Prep School Jewels and a Few Funny Flicks

 Mr. Mushroom Necklace

Sweater: So, Kohl's

Skirt: Marilyn Monroe, Macy's

Shoes: Christian Siriano for Payless

Bag: Marshalls

Jacket: Gap Outlet

Sunglasses: Rampage, Boscov's

 Heart Hodgepodge Necklace

Sweater: Arizona Jeans, JCPenney

Skirt: Ellen Tracy, JCPenney

Shoes: Candie's, Kohl's

Bag: Bisou Bisou, JCPenney

Jacket: Gap Outlet

Sunglasses: Relic, Kohl's

 Hits the Spot Teapot Necklace

Sweater: Macy's

Skirt: Stoosh, Macy's

Shoes: Rocket Dog, DSW

Bag: Princess Vera, Kohl's

Jacket: Mossimo, Target

Belt: Wet Seal

Sunglasses: JCPenney

 Start My Heart Necklace

Dress: Macy's

Shoes: Payless

Bag: Marshalls

Coat: Candie's, Kohl's

Belt: Wet Seal

Sunglasses: Rampage, Boscov's

Nothing says back to school like a big old mess of plaid. Even if September is long gone and my Moon Dreamers lunchbox is decorating a landfill. Still, January is as good a time as any to "Schoolhouse Rock" your style (whether you're angling for the honor roll, a social security check, or something in between), especially in this, the first month (and post!) of the year. And few things say schoolgirl like hearts. You know. Dotting i's in passed notes and notebooks, dominating drugstore-issue valentines, and popping up on post-study sesh pendants.

Ah, pendants. And barrettes. And Koosh balls. And, at least before they were banned, those snappy neon slap bracelets. When I was a kid, I lived to spend my allowance on all this and more at Afterthoughts and Claire's Boutique. Truth be told, I still have some of it! (Not the slap bracelets, though; safety first, people.)

Which is just one of the reasons I so enjoyed the Tina Fey-Amy Poehler extravaganza Sisters, an homage to 1980s kitsch -- and house parties -- as told through the story of the sisters Ellis. Fey plays freewheeling beautician and single-mom Kate to Poehler's divorced do-gooder nurse Maura, and the results are hilarious. When we meet Fey, she's giving Chris Parnell a heinous eyebrow wax; when we meet Poehler, she's giving sunscreen to a hobo who turns out to be a construction worker. Yet they're forced to put aside their differences when they find out that their parents (Dianne Wiest and Josh Brolin, just like on CBS's "Life in Pieces"!) are -- sigh -- selling their childhood home. They promptly meet up in Orlando and embark upon an epic bedroom-cleaning sequence that highlights Kate's wild child and Maura's geek girl personas in an awesome outpouring of lava lamps, trolls, feather boas, headbands, scrunchies, colorblock sweatshirts, and, that star of all such montages, diaries. (Kate's chronicles X-rated escapades whereas Maura's recounts episodes in rock tumbling. Nuff said.) Like many a repressed heroine before her, Maura is desperate to, as she puts it, "let her freak flag fly," and Kate conspires to help her by throwing a kick-ass rager cleverly coined Ellis Island Revamped, where she can chat up nice guy neighbor James (Ike Barinholtz, a.k.a. kooky nurse Morgan on "The Mindy Project"). Never mind that a stuck-up couple (the wife's wardrobe is 70% dry clean only, a sure barometer of yuppie-dom if ever there was one) has already purchased the house. Kate will stay sober so Maura can party, and everything will be okay.

Which is how movies work out never.

Before long the Brady Bunch-esque Ellis homestead is overrun with high school friends and frenemies under the influence. So, comedians abound. Maya Rudolph! Bobby Moynihan! Rachel Dratch! Kate McKinnon! Samantha Bee! Things are said, stuff is defaced, and a ballerina music box ends up somewhere it shouldn't. Kate and Maura fight, then pick up the literal and metaphorical pieces in a way that avoids being sappy. Although their personalities are at odds with each other, they have a few of those simpatico bonding moments that happen only to siblings. Which is to say, underneath the layers of Aquanet and eyeliner, Sisters keeps it real.

