FROM ONE EXTREME TO THE OTHER

We went to some cinematic extremes during Mike's convalescence the past few days. Sunday night it was THE 40-YEAR OLD VIRGIN; today we finished up CACHE.

VIRGIN was surprisingly sweet, and Steve Carrell was adorable and heart-warming in the title role. Lots of brilliant support in this one, from the always-reliable and amazing Catherine Keener to Jane Lynch, so outrageous in BEST IN SHOW and who is similarly sly and hysterical here as Paula, the manager of SmartTech who wants to get in Andy's pants. I also loved Andy's little posse - in spite of their quirks and some of their questionable tactics, they really just wanted to help him find happiness.

I remember when this film came out last year, I thought it was going to a Farrelly-brothers style, juvenile gross-out fest; on the contrary, I found it be incredibly intelligent, observant and sensitive about the challenges of finding a mate. Plus, it's outrageously funny.

CACHE left me scratching my head. But it also made me genuinely gasp in a few spots, which is a cool and scary feeling that I don't get too often in movies. I love a good psychological thriller, and this one asks a few more questions than most films of the genre. Nothing is spelled out in the end, to be sure, but it's
a compelling ride. And just by virtue of it's French-ness, it has that added indicia of cool. Nice, too, to see Juliette Binoche acting in her native language.