Roman Holiday

Comedy 
1953 / 118 minutes 
RATING: 8/10 

Princess Ann is on a tour of Europe, and the masses can't get enough of her. It's no better inside the palace, where minor nobles, maharajas, and even the papal nuncio, all need to shake her hand. Can't a poor girl rest her aching feet?

When the prospects of yet another day of innocuous speeches and forced polite conversation drive her into a tizzy, the royal doctor gives Ann a little something to help her sleep. But the moment the doctor is gone, so is the princess, out the window and down into the streets of Rome, hoping for some kind of adventure.

But it's hard to have an adventure when you've been valium-ed up. Instead, the princess falls asleep by the side of the road, where journalist Joe Bradley mistakes her for a drunk, completely unaware she is the princess. He almost passes by, but stops himself – he can't just leave a girl out there on the street. Too sleepy or too stubborn to tell him where she lives, Joe eventually has to take Ann to his apartment, offering up his couch.

The next day, Joe reports in to his newspaper. The front page story? The embassy is reporting that the royal princess Ann has taken suddenly sick. Spotting Ann's picture on the front page, Joe realizes he has the story of year still sleeping right there in his apartment. So he heads back and pretends ignorance about who Ann is. And under these false pretenses Joe, and his photographer friend Irving, give Ann the footloose and fancy-free day she has been dreaming of. But is Joe really going to cash in on his royal exclusive, if it means embarrassing the young princess?

Cautions

Nothing untoward happens, but there are enough "misunderstandings" that this isn't one for the kiddos. Examples include a valium-ed up Ann acting as if Joe is one of her servants, and telling him he can help her undress for bed (he does not), and a cleaning lady finding Ann in a towel (covered up) and angrily chasing her around the apartment because she thinks Ann has slept with Joe (she has not).

Conclusion

I hadn't watched this in twenty years and what struck me upon my most recent viewing is that it might be the film that inspired a million Hallmarks. The two key ingredients are here: a royal, and a case of mistaken identity.

But this is the original, and the best, starting with the Oscar-winning cast, Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. Hallmark films have been set in Rome (including the Roman Holiday-homage Rome in Love), but it's not the same as seeing the almost car-free, play-in-the-Trevi-Fountain, climb-on-the-Coliseum, 1950s Rome (as one critic noted, the city is the film's third star). And then there is the ending, which is completely un-Hallmark-like, and some won't like it for that reason. But this is a conclusion that will stick with you.

Charm, Rome, and some laughs make this a great one for a mom-and-dad date night.

Unitards

Family / Comedy

2010 / 107 minutes
Rating: 8/10

The producers bill this as "High School Musical meets Napoleon Dynamite" but I'll have to take their word for it, not having seen either. I do know it is laugh-out-loud, tears-in-your-eyes funny in parts.

When the vice principal charges Lewis Grady with building up school spirit, he decides to start a guys-only dance...thing (he isn't quite sure what it is, but he knows it isn't a dance team because that's what girls do). His two quirky friends are happy to help, even if they've got some misgivings about dancing in front of the whole student body. The three buddies bribe, beg, and bargain their way through the recruitment process, ending up with a group of a dozen or more. But it's one thing to get a group together, and another to get that group dancing together, especially when the guys have more than their share of left feet. But with a little help from mom and some friends on the school's award-winning girls' dance team, they start figuring things out.

Right before their first public performance, Lewis rallies the troops with an inspirational speech that is comic gold. He reminds them of the dream most every student has had, of showing up to school in nothing but your underwear. "This is that day," he tells them: "The majority of the kids out there feel like they're showing up to school half-naked every day. Today is for the nobodies, for the average, I-don't-even-matter kids." Lewis wants his group to be an inspiration to the ordinary guys and girls out there in the audience, showing them you don't have to be awesome at something to do it, you just have to be willing to ignore the peer pressure and embrace the joy.

The villain of the piece is the teacher who runs the girls' dance team. She thinks the boys are making a mockery of dance, and she wants them shut down, and she's used to getting her way. While that adds some drama to the story, this is mostly just goofy dance numbers, and quirky friends, showing how fun can be had when you ignore the mockers and set out to be encouragers.

