriter's original text may have read "an unabashedly romantic comedy, in the tradition of The Godfather," before being edited down.

I don't recall cracking so much as a smile once during the film (one of my criteria for a film that successfully bills itself as a "comedy"), and it's no wonder. By the time the film is over, nobody has done or said anything remotely funny, people are dead, others nearly die, families enthusiastically indulge in hypocritical behavior in a strightforward, businesslike manner, and French civilization in general earns a couple of black eyes. And if any of the action could be billed as "romantic," then with all due respect to Vonda Shepard, I'll happily embrace being locked away in a world without love.

I am so looking forward to seeing RotK, albeit in a decent theater.

Cheers...