Change Your Image
grrrlygirl
Reviews
Barbecue: A Texas Love Story (2004)
Brisket tastes good. Pork ribs taste good.
The term "barbecue," as any Texan can tell you, refers to a certain painstaking (nay, ambrosial!) preparation of specific cuts of meat. To Texans, merely grilling hamburgers in the backyard is NOT barbecue. Grilling hot dogs is NOT barbecue. Slathering bottled barbecue sauce on a piece of charred chicken: DEFINITELY not barbecue.
"Barbecue: A Texas Love Story" explains what all the fuss is about, and why at least some Texans (like me) scoff at those who presume to use the term "barbecue" broadly. Overall, "Barbecue: A Texas Love Story" is an entertaining yet respectful overview of a regional culinary art, an art that cuts across all socioeconomic barriers. The choice of Ann Richards as narrator, plus the inclusion of commentators such as Kinky Friedman, was genius, helping illustrate the broad appeal of a good slice of beef brisket or some succulent pork ribs. Indeed, true barbecue is found and appreciated all across the state, from the wards of populous Houston to the isolated West Texas desert.
That said, given what little I do happen to know about the making of this film, I'm a little surprised they didn't reveal more about the making of the meat (referring not to the cooking of beef but the raising of beef). There's a lot more info on the film's web site if you're curious.
Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003)
I want my two hours back
The first "Legally Blond" was fun and vaguely feminist, if wildly implausible and highly unrealistic.
The sequel, on the other hand, manages to be the dumbest movie I have ever seen. And that's not hyperbole. Reese Witherspoon is reputedly highly intelligent, but the plot device that drives this movie is just insulting in its inanity. (SPOILER: Elle Woods wants to invite her dog's mother to her wedding. I repeat: Elle. Wants. To. Invite. Her. Dog's. Mother. To. Her. Wedding. Elle tracks the b**** down, and what she learns about said mother dog awakens Elle's outrage and patriotic fervor, prompting her to move to Washington to push a bill through Congress to resolve the problem).
Sadly, the door was left wide open for a sequel. Expect to see Elle and her dopey husband ensconced in the White House sometime within the next few years.
Dancer, Texas Pop. 81 (1998)
Sensitive Males
As someone who grew up in the area where this film is set, I can tell you that the four male protagonists are waaaay too sensitive.
Four real-life small-town Texas buddies would NOT spend all that time hugging one another and telling each other how glad they are to be friends, even if they were about feeling emotional as they approached high school graduation. Real West Texas boys are far more crude than that.
Small West Texas towns are seething pits of sex, drugs and alcohol (or at least they were in the 1980s and 1990s, and 1970s, and 1960s, and 1950s...) and these kids were rated PG. They hardly even cuss. For a more realistic take on Texas life, rent The Last Picture Show instead.
The other thing that bugged me was that the rich-kid character came from an oil family. That the family oil business was going belly-up was plausible, but there is NO OIL in the mountainous part of the state. It's cattle country.