Cautions

The biggest caution would just be the film's name. Unitards are a one-piece garment that dancers (especially ballet) often wear, but there is also an implicit, never made explicit, reference here to "tard," short for retard, with the joke being that any boys in a dance group are sure to have that word directed their way. It's in bad taste, but that it isn't made explicit makes it easier to overlook.

While the dancing is modest by worldly standards, there is a lot of it, and it isn't the formal sort you might see in a "Pride and Prejudice" film. This is more the jump and bounce and shake and wiggle type of dancing toddlers through teens do. That includes some butt-wiggling moves that are a brief part of one or two of the dance productions. It's slightly sexually suggestive, but incidentally, rather than provocatively so. And when paired with the students' generally modest dress, it is quite tame.

Conclusion

Director Scott Featherstone combined elements of his own school experience with what his son Sam (who plays Lewis Grady) and friends were experiencing to come up with the script. Then he held auditions at his son's school to get all the actors. That's why the acting is solid enough, even though these are not professional actors. What they are is high school students playing high school students so it's not a stretch. And because the director and scriptwriter was a parent who knew the actors, some of these kids are almost certainly playing versions of themselves.

What makes this worth watching is just how sweet it is. High school can be a tough time for many, and what we have here is a prescription for how your kids can make it better for others, and maybe themselves. Lewis Grady's friends poke fun, but they don't tear down. The guys do look goofy dancing, but they're also being brave, and some of the school's girls are smart enough to appreciate and encourage that bravery. This is high school as we wish it could have been, and would still like it to be for our kids: full of challenges, yes, but not full of naysayers, mockers, and killjoys.

The Gospel Blimp

Satire / Drama 

38 min / 1967 

Rating: 8/10

It may be 40 years old now, but this understated satire still ranks among the better Christian films ever made.

It begins with a group of enthusiastic Christians having a barbeque in their backyard, and discussing how they can evangelize the unconverted next-door neighbor. They all know the conventional ways of doing it, but they’re looking for something… special. As they’re relaxing, sitting back in their lawn chairs, a blimp flies overhead, and that’s when it hits them – that’s what they need to do! Buy a blimp so they can fly it over the neighbor’s house, and over the entire town, and throw down gospel tracks. That’ll get people’s attention. What a brilliant plan!

That they miss the obvious alternative is only part of the film's point, but it's this satiric take that makes this both cutting and memorable. Their plans just keep getting bigger and bigger!

The Gospel Blimp is based on a book of the same title by Joseph Bayly that cuts even deeper (and there was also a comic book adaptation that did so a little less so). What allows this version to be just as engaging four decades later is its still relevant point – that we make evangelism harder than it needs to be – and the clever way it was first filmed. This is home movie-esque, and as a home movie we don't expect car chases or explosions, and we aren't put off by the grainy film.

Like The Blair Witch Project famously did, the producers took what would otherwise have been a weakness – less than high definition camera work – and have turned it into a strength by making it a sign of authenticity: the home movie feel lets us know we're getting an intimate, up-close, look and this group's evangelistic efforts.

This would be a great short film to share with any group of Christian friends and then talk about afterward – it offers lots of fodder for discussion. You can watch it for free below.

Pride and Prejudice (2003)

Romance/Comedy

104 min / 2003
Rating: 8/10

When a book is adapted for the screen, readers want it to be as close to the book as possible. So let's begin this review with a heads up: that did not happen here.

The central plot remains the same – these are women "in need of a husband" – but the setting has been updated to the modern-day USA, with five girlfriends all sharing a house just off-campus. Other departures include how the first love interest, Charles Bingley, came by his wealth: selling classical music CDs for dogs, and marketing them via late-night TV infomercials. And he drives a motor scooter. Oh, and Mr. Collins' proposal now has him make the compelling argument: "Elizabeth, we've been commanded to multiply and replenish the earth."

So if you aren't up for a light, silly treatment of your favorite book, this is not for you. That said, I do think it is for most everyone else. And if you've ever wished that someone today could write something like it, well, this is "something like it" indeed.

