Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Casper the emotional dagger


Friendly Ghosts and pregnancy hormones do not mix


Casper
the movie was on TV tonight. You already know this because you all TiVoed it, don't lie. We watched it with Gianni because it is a fairly non-sucky kid movie, as these things go. I know this because I've already seen it. Oh, yes I have. About 3.7 years ago, Casper the Friendly Ghost nearly did me in.

At the time, I was pregnant with Tea and desperate to veg out with some premium channels. Casper was the best thing on (sad, isn't it? Somehow I just wasn't up for the HBO world premiere of Catwoman.)

So I watched our favorite friendly ghost in his first feature film, got into the plot (believe me, they packed a lot of nuance into those other three mean ghosts). Ninety minutes later, Rick came in to find me on the couch, sobbing my eyes out at the heart-tugging ending. Goes without saying that I will never, ever live that down. I hadn't cried so hard since I watched Babe 2: Pig in the City when I was pregnant with Gianni. Or as my friend Marjorie refers to it, "The Shoah of talking pig movies."

A week later, my friend Miranda, who was also pregnant, told me that she had a hard time sitting through Hotel Rwanda. I told her, "I lost it at the end of Casper the Friendly Ghost. I don't think Hotel Rwanda is on my dance card."

Anyway--we watched it tonight and I sat through the ending and realized, oh my god, I was a hormonal idiot. I mean, not even the slightest bit heart-tugging. I think Gianni and Tea actually stopped watching to do their taxes during that part of the movie. It's amazing what a little pregnancy can do to a body.

Imagine what would have happened if Casper were haunting the Hotel Rwanda. I never would have made it.

2 comments:

Marjorie said...

awesome idea. i'm seeing a remake of hotel rwanda with casper, a noble white guilt-ridden ghost, running the hotel, and wendy the good little witch as his hot love interest (can we make her black, so it's even more love-that-cannot-be, yearning, etc? is halle berry available?) . having our lead be white (albeit ghostly/dead) will obv make the film more palatable to mainstream audiences -- cf noble white guys in mississippi burning, cry freedom, a world apart, etc. just like you can only play gay if you're tom hanks or kevin kline. ghost is the new black! i smell oscar!

Julie Polito said...

brilliant! i'll have my agent set up the pitch meeting.