Finally...Movie Gold

I have a love/hate relationship with netflix. I put all these movies on my list... movies that I want to see. Really, I do. But then they get here and they are generally downers. I am taking responsibility for the selection; I'm just saying.

So, the movies get here. I refresh my memory on the movie and then it sits on my tv until I feel guilty about paying for movies that I don't watch.

Lately, I have been trying to choose movies that won't make me want to slit my wrists. But this is very complicated for me because I am not sure which those movies are.

I look through the comedies and almost throw up imagining myself watching most of them.

You see, I am not amused by the same things that most movie goers find funny. And some of the situations that others find fall on the floor funny only inspire a gag reflex in me.

Perhaps you can begin to understand my difficulty.

I was watching some other movie, which I can no longer remember, and there was a trailer for a movie about a lady who really loved her dog. It seemed sweet and quirky and, well, promising. Well, it turned out to just be WEIRD. Let's just say that she becomes a nearly terroristic animal rights activist as the result of the plot twists and turns. Not sweet. Not quirky. Not light in any sense of the word.

I had read some reviews and heard some good rumbling that I vaguely remember about Waitress. I had a good enough impression that I added it to my netflix queue a while ago, but it was way down there in the 40's and seemed like I would never get there.

I did some rearranging of my list and put anything that said comedy near the top... sprinkled with some dramas with hunky actors like Benjamin Bratt. But when the movie arrived this week, I worried that it would be weird, too.

Well, I couldn't have been more wrong. I have to say that Waitress has got to be my favorite movie ever, at least for now. How can you tell, you may ask yourself. Well, I watched every last extra and contemplated starting it all over again!

Of course, then I started to write this piece before I had seen all the extras and then found out about Adrienne Shelly's death (the writer/director/actor of the movie). It didn't make me like the movie more or less, although it did make me want to cry. I cannot imagine the void for her husband and child. Selfishly I grieved the fabulous movies this woman had left to make and gift to us. What a terrible waste of insightful talent. I am grateful to Ms. Shelly's husband for starting the Adrienne Shelly Foundation to give other talented women the chance to make great movies. I wish I had a million bucks to give to the foundation! Maybe, someday.

I had already decided to end the post with Andy Griffith's character's admonition. But reading about Adrienne Shelly reminded me why I got divorced... and is reminding me to live every day as though it were my last and best day. If you need a reminder why we should treasure life, just watch this movie. I would tell you why I really love this movie, but I don't want to give away anything if you haven't seen it. Thanks, Adrienne... you rock.

This life will kill ya. Make the right choice. Start fresh. It's never too late. Start fresh.