BuzzSugar

OhBlerg's Top 5 Movies so Bad, They're Actually Kind of Good

Buzz Community — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 09:30:00 PDT

The following post is from OhBlerg, who submitted it to the Movie Reviews Group in Buzz Community.

Even the cheekiest, cheesiest, or most ridiculous flicks house a gem element that makes them worth your time. You just have to let go. Breathe. And prepare to giggle for at least 90 minutes. Here are five films that I believe suffered unfairly for their poorly developed plots, less than dazzling acting, or unmemorable final cut. I watched them once. And then watched them again. And they were way better the second time around.

Glitter - It's almost been a decade and any profile of poor Mariah Carey jabs with this one. I say grab your best girlfriend, a glass of vino, and watch it again. You'll wince at the lip-syncing, plot and hair, but get shivers from the singalong worthy tunes, Mariah's producer boyfriend's sleeveless tanks and appearances from Da Brat and Padma Lakshmi. And glitter. Lots and lots of glitter.

For more of OhBlerg's picks, read more

Paul Rudd Busts a Few Moves

GiggleSugar — Fri, 16 May 2008 03:00:00 PDT

If you've never heard of the film I Could Never Be Your Woman, you're in good company. I don't know if it's worth watching in full, but I sure enjoyed this clip of Paul Rudd showing off for his date, Michelle Pfeiffer. He moves through virtually every corny dance that ever existed, from the two-step to some weird Broadway shuffle. I love a man who can dance, but I really love a man who doesn't mind making a fool out of himself. (Next to Mark Ruffalo, is there any cuter guy in Hollywood?)

Two Straight-to-DVD Romances, One Long Night

BuzzSugar — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:30:43 PST

Sometimes movies go straight to DVD and you can kind of guess why (sidenote: thank you, Molly, for watching Blonde Ambition so I don't have to!). But then there are those sweet-looking films with some big names - Alec Baldwin, Michelle Pfeiffer, Paul Rudd, Sarah Michelle Prinze - that pique my curiosity. What could be so bad about movies like Suburban Girl and I Could Never Be Your Woman that they went straight to DVD? Well, in honor of Valentine's Day, I popped in these straight-to-DVD romances to find out just that.

The Description:
"Neophyte editor Brett Eisenberg (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is paying her dues in New York's publishing world when she attracts Archie Knox (Alec Baldwin), an aging industry luminary. Soon, their romance is complicated by real-life pressures, including Archie's alcoholism and Brett's dying father."
The Good:
Some of you may recall The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing, a collection of short stories by Melissa Bank that became a huge hit in 1999, and Suburban Girl is based on two of the stories in that book. They did well to maintain most of the protagonist's character (now named Brett): her wise-beyond-her-years maturity, her immense (and proud) knowledge of literature. If nothing else, it's refreshing to see a main female character in a romantic comedy (I guess this is a comedy?) who is not a bumbling fool. She's like a heroine for any bookish girl who loves Dante and leather pants all at the same time. She's not altogether humorless, either - my writer's heart melted upon hearing Brett gush, "Don't you just love alliteration?"

To find out "The Bad" and my take on the other romantic DVD,

The Bad:
With the exception of endearing quips like those, the dialogue is shockingly bad. For this alone, I can see why Suburban Girl was not theatrically released. Some people have also criticized the relationship between Brett and Archie, claiming Sarah Michele Gellar and Alec Baldwin have zero chemistry, though I don't share this opinion. Their relationship is supposed to feel awkward at times, seeing as Archie is nearly the same age as Brett's dad. Sure, there are moments when their interactions feel forced, and they beat the whole "stop treating me like your daughter!" thing over our heads ad nauseum. But I was more or less okay with it.
Bottom line:
I completely understand why this film went straight to DVD but it's not without its charms, and I fervently hope to see characters like Brett on the big screen someday. Also, the movie's soundtrack could make those of similarly billed "chick flicks" weep with shame. It's cute enough if you're a huge fan of these actors.

