Pammyk's thoughts

I thought Penelope was a cute movie. I appreciated that it was rated PG, but that it was still an adult movie - it was refreshing. It isn't in my top ten, but it proved itself to be uniquely entertaining.

Farm life...there was sweat, hard work, drunkeness, dirt, struggle; but there was also peacefulness, calm, green grass, light breezes, swimming holes and crickets chirping. There is a calming feel to the movie that draws you in and just the right amount of hopefulness to the struggle and the sad. I thought that the combination of calm and hopefulness made it a sad but beautiful film. It left me feeling like I was laying in a field on a warm summer night...after a hard days work and a cool dip in the swimming hole...looking up at the stars knowing that I can't control where my life is headed, but that I can control the kind of person I am.

I went to the Valentine's Day screening. I was excited about getting my Four Eyed Monsters sticker and had already decided to like the movie. How can I decide to like a movie before I've seen it? The same way that I decide that I don't want to see a movie before I've seen it - fairly close mindedly.

So did I truly like it? Would I have liked it if I had randomly seen it at a film festival before hearing anything about it? If I hadn't just had two java jive martinis and was sharing a box of chocolates with my friends on Valentine's Day? I'll never know. It was a little wacky and there was some potty mouth and swear words - things that normally turn me off to a movie, but I liked watching it.

I liked watching Arin and Susan write to eachother. I liked watching Susan at her job. I thought Arin's fantasies were funny. I liked how the birds were beautiful and fluttery and then when there was an STD in question the birds were walking around on a gross rooftop in their own poop. 

I felt like Susan could do better than Arin though, at least throughout most of the movie. Toward the end I felt like maybe Susan was being more completely herself in the movie, but Arin was acting. There were just a few scenes toward the end where I felt like Arin was himself and relaxed with Susan, and then I started to see a wonderful little four eyed monster.