Monday, December 20, 2010

Reel Insigth Episode 27: Reese Witherspoon

With plugs, listener feedback, movies: some good (Please give) and bad (Alice in Wonderland) and  TV coming a close for the holidays we discuss the finale of Dexter (no spoilers on the finale, but if you haven't seen the first four seasons, we do talk about those spoilers).  Then some debate over the merits and diversity of America's Sweetheart - Reese Witherspoon.  Check it out!








Movies I saw for the first time with Reese Witherspoon:

Wildflower (TV movie - which I didn't figure out I didn't need to watch until I looked it up - stupid Netflix).  But here's a review anyway.  Directed by former Star of the Week Diane Keaton, Witherspoon plays farmer Beau Bridges 12-year-old daughter who finds their neighbor's daughter Alice (Patricia Arquette), is a deaf epileptic who her parents keep locked in a shed.  Reese befriends her and gets the town to help her out - a hearing aid and health help, new clothes, a bath, education.  Reese convinces Alice's mom to let Alice move in with her, since Alice's dad is really abusive.  Alice falls for Reese's older brother, but knows his friends tease her.  The whole thing is very afterschool special, and Reese is fairly annoying.  2 of 5 stars/lambs


The breakup photo Rudd sends to his girlfriend
Overnight Delivery - This was a direct-to-DVD rom-com road trip movie on a time crunch that hits all the cliches (destroyed car, blown up car, no money, getting arrested, loving each other, hating each other, and then of course loving each other).  Reese stars with her current co-star Paul Rudd, and they're both funny.  Reese is a stripper college student who loses her job defending Rudd.  He thinks his girlfriend is cheating on him, and Reese helps him write a letter and take a dirty photo to mail overnight to break up with her.  However, then he realizes she wasn't cheating (though of course she really was) and he has to stop that "overnight delivery".  Reese helps him and they attempt to get on planes (a serial killer stops them), drive to Memphis (dumped the car in the Mississippi) and eat (dine and dash doesn't go well).  I can't believe this movie isn't constantly on TV because it's funny, innocuous and must be cheap to show.  3 of 5 stars/lambs

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