I Could Never Be Your Woman
The Description:
"Just as Rosie (Pfeiffer) strikes up a romance with a handsome younger man (Paul Rudd), her daughter Izzie (Saorise Ronan) falls in love for the first time - and Mother Nature (Tracey Ullman) can't resist the temptation to meddle."
The Good:
Pfeiffer and Rudd are surprisingly cute together - to the point where I deeply wished the movie were solely about their relationship. Instead, there are a dozen different things smushed into this one film, and it all gets muddled and (especially in the scenes featuring an ethereal-looking Tracey Ullman as "Mother Nature") super weird. There are vague strains of female empowerment and some commentary on the culture of plastic surgery and degradation of women's bodies in Hollywood, but it all gets diluted amidst the rest of the storylines. Still, on some level, I appreciate the attempt to shed light on a culture in which little girls make their Barbies ridicule each others' bodies.
The Bad:
There's a romantic story involving Pfeiffer's character as The Hot Older Woman (at 40) and Rudd's character as The Funny Younger Man (at 29). But then there's the daughter's coming-of-age stuff and her own shrieky problems with boys at school. And there's Rosie's career troubles and her struggles with self-image within Hollywood. Finally, topping off this messy pile is the smart-mouthed Mother Nature who comes around to criticize Rosie's every move. It's just perplexing, and while there are some funny lines - and Rudd is as adorable as you've ever seen him - it's not actually a fun movie.
Bottom line:
The actors are great, but they can't save this overloaded, bizarre and not especially pleasurable story.

Fall Movie Preview: Sweet Romance

BuzzSugar — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 06:00:00 PDT

We may not be getting the crisp fall weather just yet, but we are getting previews for tons of movies opening in the fall. In preparation for this autumn and winter at the theaters, I've broken up the lengthy list of upcoming movies into many small themes for my Fall Movie Preview series. This way, you'll be in the know when the chillier months roll around, bringing a whole new crop of new films. In today's preview, all you need is love - in all its funny and heartbreaking variations.

I Could Never Be Your Woman
I really hope this movie is great, but I have admittedly little faith in it. It stars the gorgeous Michelle Pfeiffer and adorable Paul Rudd, but was supposed to come out around Valentine's Day (over six months ago!) and now it's slated to open November 9. Not a good sign. Pfeiffer plays a 40-year-old divorcee facing the challenges and insecurities associated with getting older and raising a pre-teen daughter (played by Saoirse Ronan, the actress recently cast to play Susie in The Lovely Bones). She meets Adam (Rudd), a 29-year-old spirited guy who apparently teaches her how to loosen up and be a kid again. It looks like it's maybe a step up from The Perfect Man. Maybe. Check out the fairly lame trailer and tell me what you think.

More romantic adventures scheduled for the fall if you

Feast of Love
This romantic drama, opening September 28, randomly takes place in Oregon. The impressive ensemble cast includes Morgan Freeman, Selma Blair and Greg Kinnear, among others. Various relationships are at the heart of this story, mostly focusing on Bradley (Kinnear) and his terrible luck with women. He learns valuable lessons about love from the other folks in his life. The trailer looks like a cheese pie with a dash of trite ("Do you think love is a trick, or do you think that it's the only meaning there is to this crazy dream?"), but it could end up being sweet, too.

Dan in Real Life
I just posted the very cute trailer for this movie, opening October 19, that has Steve Carell playing the charmingly overprotective widower raising three daughters. He's delighted when he meets a wonderful woman (played by Juliette Binoche, awesomely) - only to find out she's his brother's girlfriend. This is one I can't wait to catch on the big screen.

Lars and the Real Girl
A refreshingly quirky spin on the tired old romantic stories, Lars and the Real Girl finds Ryan Gosling playing Lars, a man who falls in love with a life-sized doll. Lars insists that everyone in his life act as though "Bianca" is a real person who he's dating. Yet in doing this, he may be missing out on a relationship with a human woman. Emily Mortimer and Patricia Clarkson also star, happily. Check out the sweet-looking trailer here.

