ELECTION

PLOT SUMMARY: A high school teacher meets his match in an over-achieving student politician.

WHERE TO WATCH: Max

JAIMEE’S NOTES: What a chain reaction of terrible events for Jim! This is the story about a boy named unlucky….lol, Britney Spears song joke. Jim McAllister is a high school government teacher in Omaha, Nebraska and he loves his job. The students at his school have an upcoming student body president election! How fun! Tracy Flick, an overachiever in every way, is running unopposed. Jim and his wife, Diane, become good friends with one of his fellow teachers, Dave, and his wife Linda. Dave’s marriage soon ended when he had an inappropriate relationship with Tracy and thought he was in love with her, icky. Dave eventually got fired and divorced. Jim is annoyed of Tracy’s eagerness and know it all attitude. He also does not want her to win this election because then he has to supervise and spend lots of time with her. To combat this, Jim convinces another student, Paul to also run for student body president., Paul is an athlete who broke his leg and feels like he has no purpose anymore because he can’t play sports. Paul is also not the brightest bulb and very different from Tracy Flick. Tracy is pissed. Paul’s younger sister, Tammy is also a main character in this film. Tammy has a crush on her friend Lisa, but Lisa decides she doesn’t want to “experiment” as she calls it with Tammy anymore and leaves. Lisa goes on to start dating Paul and becomes his campaign manager! This is like a comedy soap opera! Tammy is pissed, so she also decides to run for president. While all of this is going on, Jim also starts helping Linda out with things at her house since her husband has moved out and he develops a little crush. There is a lot of scandal and drama leading up to Election Day and Jim has a couple of the worst days of his life during this time. The election is heated and some shit goes down. A memorable election for sure. A year later, everyone is where they are supposed to be…maybe. But Jim’s disdain for Tracy Flick still haunts him. This movie was funny, a little dark, and very entertaining. Reese Witherspoon plays such a great obnoxious student and Matthew Broderick, I love in anything. Buckle up your automatic seatbelts! (Remember those? I loved seeing one) You’re in for a ride!

MERMAIDS

PLOT SUMMARY: An unconventional single mother relocates with her two daughters to a small Massachusetts town in 1963, where a number of events and relationships both challenge and strengthen their familial bonds.

WHERE TO WATCH: Max

JAIMEE’S NOTES: You may think, man we are doing lots of mermaid work lately, but you may be surprised to know that this movie has little to nothing to do with mermaids. This is a wonderful 90’s coming of age movie set in the 60’s with a young Winona Ryder and an even younger Christina Ricci and……..CHER! I love when Cher puts her actress hat on. Rachel Flax is a single mother of two who loves to date and have fun. Her older daughter Charlotte is obsessed with religion and her younger daughter, Kate is obsessed with swimming. A quote that made me LOL, Rachel: “Ok, how do I look?” Charlotte: “Like a woman about to go forth in sin.” Rachel: “Oh good, exactly the look I was hoping for.” Rachel is dating her boss and it does not end well, so they pack up and move from Oklahoma to Eastport, Massachusetts. Rachel is a little unstable and also gets restless as her and the girls have moved 18 times, but I think she’s a good mom overall. I do love that she only cooks like cocktail sized things and things on skewers, I just love that she does whatever she wants to do. Anyway, we are in Massachusetts and we meet the hot neighbor boy, Joe….who is actually Jake Ryan!? Omg. Charlotte has a huge crush on Joe of course, she’s 15 and he’s 26….a bit creepy. They also moved close to a convent and Charlotte is obsessed with spying on the nuns. One day when they go to the shoe store, Rachel meets Lou, who used to live in South Dakota. Lou is the fucking best. Lou is the light of our lives in this movie. Lou loves Rachel for everything she is and wants to know everything about her. Charlotte is trying to get closer to Joe, making sandwiches and going fishing. Rachel cuts her sandwiches into stars and she gets pissed. Moms on TikTok do that everyday now when they are making their kids lunches, Rachel was way ahead of her time. Charlotte has some weird thoughts; she wants to know if nuns wear their undies in the shower? I doubt it, girl. On a sad day, when President Kennedy gets assassinated and Joe is very emotional about it, Charlotte kisses him and then thinks she’s pregnant, oh girl. Charlotte continues to mature. Rachel and Lou’s relationship grows and has bumps along the way and Kate grows up and swims her heart out. This is one of those movies where there isn’t really a big thing that happens, just lots of very important little events….just like LIFE. There are relationship woes, family woes, and a traumatic event. In the end, I fucking loved this film. I love this family and I love how far we’ve come. I highly recommend watching. Cut to Cher with the credit song! SHOOP SHOOP!