This version also adds an element glaringly absent from the book and every film version: a car chase! 

Caution

There aren't many cautions to offer because, as it turns out, this was made by Mormons. Consequently, the violence amounts to a single fistfight played for comic effect. There's no sex, though it is alluded to twice, both times by the villain of the piece, Wickham. He first jokes that "there's only one reason people commit matrimony before they are 30” and follows that with a joke about being “relatively disease-free.” But his implied lack of chastity stands him in contrast with most everyone else.

The only other problematic element is a self-help dating guide called the “Pink Bible.” We had to explain to our kids that it was a “bible” only in the sense that it was purporting to be the final word on that subject – dating – as the Mechanics Bible would say it is for car repair.

Conclusion

This is not a faithful retelling of Pride and Prejudice. and yet it is a very good one, keeping remarkably close to the spirit of the book. That makes it the perfect date night movie for mom and dad, and a pretty good one for the whole family. The pacing is quick, the romance is sweet, and the humor is sprinkled liberally throughout. Of the 50 or so people I’ve watched it with, or loaned it to, somewhere near 90% have given it a thumbs up.

There are so many Pride and Prejudice films that if you want to find this one you should search for the title along with the year, or the title along with the word “Mormon." That’ll help you track it down.

I share the trailer below with some misgivings – the film is a lot better than this makes it seem.

FREE FILM: The Amazing Adventure

Drama / Black and White
62 minutes / 1936
RATING: 7/10

Ernest Bliss (Cary Grant) is a young man who has inherited a lot of money from his father. That's allowed him to have a very nice house, to buy whatever he wants, and to never worry about working.

Yet he's nervous, can't eat, and can't sleep. When he goes to the specialist and the doctor diagnoses him with "self-indulgence" Bliss is both offended and intrigued. What's the prescription then? The doctor tells Bliss to earn his own living for a year and dismisses him with a wave, knowing that this pampered socialite would never follow this advice. But Bliss ends up making him a bet: if Bliss does do it, then one year from now he'll expect a handshake and an apology from the doctor, and if Bliss loses, then he'll give £50,000 for the doctor's downtown charity clinic.

That's the setup, and the general plotline is as you might expect. Bliss learns some lessons about just how it can be for a regular Joe, and it isn’t too long before he’s secretly using his connections and money to help the struggling people who have befriended him.

CAUTIONS

The only caution I would add is a mild one. At one point a conniving employer tries to so arrange things that he'll be alone with his newly hired secretary. But before he gets anywhere at all, Bliss intervenes. Nothing at all happens, and I mention it only to give a heads up to parents, in case their kids question why it was that Bliss thought the lady needed rescuing.

CONCLUSION

This is part The Prince and the Pauper and part Cinderella, and while it might be predictable (there are a couple of twists!) it's also delightful – this makes for very fun family fare. If you have Amazon Prime, you can watch a version with closed captions here. But because the film's copyright wasn't renewed it is also freely available below (and it can even be chromecast to your TV).

The Cameraman

Silent film / Comedy
1928 / 76 minutes
RATING 7/10

Buster Keaton is a down on his luck tin-type cameraman. The film takes place in the 1920s, when photos are still a rarity and Buster makes his money taking portraits of passersby on the street for ten cents each. The story begins when Buster has a chance encounter with Sally, the receptionist at a newsreel company's office. To impress her he trades in his tin-type camera for a hand-cranked motion picture and heads off to find some news to film.

It takes Buster a bit of time to get the hang of things but his failures are entertaining, and Sally appreciates the effort. However, just as she's warming up to him, and Buster is figuring out how to run his camera, the villain of the piece – an already established news cameraman – arrives to break up the not-yet-a-couple. Nothing is ever easy for Buster!

CAUTIONS

There are a few cautions for this film that make it less than ideal viewing for the youngest viewers.

Buster first encounters Sally when a huge crowd crushes them into each other, with Buster stuck behind her, his nose buried in her hair. This takes the ridiculous love-at-first-sight trope, and turns it into a slightly creepy love-at-first-smell. Fortunately this is only a brief bit.

