Americana Patriotic Fuzzy Wuzzy Movies Part I

So, for the 4th of July, being the proud American Conservative that I am, I usually do something kinda fun and/or serious for the Independence Day weekend, as I try to remember what this holiday weekend is all about... sacrifice, determination, and the birth of a nation.

But this year, I thought of something a little different... The Movie Angle.  I decided to do a Top Ten American Films... now that doesn't mean "Made in America", necessarily... it means, Top Ten Films About American, or Americana... movies that make you feel good, movies that make you proud to be in this country, movies that just give you a great feeling about who we are, and that this is in fact that greatest country in the history of the entire world, nay universe. 

And that quite simply defines the qualifications of this list of movies... its about American, its about the American dream, its about Americana... and its not depressing or too serious.  That means that "Saving Private Ryan", "Glory" and "United 93", which are all amazing movies, were not considered for this list, because... well, though they are about this bravery of this country and its history, they leave you feeling a little sad and quiet.   And let's be real--its the holiday weekend, no one wants to be sad. 

Movies that didn't make my list, but must be mentioned as "Honorable Mentions"... "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939), not listed because its been so long since I've seen it, I can't remember it enough to honestly talk about it... "Coming to America" (1988), one of Eddie Murphy's finest, and a great story about the success that anyone can have... "Rocky" (1977), because while a great film, man is it slow... "The Dirty Dozen" (1967), another great film, but still a little depressing with all the death and destruction--great for a guy movie, but not necessarily a Top Ten Americana Film.

Alright, now that we have gotten this part down, let's get to the first five... now, these aren't listed from my tenth favorite to my favorite film, as in, my #1 or #2 might actually be ranked lower on my overall The Dave 100 favorite films list--but these are films ranked in "Most American Dream/Spirit/History/Cana"...

Who else can name anothe Paul LeMat movie?  I can!  I thought he
was cool back in the day.  Cindy Williams went on to do "Laverne and
Shirley", while we all know Opie Cunningham's success

NUMBER TEN... "AMERICAN GRAFFITI" (1973)
I saw this film when I was a kid, and loved it then, and seeing it as an adult, I love it even more.  This movie actually spent a little time in my Top Five Films Ever... now, it currently ranks as my 15th favorite film of all time.

This is very character driven, taking place overnight, following the high school graduation of friends Curt (and his search for the mysterious blonde in the T-Bird)... Steve, and his chick Laurie... John Milner, who becomes an accidental baby sitter... and Terry "The Toad", who just wants to get some alcohol to impress a girl.

You know how DieHard started a trend with other movies being described as "DieHard on a boat!" or "DieHard on a bus!"... well, "American Graffiti" became known as a phrase to describe a film that features a bunch of young stars who would go on to be a famous... this one featured Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfus, Suzanne Somers, Paul LeMat, Charles Martin Smith... all actors who are either still famous, or enjoyed much success for at least the next few decades.  And of course, a very young Harrison Ford in a drag race. 

NUMBER NINE... "MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS" (1944)
Wanted to give something for everyone on this list, and that includes the token musical... I love this movie.  No, seriously, I really do love this film.  Judy Garland was at her young adult peak, and is simply magnificent in this movie.

Set against the backdrop of the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri, it follows a season or two in the life of the Smith family, including Mr and Mrs. Smith, and their children Rose, Esther (Garland), Agnes, Tootie and Lon Jr, the only boy.   They live, they share romance, like Esther's romance with the boy next door, and Rose's expectations of a proposal from her boo.


What can I say?  I love this song.

Seasons pass, first summer, than Halloween, then onto Christmas where you hear the immortal "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"... by the way, we sing that now as a fun Christmas song, but in the context of this movie, holy crap is this song sad.

But what's not sad?  "The Trolley Song", sung on the trolley as Esther awaits the arrival of her man, John.  I dare you to not feel at least a little happy when this scene takes place, one of my favorite musical scenes of all time.  Bang bang bang goes the trolley... clang clang clang goes the bell...

NUMBER EIGHT... "DAVE" (1993)
Dave Kovic works at a D.C. area temp agency, and makes a side living by impersonating the president at car lots and business openings and so on.  So, when the president becomes incapacitated in a most embarrassing fashion (which includes Laura Linney, who I just adore), Secret Service Agent Duane Stevenson (played by a young Ving Rhames) shows up to ask... or tell... Dave that he now gets to portray the president.