I Could Never Be Your Woman and Lars images source
Feast of Love and Dan images source

Hysteria Director Tanya Wexler Talks Vibrators, Faking It, and Duck Sex

Tara Block — Fri, 25 May 2012 04:00:15 PDT

Don't be shy . . . It's time to talk sex toys! And Hysteria director Tanya Wexler is writing us a prescription for pleasure. Tanya's film - what she calls "the vibrator movie you can bring your mom to" - is in limited release and stars Hugh Dancy, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Rupert Everett. When working on a romantic comedy that centers around the invention of the vibrator, you end up with some entertaining and embarrassing situations along the way, and lucky for us, Tanya spilled all the hilariously dirty details. From teaming up with the film's partner Jimmyjane for a drive-by vibrator drop-off to a certain female Oscar-winner to trying unsuccessfully to get ducks to shag on command, Tanya was bursting with great stories from working on this very unconventional film. And while Tanya isn't ashamed to discuss the sexy subject matter of her latest film with us, the mother of four and her partner of 21 years did have a tricky challenge telling her preteen kids what her movie was about. (She eventually gave them the script and let them figure it out themselves!) Check out our interview with the fun-loving director now, and we dare you not to have a girl crush on her by the end!

TrèsSugar: What were some of the challenges to getting a movie made about vibrators?
Tanya Wexler: Getting the script right was tricky because if you just make a movie about the invention of the vibrator, it's actually a really short movie: you go "bzz" and it's done. And we had a kind of light romantic comedy. I say I made the vibrator movie you can bring your mom to. But some people wanted it to be raunchy or some people wanted it to be more serious and about feminism. People project a lot onto this movie of what they want, because there isn't a lot out there about vibrators and women's pleasure, and we still don't really deal with that topic very well, or we're overly antsy around it. And as a result, people have a lot of ideas of what the movie could and should be, and you can't please everyone. [laughs]

TS: Ha, good one.
TW: It's nonstop!

TS: Do you find sex toys inherently funny or something to be seriously celebrated?
TW: Yes!

TS: Both?
TW: Yes! Yes. I think they make me laugh, and I think that the inner kind of Beavis and Butt-head in all of us goes "[laugh]." You know, that inner 13-year-old, like, "Hahaha vibrator . . . " and yet they're awesome and fun.

TS: What shocked you the most when researching the movie?
TW: That ducks are the rapists of the bird world, and you'll see when you see the movie, because there's a little bit of questionable duck behavior - or awesome duck behavior - in the movie. It's totally a sidebar, but you cannot make ducks shag on command. I'm just saying.

TS: What about the whole history of hysteria being a medical condition?
TW: When I first heard the idea, I was like, "What do you mean it was invented in Victorian times?" I knew about hysteria, but the idea that the treatment was manual [British accent] massage deparaxism - which is what they called it - and, of course, the denial. The most shocking thing is the denial, that they didn't think it was sexual.

TS: Do you think they were really in denial?
TW: No, I don't think that some people were. My college roommate was with her high school boyfriend for two years and she had never had an orgasm. I think there's all kinds of denial, especially with women's sexuality. So the fact that there are young women today who haven't had an orgasm, whether self-induced - which is insane - or with a partner, then why wouldn't we think back then that women wouldn't know what orgasms were?

They would get a massage, and the doctor's saying, "Without a penis, this isn't sex, because sex is about procreation," so what is this? The best physical therapy you've ever had. So once you don't think of it as something other than what the doctor's supposed to do to cure your uncontrollable crying or uncontrollable laughter or whatever, then it's just an awesome muscle spasm. If you don't think women have their own inherent sexuality, then you're not thinking about it like that.

Keep reading for Tanya's thoughts on Fifty Shades and more!

Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Breckin Meyer on Modern Dating and the '90s

Annie Scudder — Wed, 23 May 2012 02:00:50 PDT

Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Breckin Meyer are gearing up for the June 5 season-two premiere of Franklin & Bash on TNT. The guys hold a special place in our '90s girl hearts, so when we got a chance to chat with them, we had to get their straightforward dating advice. And, of course, we brought up the '90s. How could we resist while talking to Saved by the Bell's Zack Morris and Clueless's Travis Birkenstock? Read more to find out what we learned.

How Not to Destroy Your Marriage

The Good Men Project — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:30:42 PDT

We're happy to present this story from one of our favorite sites, The Good Men Project. Today, Mark Tyrrell offers eight relationship tools to make your marriage work.

