Day 89- Movie 89. Roxanne (1987)

And there it is. I'm finally caught back up. It took me 41 days to do it, but I'm back where I need to be. I'm going to sit and soak this in for a minute. It certainly was not easy to do. At one point, I was 15 or 16 movies behind pace. The last few weeks have been a furious dash to get back to this point. At one point, I watched 10 movies in 3 days to do it. I've seen so many movies the last few weeks that they are all starting to blur together for me. And yet, at least for tonight, none of that matters, because I'm back on pace. This still doesn't guarantee I'll make it, but today, I have 11 movies to watch in the next 11 days. I like those odds.

Now to the movie. Roxanne is a movie I've seen a few times, but is one of those films I haven't seen since I started keeping track of my movies back in 2001. I really, really liked this movie a great deal back then, and I was interested to see how I felt about it now. I actually liked it just as much, even with the passing of time. This is a unique, funny, touching movie that feels very different than most romantic comedies. I'm not a huge fan of the romantic comedy genre, mostly because it's so easy to make a completely redundant, predictable film. However, when a movie manages to do something a bit different, I tend to respect that all the more. This is one of my favorite romantic comedies.

While Steve Martin is undeniably very funny, I oftentimes feel like his brand of comedy has trouble maintaining itself for the length of an entire film. It feels like he's best in short sketches or in stand up acts. This film proved that belief wrong, as Martin manages to be funny throughout the entire film. This might be my favorite Martin film. He's so memorable as C.D. Bales, a man with a gigantic nose, but also a very intelligent, athletic, warmhearted individual. He's a terrific guy in every regard, but he's plagued by his one seeming fault. I loved that aspect of this movie (which owes a great deal to its source, "Cyrano de Bergerac.")

I think that's true of many people- they are wonderful in so many ways, but have one perceived fault or flaw that prevents them from achieving their full potential. No one is perfect, but you have to embrace your imperfections and learn to love yourself anyway if you want to be truly happy. That's a terrific message, and it is delivered in an entertaining way in this film. C.D. is a fascinating character, and one of the main reasons I liked this film so much. Martin is terrific in the role, and really makes this movie.

Roxanne has so many classic scenes. I love how Martin jumps, climbs, and otherwise defies gravity in such a nonchalant way. I laughed every time he does this. The scene in the bar where he has to come up with 20 jokes about his nose (and actually comes up with more) is one of the best of the film. I laughed out loud when he falls out of the tree. I just found this movie to be so fun and enjoyable. I love when a movie is effortlessly entertaining.

I know many people might not agree with me, but I really, really like this movie. I think it delivers a unique film in a genre that is too often stale and safe. It features memorable scenes, a great performance by Martin, and had me continually laughing throughout it. This is one of those films that I don't care what others might think- to me, it's a great movie. I would give this film an 8/10.

As excited as I am to be caught up, I understand that I still have a long way to go. 11 in 11 seems easy, but as I mentioned before, I'm probably not able to watch movies for four of those days. 11 in 7 is a little bit more difficult, especially when 5 of those 7 are weekdays. I admit I'm pretty anxious for this all to be over. I'd love to have ended this early, so I can go back to watching movies only when I FEEL like it. That's not going to happen, but at least I've given myself a shot to pull this off. 11 days left, my friends...