There is one "naughty" joke, involving Buster and Sally on their first date to a public swimming pool, Buster ends up in an oversized swimsuit. To impress Sally he heads to the diving board and, of course, ends up diving right out of his suit...though he doesn't immediately realize. To solve his dilemma he divests a woman in a large of swimsuit dress (right down to mid-calf) of her accompanying swim-pants, which he then wears on his way out of the pool. It's best not to think just how he pulled off that stunt (and the film doesn't spend any time on it).

Younger viewers might be shocked at the sudden apparent death of a small monkey that Buster falls on (but later we discover the little guy is okay). A scene in which a police officer tests Keaton's reactions by hitting his knee – and Buster returns in kind – might also be distressing to younger viewers who know that's not how you treat policemen!

CONCLUSION

MGM loved this film so much it was required viewing for all its comedy filmmakers. And no wonder! Like Keaton's other films, this one abounds in stunts and visual jokes, but it probably has the very best – though most abrupt – ending of them all.

So my take is, The Cameraman is a fun film but recommended only for older family members who understand that Buster Keaton is not always to be imitated.

 

The absent-minded professor

Black and White / Family
1961 / 96 minutes
RATING: 7/10

The classic begins with a bang – a lab accident blows up Ned Brainard's garage and leaves the professor knocked out cold.

The good news? This explosive experiment has produced a wondrous new substance - a rubbery material that when rolled up in a ball and dropped gains height with each bounce. It's almost like this rubber can fly so, of course, the professor names it flubber. And what's the first thing he does with flubber? Why, use it to create the world's first flying Model T of course!

The bad news? While he was out cold the professor missed his wedding...for the third time!

Betsy Carlisle is his long-suffering fiancee. While she loves her Neddy, this is it – she doesn't want to hear any more excuses. "I say, three strikes and you're out!" To make the situation that much more difficult for Ned, he has a rival for Betsy's attention. Professor Shelby Ashton is egotistical and even more self-absorbed than Ned but he has one thing going for him – he knows how to shows up on time.

To get Betsy's attention Ned puts his flubber to use and this is where the fun really begins. When the college's basketball team is losing badly, Ned secretly irons flubber on to all of the players' shoes. When the second half starts the Medfield team is now able to jump, not just over the other team, but right over the gym rafters!

While this stunt doesn't impress Betsy, Ned and his flying Model T do catch the attention of all three branches of the US military and a particularly unscrupulous businessman. Car chases and hijinks soon follow.

CAUTIONS

As children do sometimes do as they see, the biggest concern might be language. One of the villains – businessman Alonzo Hawk – calls people "idiots," "stupid," or "tells them to shut-up."

There is some violence – a shoot-out in which no one gets hit, and two thugs unsuccessfully trying to get Professor Brainard – but this is of the comic sort and even our six-year-old knew everything was going to be okay (but our four-year-old had to be reassured).

Oh, and at one point Hawk gambles on a basketball game.

It may be worth pointing out to younger viewers that the "hero" of this story, Professor Brainard, is not a good example at the beginning – he's prioritized science over his bride-to-be! Thankfully, by film's end he's learned the error of his ways.

CONCLUSION

This classic spawned a sequel and two remakes but they never improved on the original. A flying car, a villain who can leap buildings in a single bound, a damsel who's in distress because her bumbling knight has left her at the altar again – this is fun that everyone will enjoy.

Sherlock Jr.

Comedy / Family
1924 / 44 minutes
RATING: 8/10

For anyone who wants to get their kids interested in the golden oldies, Sherlock Jr. may be the perfect introduction. This is a black and white classic with the frenetic pace of a Saturday morning cartoon – the action never stops!

Buster Keaton plays the part of a movie theater janitor/projectionist who has ambitions about becoming a great detective and winning the hand of a certain beautiful girl.

But he's not the only fellow interested in the lass. Standing in his way is a tall, dark, and handsome rival who, we quickly find out, has no scruples – when no one's looking this scoundrel steals a watch from the girl's dad. But wait, there's a theft? Isn't this an opportunity for a detective wannabe to show his stuff? Buster offers to do an investigation, but he is humiliated twice over when the clever scoundrel frames him for the theft, and then the girl's father asks Buster to leave and never come back.

