Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Awk-ward!

This is a welcome contemporary look at Mike Nichols classic film, The Graduate, but... I must disagree that it ushered in the comedy of "cringe-inducing moments and awkward conversations." Oh, Nichols certainly did his part to develop that kind of humor, but he started a year earlier, with the help of Edward Albee.

What's surprising about seeing Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf is both how far it goes into the abyss and how funny it remains while Going There. It could be likened to a pie fight where the pie tins keep knocking teeth out.

Also notable is how callow young Nick, the George Segal character, gradually degenerates into something worse than either George or Martha.

And how sexy Liz Taylor was even when she was supposed to be frumpy and embarassing.

3 comments:

susan said...

I'm so glad you finally got a chance to see WFVW. We last watched it years ago but will always remember the spectacular number of cringe inducing moments. It was also a good reminder of the dangers of drinking to excess.

susan said...

ps: some spammers are much sadder than others.

Ben said...

With the possible exception of the Sandy Dennis character, these people all have an abnormal physical tolerance for alcohol. If they were at my level the whole movie would be about people sprawled on the couch passed out, occasionally making a water run to the kitchen sink.

And indeed some spammers are sadder than others. But it's one of those things you can't really put up with if you have a little blog like this.