And portray he does, figuring it out as he goes along, trying to use common sense to solve the issues that we see unsolved and wonder why that's so.  All the while, he's battling Chief of Staff Bob Alexander (Frank Langella), who is trying to use Dave as his own puppet to get stuff done and further his political aspirations. 

I think this movie led me to be a Democrat in high school and early college, with the belief that the government can pretty much do anything!  When Dave steps up and says, "I want everyone to find a job, and the government will make that it's job to do so!" 17 year old me was like, "Yeah!  That's awesome!"

I've since wised up, but still look upon this movie as a gem, an idealistic image of what our country could be if we just worked together to make it happen... and if the government could be trusted.  My 38th favorite movie of all time.

Benjamin Martin (l) and Tavington (r) square off

NUMBER SEVEN... "THE PATRIOT" (2000)
Well, you have to have an actual Revolutionary War film on this list, don't ya?  I actually have two, but we'll get to that later...

Mel Gibson was in his prime in the late 90s and early 2000s, well after Lethal Weapon movies had come and gone, but before he reached his pinnacle in "Passion of the Christ" (and then subsequent fall of the cliff of relevance due to recent year's activities), and it was in 2000 that "The Patriot" came out.  I remember seeing this movie with Mikey and Shawn and the biggest America lover of 'em all, The Honorable Revr'n Ty Sharpton Coffey, who I literally thought would walk out of the theater, find someone with a British accent and punch them in the face. 

This is a rather silly movie, if you think about it, but nonetheless, its entertaining... it tells the the story of a peaceful American farmer who is swept into the  Revolutionary War when his family is threatened.   Mel plays Benjamin Martin, who is loosely based on real Continental Army officer Francis Marion, along with other Revolutionary War figures.

The real pleasure of this movie is Jason Isaacs, however, a few years before playing Harry Potter baddie Lucious Malfoy. Jason, with his platinum blonde hair, menacing eyes and crazy creepy voice, is Col. William Tavington, and is ruthless, bloodthirsty, and promises the English Army leader Lord Cornwallis that he will capture Benjamin, but "if I do this... I won't be able to ever return to England..."

Of course, there are battle scenes, and violence and a heartbreaking moment when a church burns with everyone inside, but overall it, its engaging and worth a watch.  And yes, you might want to punch a Brit when its all over. 

"Okay, so you go here, and you there, you'll be over here and..."

NUMBER SIX... "MIRACLE" (2004)
If I gave you a short list of events that I wish I could go back in time and tell my Past Self to attend, that list would include the Miracle on Ice in New York, even though at the time my Past Self was only five.  I guess my Now Self would have to convince my Then Parents to take my Past Self.

Either way, that event was monumental in sports history, and this movie tells the story of the American achievement here, namely, their victory over the Soviets.   Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell) takes the job as coach, then begins to form the dysfunctional team into a solid team, which includes the famous "Again" scene on the ice following a tie with Norway.. I won't spoil it for you, but its goose pimple inducing.

Of course, you know that the Americans beat the Russians in a semi-final game (it wasn't the gold medal game, contrary to popular belief) and went on to defeat Finland for the gold, but this movie is all about the journey, the struggle and yes, will make you ultimately proud to be an American.  Where at least you know you are free.  And you won't forget the men who died who gave... sorry.  Habit.

TOMORROW, on July 4th... Americana Patriotic Fuzzy Wuzzy Movies Part II, my picks for the five best Americana Patriotic Fuzzy Wuzzy Movies ever... including baseball, lost artifacts, aliens, airplanes and history!

The Summer of Blogging Day Thirty

The 100 Coolest Things of 2010... #60 to 51

Hey... its The SOB!  (no, not me... I mean... Day One of The Summer of Blogging...)

Yes, yes, its the summer and I'm still talking about 2010.   But I'm hoping to get through this list in the next week or two!  So, let's recap...

Basketball movies, SMU scandals and Hurricane Rhett's movie crushes are part of the 100th through 91st coolest things of 2010...  in the 90th through 81st coolest things of the year, we talked about old people with guns, steak roll-ups, and an Oscar winning Sandy B... and then, from 80th through 71st, it was The A-Team, Tron's new Legacy and finding Somebody to Love... then we discussed Hawaii's new show, narcissim on Facebook and candles in the 70th through 61st coolest things of the year...

