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Mar
04
I WANT TO TAKE THE STAIRS AND EAT CHEESE?
Posted by: Michelle Menough in Music & Entertainment

Chicago is the setting of two offbeat romantic comedies recently released on DVD. Hannah Takes the Stairs and I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With are both quirky little stories of rather odd leading characters looking for love in the Windy City.

In Hannah Takes the Stairs we follow Hannah, played by Greta Gerwig, who resembles a young Chloe Sevigny (from her Kids days), while she struggles to find herself through her work and various male counterparts. The film leaves you with the feeling that Hannah will not end up with any of the guys that she dates. Even the final scene, with her and her office romance, sitting in the bathtub playing their trumpets, leaves one with the sense that like the audience and this movie, Hannah will easily move to the next thing that captures her attention. Greta Gerwig, Hannah, serves as a co-writer of this story. Also, the camera work of Hannah Takes the Stairs feels very intimate as if you are watching a much cooler version of The Hills. I like to think that Hannah is the working gals’ version of Lauren Conrad.

I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With features Jeff Garlin of Curb Your Enthusiasm fame as a comically endearing, overweight, late 30’s man living with his mother. Garlin plays the self-deprecating fellow quite well and Bonnie Hunt and Sarah Silverman play the sugar and spice versions of his love interests. Although, there was nothing offensive about the film, there was not much original about it either. The overweight funny guy who makes up for his negatives with the positivity of laughter has been overdone. Also, I found the name of the movie to be just a little much. Okay, we get it. You want someone to love. To every George Costanza and every character ever played by John Candy, Jeff Garlin hasn’t made much of a stretch with his out of work actor, James Aaron in I Want Someone to Eat Cheese. I just wish the laughs had been more consistent and I had seen Ernest Borgnine in the movie Marty, which James Aaron is slightly obsessed. Well, maybe Marty will be my next movie about a man living with his mother.
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Comments:
Jette on March 17th, 2008 at 3:37 pm #

Another film recently released on DVD, and along the same lines as “Hannah” (although not set in Chicago), is “Quiet City.” (It’s on a double-DVD with another of Aaron Katz’s films, “Dance Party USA.”) “Quiet City” is a beautiful-looking film with a sweet story about a young woman’s visit to New York City. “Hannah” director Joe Swanberg has a small role as a coleslaw-loving neighbor. Definitely worth a rental.

michelle menough on March 17th, 2008 at 8:32 pm #

Jette–If you enjoyed HANNAH TAKES THE STAIRS and want to see more work by director Joe Swanberg, NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS had it’s world premiere this month at SXSW. Here is a synopsis:

Mattie and James are in love. But too many mornings and too many miles apart have taken a toll on them. As they struggle with the distance between New York and Chicago, their visits become reminders of the difficulties, not the pleasures, of their relationship. Joe Swanberg and Greta Gerwig follow HANNAH TAKES THE STAIRS with this intimate portrayal of longing and confusion. This time Swanberg co-stars with Gerwig, and Gerwig co-directs with Swanberg, creating a film that resonates deeply and leaves scars that fade but can’t heal.

WORLD PREMIERING AT THE 2008 SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST FILM FESTIVAL
Sunday, March 9 - Austin Convention Center - 9:45PM
Tuesday, March 11 - Alamo Ritz 1 - 9:00PM

Hopefully it comes to a theater here–or, maybe we will be able to rent on DVD soon. I am going to check out QUIET CITY. Sounds like a movie I will enjoy…

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