That having been said, Sisters is something of a foil for Daddy's Home (Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg) which I saw a week before and feel compelled to bring up partly because 1) both are raucous comedies headlined by SNL powerhouses and 2) both feature John Cena, a hulk of a man that I didn't know existed until seeing him in Trainwreck (yet another raucous comedy costarring an SNL favorite). Both were good, delivering on the promise of holiday hijinks, but my takeaway was this: Daddy's Home had a more cohesive plot, but I learned more from Sisters. Probably because I'm a sister. As opposed to a daddy.

Who says comedies can't be deep?

White Night: Off Their Rockers

Perhaps the only thing funnier than Betty White's newish NBC show "Off Their Rockers" is the recent "Saturday Night Live" parody of it in which Maya Rudolph impersonates Maya Angelou (a laugh in itself) and pranks "Morgan Freeman" by putting a banana cream pie on his chair.  Charging into the coveted Wednesday 8:00 pm time slot to save us from the horror that was "Whitney" and reruns of ABC's "The Middle" (my favorite show, by the way.  When will it be new again?), "Off Their Rockers" borrows from the tradition of "Candid Camera" and "Punk'd," putting a new spin on practical jokes by placing senior citizens in the role of the pranksters.  Their prey?  Unsuspecting and often sullen twentysomethings loitering around southern California hotspots and beaches.  Interspersed with blurbs of Betty herself zinging one-liners from her gorgeous estate (or maybe it's just a set; who can tell?), the effect is charming and zany and showcases the go-for-the-gusto-before-it's-gone spirit that illuminates the eldery set.  Betty, after all, is ninety!  Sometimes, when I feel tired or put upon or even just plain old discouraged, I remind myself that Ms. White appears in a weekly sitcom ("Hot in Cleveland"), makes movies (the latest of which is The Lorax), and guest stars on a host of other shows in addition to this fresh venture, all with unbeatable humor and grace.   Who knew that The Golden Girls's ditsiest dame had all that fabulousness tucked under her blond bouffant?  Well, I did.  But that's only because I have a soft spot for kooks and watch too much TV.

Movie Moment: Bridesmaids

I'd been looking forward to seeing Judd Apatow's Bridesmaids for a long time. The bf and I caught the last showing on Memorial Day, right before it was yanked from local theaters. It was funny, a veritable wishing well of wedding planning disasters. The heroine is Annie ("Saturday Night Live's" Kristen Wiig), a down-on-her-luck thirtysomething whose childhood best friend Lillian ("Saturday Night Live's" Maya Rudolph) is getting married. As if dealing with a failed bakery, a disturbing brother and sister duo for roommates, a humiliating job selling engagement rings, a clunker car, and an insensitive friend with benefits (Jon Hamm) aren't bad enough, Annie's new role as maid of honor puts her head-to-head with Lillian's new pal, wealthy, prissy, one-upper Helen (Rose Byrne). Of course, the clunker jump starts the meet-cute for Annie and nice-guy cop Officer Rhodes (Chris O' Dowd), a guy as quaintly charming as his oh-so-appropriate moniker.

I've never been a bridesmaid (well, not as an adult anyway), but everything I've read or heard about the in-fighting, jealousy, and pettiness that plague bridal parties was in full flower in this comedy. Kristen Wiig is funny and sympathetic as the always-one-step-behind Annie. With an all-star supporting cast including "Mike & Molly's" Melissa McCarthy (hilarious) and "The Office's" Ellie Kemper (so like her naive receptionist character Erin), a "Brady Bunch" reference, and an appearance by Wilson Phillips belting out "Hold On," Bridesmaids is fun and, dare I say, heartwarming. (Beware, as a gentle plot spoiler lurks within the next two sentences.) In the end, Annie finds out that her nemesis Helen has her own "stuff" to deal with, and that it's these very insecurities that account for her unpleasantness. Although the two don't become best friends (that would be unrealistic), they join forces to give Lillian the wedding she deserves, reminding us of the importance of kindness. That's a little deeper than I meant to get reviewing a comedy. But then again, even the zaniest, most outlandish blockbusters are built on a few grains of truth, offering us windows into the emotional minefields of our own lives.