Simple Recipe for an Oscar-Nominated 90's Movie & content recs!
Or, so I watched "Fried Green Tomatoes".
My husband was traveling this week which meant only one thing: I streamed even more indulgent content than usual. Because if a tree falls in the forrest, and no one is home to see you watch premium programming, why not binge “The Valley” and a bunch of campy 90’s films you never got around to watching? Exactly. And so…
Simple Recipe for an Oscar Nominated 90’s Film:
Pre-heat oven to 425. Take cheese of choice out the fridge and bring to room temp — because this is going to get chee-ZZy.
Ingredients:
1 Cup Kathy Bates. (wig optional, but strongly encouraged. In this movie, her character transitions from a love-starved housewife with a CURLY wig, to a no-nonsense Mary-Kay cosmetics saleswoman with a STRAIGHT wig. A hero’s journey if I’ve ever known one)
1 Cup wise, sweet little old lady who doesn’t know she’s losing her house.
4 Tablespoons extremely sad and needlessly upsetting anecdote involving a horrible accident.
1 Handful of Chris O’Donnell — he’s in the film for about 5 minutes yet graces the opening credits as if this is his Raging Bull. A true sign of the early 90’s times.
4 Cups of a love that dare not speak it’s name. The main characters (above) are one million percent in love, and even say so in open court, but it’s also 1991 (and most of the story takes place in the 20’s), so they are officially just “soulmates”.
1 Scoop bad guy who is, like, REALLY bad. Ruth (Marie Louise Parker)’s husband not only hits her, he hits her while pregnant, tries to steal her baby, AND is in the KKK! Jesus. No antihero here.
2-3 Teaspoons of a ridiculous depiction of poverty. The other main character, Idgie, refuses societal female standards of behavior and opts to play poker and hit baseballs in the “River Club”. OK, all that is fine. But the depiction of said degenerate river club is so over-the-top — dirty faces, random fights, and hair that is FAR from combed, it’s like a UCB sketch about Dickensian orphans who open a bar.
Mix all ingredients and bake 9-12 minutes. Top with Southern accents for at least 99% of the cast, and enjoy!
What else…what else?
Mixing the format up a little this week.
Favorite joke I heard this week: I’m paraphrasing a bit but something to the effect of, “[RFK, jr. wants to be our next president], but like his vaccine card says, he hasn’t got a shot.” — Colin Jost & writers @ Saturday’s White House Correspondence Dinner.
Zero political agenda here, just good, clean wordplay. We love it! See Biden’s full rebuttal at “Nerd Prom” here.
Something to read: I’ve been reading Burn Book by Kara Swisher, her voicy tell-all about the various tech scions she’s interacted with during her decades covering the tech beat. Don’t get me wrong, I’m also reading the aforementioned Funny Story by Emily Henry, because sometimes a girl needs to keep 👏 it 👏 light 👏, and because Swisher’s arrogance can be a little much after 20 pages or so (99% of the anecdotes end with her boldly telling a young Bezos/Musk/Page wild “the emperor has no clothes and AOL will turn to dust-type,” predictions that, if true, make her better than Nostradomus and AI combined.
Something to watch: Ron Howard’s family-friendly hit that spawned a dozen failed pilots, Parenthood (1989) is on Netflix, as is Steve! (Martin) on Apple+. I never saw it, and find it so far to be amusing, choc-full of 1989’s top comedy names (+Keanu Reeves!), andddd there is definitely at least one scene that doesn’t age at all well (you’ll know when you see it). The dialogue is a little Steve Martin-y, but hey, you asked for something to watch!
Something to do: My sister and her best friend made a film and it’s premiering at Tribeca! Grab tickets to “Adult Best Friends” when they go on sale 4/30 because this show is hot hot hot!