60... Disney Meets Autism
This is by no means the lesser of our Disney vacations in 2010, its just the first one I wanted to talk about... The Lovely Steph Leann and I decided to treat her cousin Karen and their family, consisting of hubby Eric and children Hannah and Wyatt... the thing to know about Hannah and Wyatt is that they are severly autistic.  I dont know alot about autism, so I won't try to put them on a level of severity, but just know its a pretty big deal (as autism is).

Myself and Hannah, having a blast on Test Track

Cousin Karen actually called ahead to Disney about her children, specifically to the restaurants we were going to dine in and talked to the chefs about her children's eating limitations and allergies.  I was highly impressed on how responsive they were!  In all of the restaurants we ate at, the chef would come out and discuss with Cousin Karen some food options, and at Donald's Tusker House Breakfast in Animal Kingdom, the chef even brought out gluten free Mickey waffles specifically made for the kids.

We had a "disability pass" allowing us to use handicap entrances and skip many lines--I am sure that Cousin Karen would take perfectly healthy children waiting in long lines over autistic kids getting straight onto rides--but it is what it is, and we made the best of it.  Only one meltdown, that being when Jasmine messed around with Hannah's Hannah Montana hat, and Hannah wasn't having it.  At.  All. 

It was a fun trip, though, a good time spent with Cousin Karen, Hubby Eric and the kids, and of course, anytime you can spend money and time in Walt Disney World, its a good, good thing. 

59... SI Wants the Playoffs
I love my Sports Illustrated, and it shares the honor of being bathroom reading material with the latest Entertainment Weekly--that's not a bad thing, or a mock compliment, thats a compliment--and sometimes, an article jumps out that is worthy of reading and re-reading... like one in November of 2011, entitled "What a Concept!  Playoffs!  How (and why) the BCS is Blocking What College Football Needs". 

Its an in-depth opinion on the myth that the BCS works just fine and its a money-haven for college football programs, and how the bowl games are so lucrative for teams that participate... it tells us that

"Halftime entertainment at the Jan. 1, 2009, Outback Bowl was provided by the [ Iowa ] Hawkeye Marching Band. And how did the Tampa Bay Bowl Association, which runs the game, thank the band for that gratis performance? By charging the university $65 a head for each of the 346 band members. According to university records submitted to the NCAA, the school was forced to purchase face-value tickets totaling $22,490 for the band, even though the game wasn't sold out."

In fact, the bowl system, and sub-sequent payout is so convuluted that sometimes a football program actually saves money when they don't go bowling...

"Most conferences pool all their bowl payouts, using the bigger-money BCS games to cover the losses incurred in the smaller games. Thus does the Rose Bowl help subsidize the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl-a bowl bailout system that indeed spreads the wealth. Bowl directors privately admit that fewer than half the bowls could survive without the financial support from the schools.



Meanwhile, the sad sack programs that fail to qualify for a bowl often end up in the best financial position. As former Michigan AD Bill Martin said after the 2009 season, ‘The fact we didn't go to a bowl game the last two years means we actually made money.' "

...wait, success is rewarded by costing you more money, and the underachievers are given more?  Glad our country doesn't work like that...  anyway, I'd love to tell you that you can read this article online, but I had to sign up for the digital version of my print subscription, but if you can find it, its a great article.

58... Sly Blows Stuff Up
Ah, "The Expendables"... a movie I was so looking forward to that I even wrote a preview post for it last summer... and I wasn't disappointed.

Who doesn't love this movie?  Seriously... who doesn't want to see Sly Stallone with Dolph Lundgren and Jet Li and Randy Couture and Jason Statham and Mickey Rourke go all bad-A and 80s VHS star Eric Roberts be the bad guy and Stone Cold Steve Austin get all wicked bad and see things blow up and explode and see Bruce Willis and Ahnold and Sly share the same room and every action movie cliche played up, especially the one where every one on the team is a "specialist", a la "the weapons specialist" and the "explosives specialist" and the "martial arts specialist" and what is the movie even about?

Some crap about a corrupt government and the overthrow of a brutal dictator and so on and so on and who gives a rip.  Did you read that cast that I listed above?  Seriously.  It's awesome.  If you like real substance and deep plotlines, then don't watch this movie.

If you like the nostalgia of 80s and 90s action stars and cheese ball action movies with ridiculous things that blow up and over-the-top shootings and F-bombs being dropped like they were hot tamales, then this is the movie for you. 

