Are Family Films Making a Comeback?

Remember how Jeff Daniels crawled out of the movie screen and into the theatre in The Purple Rose of Cairo? As I watched Dan in Real Life a few weeks ago, I wanted to do the same thing--in reverse. So real, so endearing, so inviting is life with the Burns family that I wanted to teleport myself right into their living room. I don't endorse many things, but you have to see this film. Take your children. Take your mother. You can even take your grandmother; if there's a profane word, I don't remember it. (And if there was one, Nana Burns probably smacked whoever said it with a wooden spoon.)

The purity this film offers isn't the cotton candy, sweetness and light, all's well in the world variety. It's a this-is-how-normal-families-who-care-about-each-other-behave kind of reality that rarely shows up on screen. Somewhere between the nastiness of Arrested Development and the saccharine of The Brady Bunch, there's a happy medium of family life with which most of us can identify. Director Peter Hedges has nailed it. These people have problems, but instead of pulling out a weapon, an illegal substance, or a stream of expletives, they actually WORK THINGS OUT. What a concept!

And now comes August Rush, which is a tad heavier on the saccharine, although the music score more than makes up for it. (If there's a budding musician in your family, this is required viewing, and if you like happy endings, you're in for a real treat.) Granted, the story line's pretty implausible, and most of the bad things that would befall a youngster alone on the streets don't, but I give director Kirsten Sheridan lots of points for creating a family-friendly film that's inspiring, uplifting, profanity-free, and worth the nine bucks it cost me to see it (the latter all too rare an occurrence). And while the two main characters do engage in a single act of unprotected, unmarried sex (which we happily do not see), the result is the consequence every parent warns about.

Is this a fluke? Two movies in a month with worthwhile plots, quality acting, believable dialogue, and NO swearing, sex, or violence? Could it be--gasp!--that Hollywood has finally figured out there's an actual market for intelligent, non-offensive films? Frankly, I think that's too much to hope for, so I urge you to pile Grandma and the kiddies in the car ASAP and prove the point by buying tickets--lots and lots of them...send everyone you know whose ears are numb and who's definition of "acceptable" has been stretched to the max--to these two movies. With luck, there are more to follow.

Excuse me?????

Well, I was excited about ol' Whoopi coming on board to liven things up at "The View," till she kicked things off by suggesting that we Southerners view dogfighting as just another one of those regional idiosyncracies. Hello??????? How many dogfights have you and your girlfriends hosted lately? My gal pals and I keep meaning to, but...oh, that's right, we decided not to...since that's a form of entertainment we put right up there with throwing babies off skyscrapers and vivisecting grocery store clerks who ignore us!!!!

I swear, I get so tired of people assuming that anyone who lives south of D.C. still shoots squirrel for dinner every night and thinks Larry the Cable Guy is high comedy. Tragically, I know waaaaaaaay too many people who approve of Larry, but I don't know a single person in my entire circle--and it's a big one!--of Southern acquaintances who considers dogfighting anything other than the vile, abysmal, appalling thing that it is. SHAME on you, Whoopi! And shame on yet another pro athlete who missed a chance to set a positive example instead of a disgusting one. Where have all the heroes gone?

And on that same subject, what is going on with these public figures who can't keep their pants on in public places? We're not going to get into names--we all read the news and my heart already aches for the humiliation the families of these dolts have suffered, but for the life of me, I can't figure out what a celebrity or person of renown might possibly be thinking looking for a good time in a public bathroom/stranger's car in the middle of a major city/pick any other equally ridiculous place 'cause it happens over and over again. In my own county, yet another teacher is on trial for having sex with her 7th-grade students--at the school, no less! Time spent building your reputation: years. Time spent destroying it: two seconds. The word "idiot!" comes rapidly to mind. Frankly, I look for a tad more ambiance in my romantic encounters than what most public venues have to offer, don't you? I know we're a nation in decline, but puh-leeze! Have standards really dropped so low? Are we really that desperate for a random infusion of oxytocin?

Somebody save the children while there's still time.