The Cat's Me-Wow: Doll Face Head Space

Sneaking that princess figure into my last post made me want to show you more of my dolls.  And no, not the creepy, lace-covered, porcelain kind, although I've got those in my parents' attic.  Just the candy-colored, normal kind that every kid -- and forty-year-old -- has stashed in her playroom-slash-craft room.  

Having Barbie on the brain means prime time to gab about the Hulu original comedy Dollface, which recently debuted Season 2.  For the uninitiated, LA transplant Jules (Kat Dennings) is dumped by her long-term boyfriend, a clueless cad who patronizingly calls her, yes, doll face.  On her own for the first time in years, Jules decides to reconnect with her college besties Madison (Brenda Song) and Stella (Shay Mitchell).  But being a girls' girl instead of a boyfriend girl is more difficult than she anticipates.  As is her dubious gig as a web designer for a lifestyle brand run by you-know-what-on-wheels Celeste (Malin Akerman).  Surrounded by the Allisons at the office -- a trio of mean girl yes women who all go by the same name -- Jules retreats further into her self-effacing shell, her dry wit unappreciated.  That is, until one of the Allisons (Esther Povitsky) breaks away and admits that being in the in crowd isn't all it's cracked up to be.  Suddenly at the center of a hybrid friend group, Jules reevaluates her career and juggles new romantic prospects (Criminal Minds's Matthew Gray Gubler and Katy Keene's Luke Cook), making her feel alive again, far from the plastic doll of her past.  

What's more, she has her cat.  And no, I'm not referring to cozy couch cuddles where Jules pours out her soul to some tabby who'd rather lick itself.  Jules has dream sequences in which her cat morphs into a walking, talking advisor, dropping harsh truths in the voice of the secretary from The Mindy Project (Beth Grant).  This cat lady gone loco, coupled with a beachy, retro theme song and Jules's apathetic-rather-than-perky persona make Dollface more than just another show about a twentysomething trying to figure it out.  It's refreshing to see a heroine who's the antithesis of a go-getter in a world overstuffed with suck-up pick-me's.  Not that Jules doesn't have plenty to learn.  But she grows in her own way, to the beat of her own spirit animal, one well-timed wisecrack at a time.

That said, I look forward to Season 3.  Maybe its feline fever dreams will feature a glitter box of crap decisions.  Or, at the very least, a high stakes hairball brawl.  

Movie Moment: Wanderlust

I was excited about Wanderlust.  Mostly because it starred Paul Rudd.  But also because it was a comedy about a yuppie couple (the other half of which is played by Jennifer Aniston) escaping the New York City rat race to start fresh on a Georgia commune.  I mean, what wouldn't be hilarious about that?

As it turned out, plenty.

Now, I realize it's a little early in the review for the snark snake to be rearing its ugly head.  And I hate to be that girl.  But I also hate to be dishonest.  So, that girl it is.

George (Paul Rudd) works in an office doing something boring.  Linda (Jennifer Aniston) bounces from jewelry making to ice cream making to making a documentary about penguins with testicular cancer.  Linda wants them to buy an apartment (er, micro-loft), so they do.  But then George gets laid off and they're forced to sell and move in with George's obnoxious brother and his family in Atlanta.  During the drive down, car trouble delivers them to the doorstep of Elysium, a utopian oasis in a gadget-crazy, dog-eat-dog world.  They spend an enchanted night there, an experience that renders life at George's brother's mansion the next day as even more abrasive.  George picks a fight and breaks a dish and before they know it, he and Linda are speeding back toward the serenity of the commune.

Only, Linda's not feeling it.  Weirded out by Elysium's doorless rooms, touchy-feely psychobabble, and unrelieved togetherness, she balks when George suggests they stay for two weeks.  Yet almost immediately the two do a switcheroo, with Linda embracing the alternative lifestyle and George longing for the square society they left behind (which makes perfect comedic sense, as Paul Rudd always plays the lone straight man swirling in a sea of chaos).  Nowhere is their disconnect as apparent as when George strums the Spin Doctors' "Two Princes" on a guitar only to be one-upped by his wife's soon-to-be paramour (Justin Theroux).  Weirdly, this is the movie's high point for me.  Not the part about Paul Rudd being dissed; I didn't like that at all.  But my favorite actor singing my favorite song?  That was downright, dare I say it, princely.

As for the rest of the movie, I couldn't help but feel that it needed to be either funnier in an over-the-top, can-you-believe-this? sort of way or more serious in a poignant, indie film, damn-that-really-made-me-think kind of way.  I think that's about as bitchy as I'm going to get.  Now that that's over with, I'll return to my happy place where Paul Rudd is still singing.

Movie Moment: Rock of Ages

Rock of Ages is about rock and roll and the people who love it.  Set in 1987 in an LA bar called the Bourbon Room, its inked and studded players laugh, cry, and dream to the likes of Journey, Styx, Guns N' Roses, Poison, Motley Crue, REO Speedwagon, and so many big-haired others.  Although the movie highlights the seamier side of the era of excess, it is, at its heart, a universal yarn about falling in love and following your dreams.

Sherri (Julianne Hough) is the proverbial good girl who longs to make it big.  To be sure, when the movie opens she is literally "just a small-town girl living in a lonely world on a midnight train going anywhere."  Once on the Sunset Strip, her sundress and sunny disposition set her apart, and her prized suitcase full of albums is stolen almost as soon as she steps off the train.  That's when Drew (Diego Boneta) comes to the rescue.  A barback at the Bourbon, he gets her a job there waiting tables, much to the annoyance of crusty owner Dennis (Alec Baldwin).  She's a singer, he's a singer, and it isn't long before they're making goo-goo eyes in between serving drinks.  Meanwhile, Dennis and his right-hand man and very special friend Lonny (Russell Brand) book larger-than-life and out-of-control rock god Stacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise) to rescue the Bourbon from bankruptcy.  But Stacee comes with baggage in the form of his conniving manager Paul (Paul Giamatti), idealistic Rolling Stone reporter Constance (Malin Akerman), and the mayor's wife Patty (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who will stop at nothing to expunge him and his ilk from her fair city.  Inevitably, Sherri and Drew are mixed up in the maelstrom and eventually forced to find out what achieving fame really means.

Rock of Ages balances the badass with the sentimental and even the silly, often laughing at its own overblown homage to 1980s extravagance.  The fashion is fabulous, from Patty's prissy pastels to Stacee's most libidinous leather, and the pop culture references keep the camp coming.  But it is, of course, the nonstop rock of power ballads and arena anthems that make you feel as if you're at the concert of the decade.

Movie Moment: Couples Retreat

After a tasty dinner at the Laguna Grill in Brigantine and an impromptu trip to Target, the bf and I went to see Couples Retreat last night. It didn't disappoint. Vince Vaughn portrayed the usual hilarious everyman, and the supporting all-star cast was entertaining, too. My only complaint may be that the squabbling couples seemed to make up pretty tidily at the end. But then again, I guess they all just realized what's most important in life: having someone to go to Applebee's with. (If you saw the movie, hopefully you know what I'm getting at.)