57... We Get to See Dixon
Who doesn't love seeing old friends after a decade, or 14 years, goes by?   The Lovely Steph Leann spends a couple of days in Pensacola per month, and every now and again, I am able to go with her.  Usually, its a "drive down Thursday morning, she goes to work, does her thing, have a nice dinner, spend the night, take our time coming back Friday" kind of thing, and September 2010's trip was just like that.

This time, though, I was able to contact my old pal Dixon who lived in the area, and not only were we excited to see each other, she was pumped to see The Lovely Steph Leann--a reader of this blog, she knows my wife only as The Lovely Steph Leann, so for her, it was exciting to put a voice and a personality with the name and face that she sees online.

In writing about it, I said:  Dixon and I have known each other since 1993, and were friends all through college, and during dinner, I'm sure we bored the stew out of The Lovely Steph Leann with our "Oh, I remember when you..." and "Do you know that..." and "When you did that, I..." tales. She was quick to include The Lovely Steph Leann though, frequently turning to her and saying, "Oh my gosh, did d$ ever tell you about the time he and..." to which my wife would say, "No, tell me!" and there goes the story.

The post is called "Mobile Meanderings and Dixon Dinners", and you can read the whole thing by clicking here, and you can even see the link for the first day of Pensacola.

56... The Saints Win the Super Bowl
Growing up, the New Orleans Saints were always a joke.  It took them several decades to even make the playoffs, much less win a playoff game, and though they had some random flashes of brilliance here and there, mostly... well, they just sucked.

But in the last five or six years, they have begun to become a real franchise.  With the 2006 addition of Drew Brees (who left San Diego after being replaced by Philip Rivers, who does not have a ring), plus key players and a solid coaching staff not including anyone named Ditka, it came together... they did have two straight disappointing seasons in 2007 and 2008, going 7-9 and 8-8 respectively, but made the NFC title game a season later.  And in the 2009 season, they began to roll... and roll they did, into the playoffs, into January 2010.

And after a thrilling overtime win over the Vikings (Favre threw a pick to end the game... surprising), they ended up embarrassing the heavily favored Indy Colts, winning 31-17.  Of course, this was the first Super Bowl in over 20 years that I did not see at least a little bit of--myself and The Lovely Steph Leann were in the backseat of a car, riding with Snow White and her friend, Sidekick Sarah, but we'll get to that later in the 2010 list. 

So, the Saints won the Super Bowl.  It was like the Falcons making the Super Bowl in the late 90s... just strange.

55... Marky Mark Throws Punches
Here's one I didn't think I'd like as much as I did.   Mark Wahlberg stars as Micky Ward, a local boxer from Lowell, Massachussetts, who is managed by his mom, Alice (Melissa Leo) and is sort of trained by his troubled, alcoholic, addict brother Dicky (Christian Bale).

Marky Mark talks to my Hollywood Girlfriend

Micky is considered a "stepping stone" boxer, one who is used to help elevate other boxers, and its proven when he's destroyed by a mismatch that he never should have faced.  He meets Charlene (Amy Adams, whom I'm in love with) and his life begins to turn around.   Things get worse before they get better, though, as Micky sees his beloved brother Dicky screw up over and over, until he finally has to wash his hands of Dicky, while his overbearing mom blames Charlene for their family troubles, as do his seven sisters--in one hilarious scene, Charlene takes them all on in a fight on the porch.

The movie is extremely well-acted, and when it was over, I was pretty sure that Christian Bale would not only be nominated for an Oscar for his Dicky Ward portrayal, I was fairly sure he'd win it--he was and he did.  Mark Wahlburg is probably the least talented of the group of actors he's surrounded by, and he still gives a great performance as Micky, and of course, my eyes were locked on Amy Adams (whom I'm in love with) every time she was on the screen.  She ended up with an Oscar nom of his own (she lost to Melissa Leo, and although I wanted Amy Adams--whom I'm in love with--to win, I was satisfied with it) and did her part perfectly.

I loved this film, and as the years go by, I hope it gains stature and more acclaim.   Does have lots of Boston accent language, with lots of F-words being tossed around, boxing violence along with some real world violence, and a make out scene that features Amy Adams (whom I'm in love with) in some tight shorts and her underthings. 