"All marriages are happy. It's the living together afterward that causes all the trouble." - Raymond Hull

So how do you make your marriage work? Or do you just blindly hope it'll take care of itself?

Think of a hot, successful date with someone you’re attracted to. You have fun, great conversation and more sexual chemistry than a warehouse full of pheromones. You don’t have to “work at” the date because it’s self sustaining. It runs as smoothly as the gliding hand of a classical guitar maestro and you can’t wait for another rendition.

Teenage Dating in a Twilight-Hunger Games World

But marriage, or any long term relationship; well that’s a whole other caboodle.

If we’re not careful, marriage can deteriorate into little more than a torturous assault course; littered with routine boredoms, frustrations and resentments. Couple all that with external pressures and sometimes marriage feels not worth the effort. But there are major benefits to being hitched or committed, other than just a beneficial tax regime.

Healthy marriage; healthy people.

Being happily married bestows heaps of health benefits. You might be forgiven for thinking that if you’re married you don’t live longer it just seems like it but, no, a good marriage really can help you clock up more years (1) and married people are happier (2) even though they don’t always look it from the outside.

But when marriage doesn’t work it can feel being manacled to a maniac, marooned with a misogynist or nailed to a nag. And I don’t care what the studies say, that’s not healthy. You may hear couples say stuff like: “We are making our marriage work!” but how do we do this?

Making it work.

We pay lip service to “working on the marriage” but what is the work we need to do? Marriage vows such as “to love and to cherish” and “forsaking all others, for better or for worse” don’t really tell us how to make it work, although they give us a clue.

Fortunately a ton of research has been done on what to do and not do to make your marriage, or any intimate relationship work. Follow the guidelines here to become “good at marriage."

Tip one: Be romantic but keep it real.

We are all (force?) fed romance in movies and novels. The handsome man gets the beautiful woman. But what I wonder is what happens after our romantic couple ride off into the sunset together? What do they do exactly? Bicker? Moan at one another? Start to ignore each other?

After all that romance, our beautiful couple is bound to have massive expectations of their life together. But when rose tinted expectations clash with day to reality, watch out!

Romance is vital in any relationship. Always seeing the best in your partner helps to keep things intimate and love should be expressed. But if you have been raised on Mills and Boon Romance novels or feel-good movies, then your own romantic expectations can work against the sustainability of your long term relationship.

When day to day life fails to live up to the giddy, heady lust-filled days of the pre-settled down romance people can become angry, even blame one another: “This wasn’t what I signed up for." They find it hard to take the rough with the smooth because they never really figured there would be any rough.

Expectations not diluted with at least a dash of realism can be a royal road to relationship ruin. Your partner may be an angel, but they have feet of clay. You must learn to love those feet or at least accept them a bit!

Get the rest after the jump!

5 Reasons Being a Single Man is Kind of Overrated

The Good Men Project — Fri, 11 May 2012 04:00:47 PDT

We're happy to present this story from one of our favorite sites, The Good Men Project. Today, Damon Young names five reasons being a single man is overrated.

While most will probably remember 2012 as the "Year Of The YOLO" (and by "most" I mean "like seven people"), it holds special significance for me because it’ll likely be the first year since 2002 where I spent the entire year single. I haven’t completed a full calendar year yet - May will make it seven months since the former Lady Champ and I decided to go our separate ways - but because I seem to enjoy doing random anthropological experiments on myself for absolutely no reason (and because I’m an INTJ and INTJs apparently suck at relationships), I’m confident that I’ll make it to 2013 without having to change my Facebook relationship status again.

Three Little-Known Stressors That Are Killing Men

Anyway, if I could sum up my seven months of singledom in one word, it would most likely be "interesting." I’ve met some "interesting" people, done some "interesting" things, made some "interesting" decisions, and, most importantly, thought some "interesting" thoughts. The most "interesting" of these "interesting" thoughts? Being a single man is kind of overrated.

