This Is My Life

This is a not so good flick about an aspiring and unfunny stand up comedienne. There is a great little subplot involving the Sam Mathis character and her dopey boyfriend. Ending in a very funny and daring love scene. I would have like to have seen a whole film about the Sam Mathis daughter character and the boyfriend instead. The rest of the film, the script, direction, etc. are the just awful.

This movie has a funny script by Nora and Delia Ephron, (You've Got Mail). Linda Obst (One Fine Day, Hope Floats) is the producer. The music is by Carly Simmon, which is great. Here we have all the ingredients for a good chick movie! Perhaps the lack of box office success it had was because of timing. It was released before Nora and Delia, and Obst were really known in the industry. If it was released today, it would get all the attention. It a really good movie.

Dottie Ingels, Julie Kavner (Forget Paris, Jake's Women) is a single parent. She has two daughters, Erica Ingels, Samantha Mathis (Little Women, The American President) and Opal Ingels, Gaby Hoffmann (Sleepless in Seattle). They live with their Aunt Martha Ingels, Caroline Aaron (Deconstructing Harry ) until Martha dies and leaves them the house which they sell. Dottie can now pursue her dream of becoming a stand up comedian. Aunt Martha had died while she was shopping, she literally shopped until she dropped. No one could figure out which outfit was really hers and as the body went out of the store the alarm went off because the outfit still had the price tag on. Erica plays the critical teenager growing up with a somewhat realistic but by the same token negative view on things. Opal is the little one always trying to cheer things up. The kids are absolutely adorable. Their dialogue makes me laugh! They keep saying: did too, did not, did too, did not? Dottie wears those off-beat outfits, all polka dots. They are small at the beginning of the movie and their get bigger as she gets more famous. Favorite quotes:" Don't chew you hair, sweetheart". Life lesson: Everyone in the world is two phone calls from everyone else in the world you just need to know who the phone calls are." "Sometimes the audience was so dead that they were wearing toe tags." "Dad said that we were going to fidgety like mom...Opal says. Later Erica says it is not fidgety like mom. It is frigid. Opal: do you think that mom is cold in bed"? I recommend this fun movie. It is a feel good movie. I enjoyed watching it.

The gritty Meg Wolitzer novel Ephron's script is based on is far darker than the cinematic end result, but that doesn't keep this movie from being a sweet, subtle and empathetic (to _all_ its characters, even the potential caricature of a paper-gnawing agent played by Dan Aykroyd) story. It's also as much of a love letter to New York as Woody Allen's "Manhattan" or "Everyone Says I Love You." This isn't a typical Ephron movie the way "Sleepless in Seattle" or "You've Got Mail" are, whatever you might think of them; it's about the genuine trauma of adolescence, the complexities of trying to be a grownup when you're still figuring yourself out, and--transcending the cliche of "the tears of a clown"--the sadness that often lurks behind the most successful lives in comedy and the sacrifices comedians make to get there. The soundtrack by Carly Simon is an extra treat. Highly recommended.

With a staunch history of detesting "chick flicks," I as SO prepared to dislike this film, but then I found myself drawn in with a giant smile on my face, not because it is especially funny, but for the disarming ad utterly charming performances of the two youthful leads Samantha Mathis and Gaby Hoffman. Certainly, the situation is a well-worn one that I need not relate here, but it's execution is uniquely underplayed, giving the characters and film a believably real tone and feeling. You'll find yourself, as did I, falling hopelessly in love with the girls, wanting to hug and protect them, and making sure it all turns out okay for them.

If you have the opportunity, to not deny yourself the pleasurable experience this film provides.

I just watched this movie for the third time. I chose to watch it on Mother's Day because this is about as realistic a tale about mother-and-daughter bonding and growing pains as you will ever see. Julie Kavner is nothing short of amazing as Dotty, a stand-up comic from Ozone Park, Queens, waiting for her chance to make it to the big time. But, life necessitates tradeoffs. As her career takes off, Dotty is unable to spend much time with her kids who grow resentful. And with her older daughter Erica (an excellent performance by Samantha Mathis) now in the awkward early teen years, everything Dotty does is a personal embarrassment to Erica.

The direction is a bit on the claustrophobic and episodic side. Aside from experimenting with the number of different ways to show polka dots, this is not a visually impressive film, nor is it meant to be.

But on its own terms, it is sweet, warm, winning, and true.