54... The Good Guys Take on the Bad Guys
When its all said and done, Survivor will go down as one of my top ten, maybe even top five favorite series ever, be it scripted or reality.  And its seasons like the on that aired in the spring of 2010, "Heroes vs. Villians", the 20th season of the show, that makes me love this show so much.

They had brought back previous contestants before, like "All Stars" in Season 8 and some seasons where one or two contestants had a second chance, but this time, they did a great job selecting "Heroes", those players who seemed to really play an outstanding game with integrity--Stephenie, JT, Cirie--and "Villians", those who lied and clawed their way through the game--Jerri, Coach, Randy--and most notably, featured the first match-up between Boston Rob and Russell Heinz, who should have won the year before in Samoa.  Rob was ousted halfway through the game, while Russell made it to the top three.

Now, as much as I loved this season, the reason it doesn't rank higher is that the eventually winner, Sandra, was a prime example of  "riding coattails" and "ticked off the least amount of people".  Some will argue that Russell was robbed the previous year (he was) and also should have won "Heroes vs. Villians" (he shouldn't have )... Parvati should have taken this season, but played the season so well she was disliked by everyone, mostly because everyone was voted off directly and indirectly at Parvati's command.  That's how you play Survivor.

53... Mickey Warms My Hands
We went to The Most Magical Place on Earth in December (you'll hear about that later) and was able to meet up with one of my very favorite people in the whole world, Melanie (you'll hear about her later).  She and her family (again, later), and myself and The Lovely Steph Leann enjoy good food, good rides and good shows, but braved the winter in Florida. 

The "winter" in Florida is more of a "kinda cool", especially when compared to the rest of the country, but nonetheless, it was cold.  And I finally had to break down and buy some gloves.  Gloves are a tricky thing, really, because though they work well when driving, using my hands for writing or texting or any other thing that includes opposible thumbs sometimes comes across difficult.  Which is why when I saw the Disney gloves I am referring to on the shelf, I wanted them. 

And they are the best gloves I've ever owned.  Love them.

52... A Cap Gets Popped

Thank you, Melanie.  You rule.

I'm a ballcap guy.  I don't wear caps much when my hair is short, or when I am wearing my glasses (I think I look uberdorky with glasses and a cap), but sometimes, I love just tossing one of my many beloved caps on my wet, fresh outta the shower head and going.

I have three caps that I wear on a rotating basis... one is a grey Florida Gators hat I bought some years ago, right after they won the championship.  Go Gators.  Another is a khaki hat with a Mickey silhouette in the corner.  Goes well with most things I wear.  And finally, there is the one that Melanie brought back to me after she went to Disney for a few days.

And its my favorite hat. 

51... Bad Movies Get Props
In one of the trips to Pensacola I went on, we stopped at a random Barnes & Noble for The Lovely Steph Leann to get her some reading materials... she usually heads for The Romance Section, and I make my way through the bargain aisle, glancing to and fro, left and right in case something catches my eye, then end up in the Film/TV/Entertainment section.  I will pick up a random book or two and read a page or two, sometimes about Molly Ringwald and the Breakfast Club, sometimes about 1001 Movies I Gotta See Before I Die, sometimes about American Idol, sometimes about Dreamworks SKG...

And every now and again, I'll pick up a book and flip through it and read a page.  And then another.  And then another.  And  then another, until I'm sitting on the floor reading the book from the beginning until time to go.  And this time, I did just that, picking up "Showgirls, Teen Wolves and Astro Zombies" by Michael Adams.  Subtitled "A film critic's year long quest to find the worst movie ever made", it is exactly what it says it is.

A few years ago, the author Adams spent an evening watching the horrific Hilary Duff movie "Material Girls", and after avoiding gouging his eyes out, surfed on IMDB for some information.  He was surprised to find it, at least at the time, to be #1 on IMDB's Bottom 100 Movies, the 100 movies that fans gave the lowest ranking possible on the movie website.  He figured as bad as it was, it couldn't have been the worst movie of all time... could it?  Only one way to find out.