Now, as I stated on the day where I wrote about orgasms, "overrated" doesn’t mean "bad." In fact, as the careers of Tupac and Derrick Rose continue to prove, something can be very, very good - even great - and still be overrated. I’ve enjoyed being single, and will likely continue to enjoy it. But, while it seems like many assume that being a single man (a single Black man, at that) is nothing but an utopic stream of easy popsicles and cold pancakes, there are a few downsides.

It can be very lonely. As a person who wanted to be single, is a natural introvert, and generally enjoys doing things by himself, I’m surprised by how, for lack of a better term, "noticeable" the solitude and loneliness of singledom can be. Even when seeing multiple people and/or having tons of friends, being single means that you are . . . single, by yourself, and there may be times when you want to have someone around but there will be no one that you want to be around readily available to be around.

Then, to add insult to injury, if you’re an angsty motherf*cker like me, you’ll start thinking things like "Wait. I’m a single man. A single Black man. My dad named me after Dolemite. Shaka Zulu is my second cousin. People who’ve never even met me call me "Champ" for chrissakes. Why the f*ck do I feel lonely right now?" which’ll make it even worse.

You have to wear condoms. And, wearing condoms sucks. If you’re one of the 137 people left on Earth who always has protected sex - even if in a long-term, monogamous relationship - just skip this section and move on to #3. Also, I’ve left a plate of gotdamn sugar cookies at the end of this post as a reward for your duty. Please eat them with a gotdamn smile.

If you’re not one of these people, you should be able to relate to how frustrating it’s been to go from condom-less sex to having to worry about having gotdamn condoms all the damn time. And, even if you’re not actively having sex, "Do I have condoms?" and "Since I don’t have condoms, is there somewhere close where I can buy them?" always has to be on your mind.

Also, from a logistical perspective, they’re a hassle to put on, they smell like a pack of slutty balloons, and "sex with condoms" will always be the Mike Conley of coitus. There is always the alternative - just don’t wear condoms while single, either - but I think one Cromartie per generation is enough.

(Btw, is it just me, or has the price of condoms spiked dramatically in the past four years? I was last single in 2008, and I don’t remember a box of condoms costing as much as it does to fill a gas tank. Does this qualify as a "first world problem?" If a Black blogger bitches about condoms in the woods, would Kanye’s missing draws make a sound?) As much as condoms suck, they don’t suck as much as . . .

Having to participate in the dating game. In a paradox so annoying that I almost didn’t mention it today because I plan on spending an entire day on this sole topic soon, I love meeting new, interesting women but I hate the process that usually goes along with meeting new, interesting women. I understand (and appreciate) the purpose of the process, but knowing why it’s necessary doesn’t mean that you have to enjoy it.

The superficial romantic connections synonymous with singledom gets old. Ironically, the best thing about being a single man - possessing the ability to have myriad short, commitment-free relationships AT THE SAME DAMN TIME!!! - ends up being one of the worst after enough time has passed. This actually hasn’t happened to me yet. I guess I’m still in the single honeymoon phrase. But, I’m certain it will, and the thought of this happening is already depressing me. Actually, this entire list is getting depressing. ***Making note to self to make sure tomorrow’s post is about the playoffs or strippers or something***

You start to realize some, um, "unpositive" things about yourself. I’ve been in three long-term - "long term" = "monogamous relationship lasting at least a year" - relationships as an adult. Each of these relationships failed, and my wanting to be single was the main catalyst behind each of these failures. Now, because I’ve always been a guy who did all the "right on paper" relationship things - I’ve never cheated, never physically or verbally abused any girlfriends, always followed the chivalry handbooks, etc - I’ve always assumed that I’m good at being a partner. But, these last few months have made me realize that I have some real deficiencies in the relationship department - personality quirks that have subtly sabotaged each relationship I’ve been in.

I wouldn’t quite call myself a trojan horse - the sabotage isn’t intentional (at least it’s not consciously intentional) - but I’m just not very good at this relationship thing right now, and I intend to spend the rest of 2012 trying to figure out why.
That’s it for me today. Fellas - single or coupled up - how do you feel about the concept of singledom? Is it all the beer commercials make it out to be, or do you agree that it may be slightly overrated? Also, ladies, are the "single man problems" expressed today at all similar to any "single woman problems?"

