Last night, we noodled around on Amazon Prime, looking for a movie to watch. I suggested To Catch a Thief. Adam countered with A Simple Plan. Stalemate.
"What about Ordinary People?"
I had never seen the film, being too young when it came out (1980) to be interested in the story of a suicidal young man coping with the death of his brother. And as I grew older, I also grew weary of people telling me I looked like Timothy Hutton. It happened a lot in my early 20s. Eventually, I came across a clip from the film, and I could see what people saw—not an exact resemblance, to be sure, but a similarity in coloring and youthfulness.
That faded over time, for better and for worse, and it's been many years since anyone has mentioned a resemblance—which suits me fine, because I wouldn't argue that Hutton has grown more attractive. (A footnote: Older people would first bring up Timothy Hutton, and then invariably follow it with, "Actually, you look more like his father, Jim Hutton." He's the one in the suit in this clip from 1960's The Honeymoon Machine.)
As with so many movies we watch at home, I pulled the ripcord halfway through. Ordinary People was so wooden and dated, a TV movie of the week centered on the non-issue of whether therapy might be good for a mentally troubled person and blaming the ice queen of a mother. Plus, Hutton's character was supposed to be a swimmer, and he was terrible at it! He raised his head straight up out of the water to breathe! While Adam kept watching, I cleaned up in the kitchen and prepared for bed. His perseverance was rewarded.
"It's her!" he yelled. "I know it is! I'd recognize that smile anywhere! She's so beautiful!" I wasn't sure, so I checked. He was right: The role of Jeannine is played by Elizabeth McGovern, whom Adam adores from "Downton Abbey."
That's the pattern of almost everything we watch: I get bored and bail, and Adam offers running commentary. The announcements were particularly good during "Elite," a soapy Spanish show about a murder among fancy high-school students:
"Allison Parker is a slut!"
"The tennis player and Omar are making out! And much more!"
"Allison Parker has HIV!"
"Rio is in a three-way! With Polo and that mean girl!"
"OH MY GOD ALLISON PARKER IS PREGNANT!"
It was far more entertaining than the show itself, especially because Allison Parker and Rio weren't even the characters's names; they were characters the actors played in "Money Heist," which we were watching simultaneously.
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Speaking of "Money Heist," for the Halloween party this weekend, we're dressing up as thieves from the show. It sort of works with the Saints & Sinners theme, because they might be good and they might be bad. And if no one knows what we're supposed to be, that's fine, too: The costumes are spooky enough on their own, and it'll give us something to talk about.