It’s been a very random few weeks of watching and reading for me.
I’ve continued to be pretty underwhelmed by anything new (though all the TV below is new or newish) so I have mostly been reaching back into the recesses of time.
What follows is a totally incoherent but hopefully amusing selection of bits and pieces to enjoy.
Films
The Cutting Edge (Prime)
I first watched this rom com at a sleepover in the 90s. It popped into my head the other day and I simply had to watch it. A sort of knock off Dirty Dancing about an uptight figure skater and a bro-ish former hockey player trying to win gold at the Winter Olympics.
House Sitter (Prime)
Peak Goldie Hawn. The actress plays a con artist who moves in to Steve Martin’s empty home in idyllic small-town America without his knowledge and begins setting up house, posing as his new wife. Very silly.
The Family Man (Also Prime. Ugh)
A genre of film I could watch all day, every damn day. Nicholas Cage brings his inimitable manic charm as Jack, a finance guy who, in a sliding doors moment, rejected family life for carefree bachelorhood in New York, only to wake up on Christmas morning in a parallel world where he is married to an old girlfriend and has 2 kids in suburban New Jersey. Delightful.
Mannequin (Prime goddamit)
This films get madder every time I watch it. HOLLY-WOOD!
Books
Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
I recently started reading this after years of persistent recommendation. I do like the fact that though it was written in 1952, sentences like this one feel totally contemporary and real:
“I hurried about the kitchen, eating the baked beans in ten minutes or less, quite without dignity, and then washing up.”
I’ve also been engaging in the ultimate comfort activity of re-reading favourite books like Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin.
And I recently started Trespasses by Louise Kennedy.
Telly
Ghosts (iPlayer)
This show totally passed me by. A really sweet and funny series about a young couple who inherit a crumbling country mansion, only to find it teeming with needy ghosts. Starring the brilliant Oregon from Fresh Meat.
Deadloch (Prime)
This dark comedy about a serial killer on the loose in Tasmania started so well - I loved the first episode - but it goes off the boil quite quickly. Worth watching for the first two. You may be less intolerant than I am and wish to watch it through.
Smothered (Sky/Now)
As I wrote here, I had many misgivings about Monica Heisy’s novel, Really Good Actually. But it didn’t stop me from wanting to watch her new series because, as we all know by now, I have an insatiable appetite and low bar for rom coms. Again, this starts well - it feels original, the female lead is funny and the chemistry is good but it mostly fizzles out half way though.
A couple of things to look forward to in 2024
You Are Here by David Nicholls
Coming in April, Nicholls’ latest novel about two lost souls who fall in love on a very rainy walking holiday is extremely British, very funny and absolutely lovely.
Funny Story by Emily Henry
Also coming in April.
Lena Dunham Rom Com!
“TOO MUCH is an ex-pat rom-com for the disillusioned who wonder if true love is still possible (but sincerely hope that it is.)”
The Idea of You film adaptation starring Anne Hathaway
As my friend Alice says, “I am here for the post-Bridgerton era of everyone deciding they need to adapt Booktok hits”.
P.S Travis Kelce Is Another Puzzle for Taylor Swift Fans to Crack by Helen Lewis. Perfection.
See you in 2024!
Hannah
I was hoping for a festive cultural digest from you! I agree re: Smothered, though I love the male lead (Did you watch Big Boys? He was wonderful in that.) Also Aisling Bea is so... I don’t know.. luminous? She seemed to outshine everyone else whenever she was in it. Anyway, it only proves that successful romantic comedies are so rare and precious that they should be afforded some kind of government funding/Arts Council grant to ensure their cultural preservation, academic research etc.
I agree with the above on Slow Horses. I wasn’t totally on board at the start but it’s got stronger and stronger - this week’s episode was hilarious and yet SO TENSE. Happy holidays, HS!
Very happy you’re back! I’ve recently discovered Slow Horses on Apple+ and it is soooo sooo good!