Things are looking bad for Buster, but the story just keeps getting better and better. Dejected, Buster returns to the theater in time for the afternoon showing and gets the movie started. But as it's playing he falls asleep, and in his dream he joins in on the action.

It just so happens to be a detective story. And it just so happens that Buster dreams himself in as the suave and savvy star detective. In this film within the film it goes a lot better for Buster, as he brilliantly tricks and evades and a whole horde of villains.

The best action scene in the movie is when Buster, in hot pursuit of the villains, hops on the front handlebars of a motorbike being driven by his trusted sidekick. But, unbeknownst to Buster, just as the motorbike started off, his sidekick fell off – Buster is on it alone, up front on the handlebars of the speeding bike, urging the absent driver to be a little more careful about the way he's driving!

But what's going to happen when Buster wakes up? Well, even as he solving mysteries in his dream world, his beautiful girl is figuring out things in the real one.

CAUTIONS

There are moments of peril, and a brief occasion or two of fisticuffs that might be a bit scary for the very young.

CONCLUSION

At just 44 minutes, and jammed pack with action, this might be the best silent film to share with modern audiences. And - added bonus! - this film is so old it is in the public domain, and can be watched for free in the video below.

The Peanuts Movie

Animated/Family /Children

2015 / 88 minutes
RATING: 8/10

This is the happy ending we were all waiting for.

Peanuts was always a little hit and miss for me. I liked Linus and Snoopy and PigPen and Marcie, but found it downright depressing when once again Lucy would get good ol' Charlie Brown to fall for her disappearing football trick.

That's why this film is better than comic. It has the strip's funniest bits (we even find out how the Red Baron first became Snoopy's nemesis) minus the melancholy. Sure, Charlie Brown still has more than his share of misfortunes, but he also has good friends – including a far more loyal version of Snoopy – to help pick him back up and push him to keep on trying.

The storyline revolves around a new kid who has just moved across the street. She has red-hair and very good judgment, and from the moment Charlie Brown sets eyes on her he wants to figure out a way to go talk to her. That proves to be a very difficult, largely due to the difficulties Charlie Brown sets up for himself. But with some help from Linus, Snoopy, Marcie and others, our hapless hero learns how to bravely go where Charlie Brown has never gone before.

Cautions

Our family isn't up for anything all that scary, so I was wondering how the girls would react to the scenes where Snoopy finds the Red Baron. It turned out that the comic setting made it very clear to our little ones that this was not at all real, so they weren't phased at all.

The only cautions I can come up with would be of the most minor sort. Charlie Brown falls in love at first sight and continues to obsess about a girl he has never even talked to. But of course, he's also 6, and kids do dumb things sometimes.

Also, near the end of the film Charles, frustrated by how circumstances were conspiring against him. seems to say a little prayer: "I'm just asking for a little help once in my life." Afterwards he gets what would seem some Divine intervention – he gets tangled up in a kite which pulls him up and over the crowd that was blocking his way. Now God is never specifically mentioned, so Charlie Brown might just be talking to "the Fates" but considering the many (but muddled) references to God in the original strip, it would seem more logical to conclude Charlie Brown is actually talking to God here. If so, his "Don't I deserve a break?" plea shows that Charles is not a Calvinist. At the same time, it doesn't get anywhere near being blasphemous.

Highlights

While Charlie Brown has always been a man of persistence, here his many positive qualities are finally recognized. (SPOILER ALERT) One of the key scenes in the film has Charlie Brown having to choose between being honest and being popular, and the really refreshing take here is that our good ol' Charles doesn't even hesitate before doing the right thing. There's lots of material here that would make good fodder for discussions about caring for our siblings,  standing up to peer pressure, and also recognizing our own gifts.

Conclusion

The producers have made a wonderful homage to Schulz's work, and, in fact, actually improved on it. A Charlie Brown who doesn't have to wait 50 years for a little happiness is a wonderful step up on the original!