With Thanksgiving rapidly approaching, you could spend your time doing worthy things like reading classic novels, spending time with your family or doing community service for the city of Madison to make up for your Halloween shenanigans. Or you could watch movies, which I think is your best option, seeing as how it's much, you know, easier, than any of those other things. With this in mind, I have taken it upon myself to provide a list of nine of my personal-favorite underrated movies that will give you cinematic nourishment in the coming week.
"Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead" (1995) — Man, with a title like that, it has to be good. Of all the Tarantino knock-offs that emerged after "Pulp Fiction," this is the best: a snappy, jazzy neo-noir bolstered by a great script by Scott Rosenberg ("High Fidelity") and genuinely likeable performances from Andy Garcia and leading lady Gabrielle Anwar (who seriously needs Gil Grissom, Horatio Cane or Gary Sinise's Guy to try to piece together where her career went after this movie. I thought she was going to be huge). Bonus points for Christopher Walken in full-on "You're a cantaloupe!" mode as a wheelchair-bound mob boss. You complete me, Chrissy.
"The Suburbans" (1999) — Oh my god, the first 30 minutes of this movie are hilarious. Ferrell and Craig Bierko are totally on. It goes south pretty quickly when it pulls a "Wedding Crashers" and starts focusing on a sappy romance. (By the way, I think the phrase "Pull a 'Wedding Crashers'" should enter the vernacular. It would be perfect for that friend who used to be really fun, but then gets a girlfriend and starts staying in Friday nights — and Wednesday and Thursday nights, for that matter — and when he does come out, he kills the vibe by bringing his girlfriend with him. You would say, "Laura's coming for the weekend. Let's hope Mike doesn't pull a 'Wedding Crashers' on us.") Still, I think the first 30 minutes are enough to qualify it for this list, if only because of Will Ferrell's immortal line about MTV, "Music television? I don't know … that sounds like something the Nazis would come up with if they ever got into pop music." One of my all-time top-5 Will Ferrell lines. A great "We're too drunk to go anywhere, so let's watch a movie" movie.
"Adventures in Babysitting" (1987) — Was anybody hotter than Elizabeth Shue during the mid-to-late-'80s? The only person I can think of who can even give her a run for her money would be Heather Graham in the "Boogie Nights" era, but I still think I would go with Shue, if only because she seemed more attainable, while Heather came off as the kind of girl you'd spend the night chatting up and falling in love with and then, just before you asked for her number, she would causally mention her boyfriend and leave you reeling. In "Adventures in Babysitting," Shue was at the height of her hotness, rocking a full-length camelhair coat and approximately 30 layers' worth of sweaters, which somehow made her even more desirable. Also, she successfully convinced the audience that she was attracted to Bradley Whitford, which was tough to do even in the '80s, when his "look" (annoying, pear-shaped guy with receding hairline) was in. (Whitford, it should be noted, looks exactly the same in 1987 as he does now. This guy must have a rotting portrait of himself in a closet somewhere.)
"Grosse Point Blank" (1997) — Never gets the respect people give to "High Fidelity," but it's just as good. This movie has everything: sex, violence, quotable lines ("I killed the president of Paraguay with a fork. How have you been?") and a killer soundtrack. It's one of those movie you find yourself quoting in everyday conversation and, nine times out of 10, nobody picks up on it, but then, one day, somebody realizes what you're doing and starts laughing and you feel like you're in a special club. I love that feeling.
"U.S. Marshals" (1998) — OK, so it may not be "Godfather II," but this sequel to "The Fugitive" has a special place in my heart, if only because U.S. Marshall Sam Gerard is one of my favorite characters in film history. Tommy Lee Jones is so good in this role; he even manages to look cool when he's chasing Wesley Snipes in a chicken costume. (Speaking of Wesley Snipes, what happened to that guy? There was a time when he was one of the five biggest stars in Hollywood. Now he's one step above Steven Seagal. I think we're about three years away from his E! True Hollywood Story.) As an added bonus, there is some great unintentional comedy with Robert Downey Jr. as a shady CIA agent. It's always great to watch a Downey performance from the '90s, where he's either acting really manic ("Home For the Holidays") or stumbling around like a zombie (what he does here) with a group of your buddies and playing the game "What illicit substance is Robert Downey Jr. on in this movie?" In this case, my money is on potent Peruvian marijuana and a case of Heineken.
"Insomnia" (2002) — Basically, everything Al Pacino has done since 1997 has been underrated. He's been so good the last eight years it's a little scary. I cannot fathom why he isn't getting more dap for this late-career resurgence. His last eight years are the cinematic equivalent of what Joe Pa is pulling at Penn State this year. For me, his portrayal of haunted cop Will Dormer in the downbeat thriller "Insomnia" is not only his best performance of late, but also his greatest performance ever. That's right — better than Michael Corleone, better than Col. Frank Slade, better than Ricky Roma. I pick up new things he's doing every time I watch it, and I've seen the movie, like, six times now. An absolute clinic for Sweet Al. You probably don't want to watch this one during the holidays, though, since it's one of those movies that absolutely drains you and makes you just want to be by yourself for a few hours (like "The Deer Hunter" or "25th Hour").
"Great Expectations" (1998) — In my opinion, a legitimately great movie. It's a throwback to the days of grand, great-looking Hollywood romances. The movie is especially poignant if you've read Art Linson's fantastic book "What Just Happened?" about the making of this film. I can't quite explain why I love this movie so much in this short space. It warrants its own column in the near future.
"Scrooged" (1988) — Definitely one of those love-it-or-hate-it movies. Everybody has strong feelings about it. I think whether you like it is directly proportional to how much you like Bill Murray, since this is basically the ultimate Bill Murray movie: dry, mean and very, very funny. It's the only Christmas movie I know of that can spark suicidal tendencies. I'll never forget when I took my then-girlfriend to see it at a revival in D.C. two years ago. The theater was packed and I was absolutely dying, but nobody else was laughing, which made the whole thing even funnier because it was one of those awkward "Oh my god, why am I the only one laughing at this?" moments. She became more and more uncomfortable with me laughing like a lunatic at Murray's wildly inappropriate jokes until she turned to me and said, "You're a horrible person!" stormed out of the theater and took the Metro home. My father has since taken to referring to the incident (with no small amount of joy, I might add) as "Scrooged-gate."
"Serendipity" (2001) — Oh, man, this is the big guilty pleasure on the list. I was so terrified of the potential fallout among my guy friends that I hesitated to include it. Really, just a magical movie: beautifully filmed and beautifully acted. I like movies where it is obvious that care and thought went into making them, and "Serendipity" is one of those movies. It's a classic example of a movie that is better than it needs to be. Too often, I feel that romantic comedies are just slapped together without any real thought or effort. "Serendipity" feels like a movie people cared about. And, more to the point, it's a movie I care about. Bonus points for John Cusack's mullet in the prologue and for being the last movie where Jeremy Piven had to caddy for Cusack. It was a great run, but Jeremy needed to move on.
Honorable mentions: "Bowfinger," "The Big Bounce," "Flirting With Disaster," "Heist," "What Planet Are You From?", "Gung Ho" (Kazihiro always cracks me up).
Ray Gustini is a freshman majoring in political science and history. He can be reached for question or comment at [email protected].
