A jolly holiday
So, I went to "The Holiday" the other night. One of those opening night movie premiere type things which are quite a way for a studio to spend money, quite a way to get some nice nosh, quite a way to see a movie for free and — if you're super lucky, quite a way to stand approximately 6 inches from Your Ideal Man and actually get to talk to him for a few minutes.
Amazingly, I did not turn into a pool of melted butter when this happened between me and Rufus Sewell. (I've talked to Jude Law, one of the film's stars, before, and while he is McDreamy to the McDreamiest, he's not terribly useful for actual conversation.) Sewell, however, gave me the Michael Caine treatment and actually looked at me while we talked, did not look away to see if something else more interesting was going on (paging: Law), and attempted to answer my fairly silly girl questions with a modicum of dignity and composure.
Things I learned from talking to Rufus Sewell: He has dark flecks in his light green eyes. And his cheeks are flatter than I expected. And, no butter-turning-into occurs if I'm nearby. Huzzah! Very nice guy, thumbs up, etc. Even if he does often play bad guys (as in this film), any true fan knows he's a hero in "Dark City" and "Dangerous Beauty". That said, I advised that he is much more pleasing to the eye when he has his curly locks and not when they're all shaven down, a la "Tristan + Isolde" / "A Knight's Tale," which pain me. Yes, I am a complete and utter dork.
But this is not actually what I wanted to mention. Back to the film, which as it turns out, is funnier and cuter than expected. I'm not a big romcom fan; when I went to "Children of Men" the night before I had a much more fulfilling time because there's an actual story there. "The Holiday" lives in the kind of fantasy world that wants to construct an A story line where we're to believe that Jude Law and Cameron Diaz could ever have any problems falling in love. The good news is they didn't act like this was never going to happen; the two are bumping butts (not on camera) within minutes of meeting each other, and it's still kinda cute. So, I give credit to the writers. The fact that they can write a Jack Black character who actually works with the luminous Kate Winslet is the best part, but sadly, that's only really the B story. Kate's been toyed around with and dumped by Rufus, runs off to LA to house-sit at Cameron Diaz's place (they've traded houses, Jude is Kate's brother) and meets Jack. But we spend just not enough time with them. They could have been the whole movie.
But that's still not what I came to write about. I am an anglophile par excellance, and these kind of things stick out and bother me. Last I checked, Brits don't say "napkin." I don't know if they really say "serviette," as I was informed and saw used in the early 1990s when I first paid attention, but so far as I know, "napkin" sounds like "nappy," which is a diaper and so … you wipe your face with a serviette. In any case, there's a scene where Jude Law's kids ask him to do this goofy thing and be "Mr. Napkinhead." He puts a napkin over his face and puts on his glasses and then speaks and it's completely romcom but the kids are delighted. Which would all work just fine except — I got stuck on the napkin thing.
Maybe one of my British friends will read this and explain things better to me. It could have been easy enough to be "Mr. Hankyhead" or something (although the South Park Mr. Hanky connection might have been too close), but "Mr. Napkinhead," I'm not sure about.
Who cares, really. It was a cute film, a lovely evening and … Rufus Sewell! Swoon.