He then devoted the next year of his life, starting the following January, to watch horrible movies all year long to determine the worst movie ever made.  He ends up spending thousands of dollars on Amazon to get such movies to watch, and chapter by chapter, catagorized by month, he watches and details the worst of the worst.  At the end of every monthly chapter, he lists the worst seen that month, then the actual worst of the month... starting in January, and going through December, those are as follows:  "Search for the Beast" (January)... "The Guy from Harlem" (February)... "Superbabies" (March)... "Manos: Hands of Fate" and "Police Academy: Mission to Moscow" (tie for April)... "Grad Night" and "Da Hip Hop Witch" (May)... "Narcosys" (June)... "Hollywood High Part II" (July)... "Green River Killer" (August, and notable because Adams declares this film's director, Ulli Lommel, the worst director ever)... "Black Devil Doll From Hell" (September, a film so obscure that there isn't even any cover art in IMDB)... "The Corpse Grinders II" and "Mark of the Astro-Zombies" (October)... "Big Sister 2000" and "Toad Warrior" (November)... and in December, "Dark Harvest 2: The Maize". 

And yes, one of those movies was considered by Adams as "The Worst Movie Ever".  The beauty of this book is that he knows these movies are bad, he never tries to defend their worth, but yet, still revels in the awfulness of them.  He cracks wise and jokes all the way through it, many times with a "I cannot fathom how terrible this is" tone, and he goes after more recent and familiar fare too, like "It's Pat" and of course, "Showgirls".   

 I'm not a guy who watched a ton of cult classics and obscure films and such, so I hadn't seen most of those movies... though I did come across "Manos: Hands of Fate" online, and yes, its bad.   This book is an easy, entertaining read, giving you the reviews of these films so you don't have to watch them.  I loved this book.

Coming up... training a dragon... engagements abound... and what Christians like... and later, a gritty book becomes a gritty novel

The Dave100... #89. Jerry Maguire

Jerry Maguire, 1996, Rated R. Stars a pre-Scientology-crazy Tom Cruise, Renee Zellweger in her breakout role, Cuba Gooding Jr before he started mailing in all his roles, Mrs. John Travolta, and the underappreciated Bonnie Hunt.

Plot... Jerry Maguire works for a sports agency, gets a conscience, and decides to write a memo addressing the dishonesty in the business. Though lauded, he's fired, with the firing carried out by former protege-turned-rival Bob Sugar. Racing back to the office, Jerry has decided to branch out on his own, and gets stuck on a lengthy conversation with Rod Tidwell, lengthy enough that Bob Sugar is able to grab all of Jerry's clients while Jerry is left only with Rod.

As he leaves, he asks who is daring enough to come with him, and only Dorothy Boyd stands up. While Jerry and Rod have a rocky relationship, as Rod proves hard to please, he and Dorothy eventually get close enough to fall for each other, though Jerry is more enamored with Dorothy's son, Ray.


"I LOOOOOVE BLACK PEOPLE!!!! YOUR MY MOFO!!!!"

Anyway, along the way you hear stuff like "Show me the money!", "I love black people!", "Quan" and of course, the final scene, which brings us, "You had me at hello". And the award winning actor Jonathan Lipnicki, who plays Ray, says, "Bees and dogs smell fear."

Why Its In the Dave100... I mean, I don't know. Should it be? Is it a sports movie? It can be. Is its a chick flick? It qualifies. I just genuinely love this movie. The performances are great all around, even Jerry O'Connell turns up pretty good as Brian "Cush" Cushman, a hot draft prospect that Jerry Maguire is trying to woo. Its just such a fun film, even though its been ruined by the repeated overkill of the now-famous catch phrases. Oh, and beware of "that scene" between Tom Cruise and Kelly Preston. You know it.

Tom Cruise had a string of hits back in the day, back when he made sense, wasn't hopping off couches and wasn't leaving the incomparable Nicole Kidman for the likes of butt-ugly Penelope Cruz. And Renee in this flick is just so darn cute. Seriously. It was also a good time for Cuba Gooding Jr (who won an Oscar for this film, and had a hilarious acceptance speech), before he started make crap, more crap, and even more crap (this link takes you to a film that landed on the Bottom 100 movies of all time on IMDB). And of course, I love Bonnie Hunt.

Oh, and Bruce Springsteen's song, "Secret Garden", is immaculate.


"Secret Garden" by Bruce Springsteen, intersparsed with some Jerry Maguire. See the video here too. This song was my Amy Wible song for a long time... until, of course, The Lovely Steph Leann came around.

Random Trivia... saw this movie on Christmas Day in 1996 with Heather Howell. Also, did you know that Tom Hanks was offered the lead role, and turned it down? John Travolta was also pursued, but really, this is one of those type flicks that was cast perfectly.