Mad Money

Saw "Mad Money" yesterday with my movie buddy. It was either that or "27 Dresses" which was described as predictable, so Queen Latifah it was! I really like her.

These three women steal gobs of money from the Fed over the course of three years, and then Jackie's boyfriend does something to arouse the interest of the IRS. The end does a little left-right dance, which I love. Predictable is for Disney movies.

Things get goin' pretty quickly, and Diane Keaton is fabulous as a wife whose life has been devoted to family and social activities up until now. She's one classy act. Queen Latifah takes off from there in a realistic performance as a money shredder and a single mom. Her acting skills are the real plus sized assets here! Katie Holmes is adorable as the young married cart pusher of the shredder-destined cash.

We have our free popcorn (thank you, Regal), there's this good, fun acting, and then there's the high drama of the crisis playing out. I do NOT like that part! I am so uncomfortable during that part! At home I can get up and watch on from the kitchen, which distances me physically from the TV and somehow helps. I was stuck there though. I changed positions, looked away, tried to think of the technical aspects of film making (something that almost always helps), waited patiently for it to be over, but ultimately failed miserably to "enjoy" the movie at that point. It's not like a book where I can skip ahead and see how it all turns out and thereby comfort myself in order to make it through the hard part. Or a DVD where I can jump to the last chapter to see if all this suffering is going to be worth enduring. I do not do well being held captive by dramatic tension, and yet here I am paying for it!

I know that the formula works of peace, problem, crisis, climax, and then resolution. That is the formula God Himself thought up and recorded. The emotions are just SO difficult to endure though--I don't care what story is being told. Obviously, a story without tension is beyond bland, but I don't know what to do with myself in the playing out of the struggle. I am so used to being able to distract, dilute, or dodge, that to sit there and take it is akin to water boarding--I find I cannot breathe.

NOW.............. what to do with this discovery........