You're Fired! 20 Signs That a Pink Slip Is Coming

Wise Bread — Thu, 10 May 2012 10:54:53 PDT

If something feels off at the office, you may want to brace yourself for the worst. Wise Bread shares signs to look for when a pink slip is coming.

There are two types of employees. One has a good idea of what they do, who they are, and what position they play in the company. They are savvy. They know the score. They are under no delusions, and will no doubt leave for another job long before they are ever considered as cannon-fodder.

And then there's the other kind. The guy who could get Gandhi to hate him. The woman who spends most of her day chatting on the phone to friends or doing online shopping. Or the nice chap in sales who is completely oblivious that the recent merger means his job is now obsolete. They all have Ostrich Syndrome. They couldn't see a pink slip coming if it was 8ft tall and glowing in the dark, screaming "you're fired!"

You want to avoid being in that second category at all costs. So I've compiled a handy list. If you can answer yes to THREE or more of these questions, you may want to think about sprucing up your résumé and dry-cleaning your best interview attire.

1. Are you no longer in the loop about, well, anything?

This is a huge telltale sign. Suddenly you're finding out about company news from the cleaning lady or the new girl in accounting. If you were formally in the know about all things business related, but now suffer from "the company's doing what??!" disease, the writing is probably on the wall.

2. Did you recently screw up big-time?

We're not talking a minor faux pas here. Did you lose money on an account that was previously bulletproof? Oh dear. Were you caught having sex on the boss's desk with the boss's spouse? That's probably not a career-enhancing move. Unless you're a real dope, you know if you have screwed up. And if you know, HR knows. It may not be the final nail in your coffin, but it's a nail in the coffin nonetheless.

3. Are people avoiding you at all costs?

Eye contact is difficult to make with someone if you know his or her head's on the chopping block. Small talk is just as tough. It's best just to avoid that person altogether. So if people are no longer doing that fun "stop 'n' chat" in the hall, or the coffee room empties when you arrive, then guess what . . . you may be a marked man or woman.

Read on for more.

7 Money Mistakes Women Often Make

LearnVest — Fri, 04 May 2012 00:15:55 PDT

We all make mistakes - we're all human after all. LearnVest shares some of the common money mistakes that women often make so readers will learn not to make them, too.

Some of us handle our money flawlessly, perfectly, brilliantly, all of the time.

But most of us don't.

Most of us make mistakes here and there. We make some mistakes more than others, because of our personalities, or our upbringing . . . or sometimes even our gender.

It's ridiculous, but true.

We've heard it firsthand - from our readers. In fact, we went through hundreds of reader submissions and found examples of the most common stories that cross our desks every day.

Let's be clear: Not all women make these mistakes. Not all men avoid them. But in our experience, these are a few female financial problem areas that can lead to major debt and lots of stress.

RELATED: Are You a Social Shopper?

Ever bailed out an ex? Indulged in a little more retail therapy than you meant to? Or woken up one day and realized you didn't know as much as you thought you did about managing your money? You just might recognize yourself.

Of course, if you don't, good for you. We're just saying, bad money snafus happen to good people. But read on: We'll show you the top seven mistakes women make - and what to do instead.

Feeling Guilty

"When we were together, I let my ex stay with me rent-free until he found an apartment, lent him my furniture and paid for every date because I had a job and he didn't. When I lost my job, he paid for my rent for a few months and bills, etc. Now that we're broken up, he wants me to pay him back for the rent he insisted on covering. I am still on unemployment and barely getting by. I feel so guilty because we didn't end up as the forever couple and while I can't (nor would I . . . ) calculate all of my assistance getting him settled in NYC, he can quite easily."

A 2011 study from Eversave.com found that 67% of women have felt guilt about a purchase. But that's not the only opportunity for guilt: There's also staying in a job you feel guilty about abandoning, giving someone money because you feel guilty about their situation and, oh, doing the opposite of what you want when it comes to working after having children because you feel guilty about being a good mom (more on that here).

This guilt effect might not be limited to finances, either. Some studies suggest that women are more inclined than men to feel any kind of guilt. And we'd argue, more likely to bail out their exes, too.

Read on for more.