THE CABLE GUY

PLOT SUMMARY: A designer makes a grievious mistake when he rejects the friendship of a borderline cable guy.

WHERE TO WATCH: Prime

JAIMEE’S NOTES: What a film! Apparently it’s Ben Stiller month because he directed this movie and he’s also in it. I need to watch more Ben Stiller directed projects because I’m learning that he makes my favorite things….ever heard of a little show called Severance? I cannot wait for season two. Anyway, that’s not why we’re here! This movie is star studded! In addition to Ben, we also have Matthew Broderick, Jim Carrey, Leslie Mann, Jack Black, Janeane Garofalo, and Owen Wilson! Steven moves into a new apartment after a failed marriage proposal to his girlfriend, Robin. He incidentally befriends his cable guy, Chip. Jim Carrey is exactly the cable guy you think he would be, he is wild. (Maya Ishii-Peters’s comedy idol, all you Pen15 watchers know what I’m saying). Chip promptly freaks Steven the fuck out but tries to win him back. They go to Medieval Times together and Chip installs a free home theater system in Steven’s house. Also though, Chip makes Steven throw a party at his apartment and hires him a prostitute without telling him. Steven is upset and Chip vows to help him get Robin back…..in his own way and amazingly it kind of works. Meanwhile, a great side story, Ben Stiller is playing twin actors Sam and Stan Sweet and one of them is on trial for murdering….his twin brother. The biggest news story going down! Steven again gets sick of Chip’s shit and tells him he doesn’t want to be friends anymore and oh shit…..wrong move, buddy. Chip goes absolutely nuts and tries to tear Steven’s life apart. I loved this movie, a great dark comedy. I don’t even have many snarky comments because I was so enthralled. Jim Carrey is so good at playing a creepy unhinged stalker. And I so loved all the TV references and aliases used. Sometimes I read random reviews of these movies and there were a few people that say they didn’t get it but most say that this is a cult classic and it was very ahead of it’s time, it’s time being 1996. And I tend to agree with the latter…Ben Stiller is a genius.

FARGO

PLOT SUMMARY: Minnesota car salesman Jerry Lundegaard’s inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen’s bungling and the persistent police work of the quite pregnant Marge Gunderson.

WHERE TO WATCH: Max

JAIMEE’S NOTES: I think this is the category I’m going to get most excited about every month, classic movies I have never seen. We are starting with a banger. I’ve always wanted to watch this movie and now I want to watch it even more, because I want to watch Fargo, the TV show. I was six years old when this movie was released so it did not come across my tiny desk. Going in, I only knew it took place in Fargo and there was a wood chipper at some point. Away we go! We meet Jerry, a man who lives in Minneapolis with his wife Jean and their son, Scotty. He is on his way to Fargo to meet two criminals, he is giving them a car and money to pretend to kidnap his wife so his father-in-law will pay a ransom. Wow, Jerry, great guy. Also, I don’t think we ever learn why Jerry needs this money so badly. Everyone is soooo Minnesotan in this movie. The accents are deeply Minnesotan. And guess what, Scotty doesn’t care about anything, he just wants to play fucking hockey, like a good little Minnesotan boy. The staged kidnapping takes place and things get super out of hand very quickly. And Jerry is a dumbass through it all, he doesn’t want to call the police and is trying to convince his father-in-law, Wade, to give him the ransom money. He’s just so not good at this. At one point Wade says that Jerry can’t do anything right and I wholeheartedly agree. We also have Marge, a very pregnant police chief, who is investigating the many crimes that take place. And Marge is a badass bitch, also the most polite because Minnesotan. This movie is just basically showcasing how a really dumb and not thought out at all plan breaks down and how Marge puts it all together. And…..yes there is a wood chipper, woof. Overall, what a movie! A good alternate title would be, how Jerry fucks up everyone’s lives. If you can’t tell, Jerry sucks. Seriously though, enjoy Minnesota in 1996, it’s delightful.