Date nights

Aside from all the chilly weather, the hurricane-like rains, and the feeling I'm never going to see our lawn again with all the leaves that accumulate in our front yard every fall, it's been a pretty good weekend ...

I picked up Kates from school on Friday night, we grabbed a bite to eat at Noodles & Co., and took a jaunt to the movie theater to finally catch 'Elizabethtown.'

If you've seen the trailers, you know the film stars Orlando Bloom as a guy who has to fetch his dead father in Kentucky and make good with all the small-town folk there. And along the way he meets the uber-adorable Kirsten Dunst, who plays Claire, the girl who finds the way to his heart and teaches him how to enjoy life. Obviously the movies goes deeper than that -- it is a Cameron Crowe film, after all -- but you get the jist ...

The film is, well, as Orlando Bloom's character puts it when he comes face to face with his father's body -- whimsical. At best.

The trouble is, being a Cameron Crowe film, having high praise for his previous work and all the glowing stories I read prior to the release of this film, I went into it with high expectations. And I left feeling like it was average.

There are some good comedic moments, but the story line lacks a constant flow and drags a little at times. The chemistry between Bloom and Dunst (uber-adorable!) is good. And Judy Greer puts in a good performance as Bloom's sister, Heather. But that's it.

Here are some reviews that put it in better, and probably harsher, words than I could. But hey, that's why they're paid to do it ...
a Review: Bloom Can't Save 'Elizabethtown'
a Despite flaws, 'Elizabethtown' hard not to like

... For some real fun go to MovieWeb.

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Last night Kates and I had tickets for ’Trying to Live … Happily Ever After’ at the Racine Theatre Guild, the first performance in a new comedy series the Guild is offering.

The show, written and performed by WMYX radio host Jane Matenaer and comedian Steve DeClark, takes a comical look at the trials and tribulations of surviving marriage, told from both genders' perspectives in a series of monologues.

DeClark, a stand-up comedian turned therapist could barely keep from laughing as he told me about the play during an interview for the News last week.

"My kind of big goal is people will see this and not only enjoy it but it will help their marriage," he said. "Everybody's trying to live happily ever after, but we don't really know how to do it. People don't want to go to marriage counseling, especially guys, but they'll come and see this because it's funny."

Said Matenaer, "It's really very funny. We've heard things like people were crying they were laughing so hard. I have one friend who said it's so true to life. You look around and people are nudging each other and saying, 'You do that!'"

... in the end though, we all live happily ever after, right?