TV Season review: King of Queens, Season 1

This classic sitcom about an everyman Doug and his loving wife Carrie mixes the friendship energy of Joey, Chandler, Monica, and Rachel with the married-couple-shenanigans energy of Everybody Loves Raymond.  I found the writing of Carrie to be more generous than how Patricia Heaton complained about how Ray's wife Debra was in Everybody loves Raymond.  She gets typecast in the traditional wife roles of secretary, chaste Madonna, teacher, voice of morality, etc. a bit, but I feel the writers like her, and give her plot points that make her more likable and relatable.  But hey, I'm not a woman!  So perhaps a more critical view from a woman who is more frustrated by traditional gender roles would dislike the writing for Carrie.  At least I liked her.

The season starts off with Carrie's mom passing and her dad Arthur burning down their house they've lived in for decades.  I was debating whether I should include this spoiler, but it definitely motivates Arthur living with Carrie and Doug, so I decided to include it.  It happens extremely early in the season.  As their house burns down, Carrie's younger sister also moves in with Doug and Carrie, but she progressively shows up less and less, with more attention being given to Doug's boys and Arthur's Kramer-esque ridiculous and hilarious antics.

Arthur is my favorite character this season.  There are many likable folks, but Arthur is the zaniest, funniest, most dramatic character.  Many of the funniest plot lines involve Arthur, and his energy on screen lends itself to hijinks.  I laugh whenever I see his face.

Doug's friends Spence, Deacon, and Richie also contribute to the humor and certainly to the plot lines.  Spence is the nerd, written with very stereotypical character traits; he is single; he still lives with his mom; he like Star Trek; he has read literature.  We also learn Doug and Richie used to bully him in high school, which does raise the question of why he doesn't hang out with his fellow "bullieds", as is more typical of friend groups.  Deacon is the straight man, and the easiest to cheer for.  He works with Doug, driving a delivery truck, though as is typical of sitcoms, we don't see the characters at work that much unless it lends itself to a funny plot.  He rarely gets many objectionable lines; Richie is the troublemaker.  Richie is the biggest playboy of the boys, and was cool in high school.  But even for Richie, we can find something positive to say.  His accent amuses us, as does his random use of the nickname "Moose" for Doug.

On a more practical note, the show also teaches the younger audience members our familial, age, gender, dating, marriage, occupational and economic customs, which is a very valuable way to get all the young-uns on the same page about these cultural practices.

4.9 / 6 Stars

Short Film Review: Single by Thirty

Forever one of Wong Fu's longest, carefully written and shot, and most thoroughly edited series, Single by Thirty is an emotional roller coaster ride.  This rewatch, I remembered that episode 5 in particular will have you alternately rooting for and crying for our main characters, and the finale is particularly moving, as well.  As usual, I am doing my best to not spoil anything or to be as vague as possible when describing plot points so as not to spoil the surprise, but please also do be warned that Phil and Wesley and the whole writing team are definitely putting us through drama knowing who we are cheering for, even though the ending is reasonably predictable, though also very satisfying.

The music is particularly powerful in this series; Joanna has quite a beautiful voice, and the writers beautifully tied her talents in to the overall plot of Single by Thirty, especially towards the end.  The wedding scene is particularly powerful

They also captured a key insight very insightfully; romance can walk hand in hand with conflict.  Most great friendships in my life have been fairly devoid of conflict.  Plenty of other relationships with the people in our lives besides romantic partnerships are naturally sources of conflict: mother, father, (especially at a younger age) sister and brother, landlord, roommate, classmates / coworkers on a project together where the work duties are ambiguously separated...  Pretty much every relationship besides with your grandparents and close friends generates more conflicts.  But friendships are a great space to just bond, vent, and commiserate, etc.

On the other hand, throughout our childhoods, many of us saw our parents argue frequently.  The mental models we have for relationships are rife with conflict, the movies we watch about real life relationships, cohabitation, marriages, etc. are rife with conflict, the famous stories about love are always rife with conflict.

So Wesley and our writers really hit the nail on the head here.  There is a lot of beautiful philosophy in Wong Fu's shorts in addition to normal romantic drama / comedy plot.

But let's wrap back around and summarize a few of the main characters as well.  Our main characters are Joanna and Peter, who were very close friends back in high school.  They bump into each other in their home town again, when Peter is 30 and Joanna is a smidge younger, 1 month from turning 30.  They bump into each other very randomly; our (re)meet cute happens when Peter's good friend Mark invites his Instagram connections to his 30th birthday.  Joanna and Peter have both left romantic relationships fairly recently, and they know each other very well, which leads Joanna to come to Peter's 30th with her new roommate Chloe, who is sisters with a good high school friend.  Besides falling for the main pair, we definitely love Chloe for her outrageous, confident energy and how she and Mark repeatedly push Joanna and Peter to be confident, to put themselves out there after life's rejection(s), etc.

Joanna is a tiny bit of a manic pixie dream girl, though the energy in her disposition is more internal, sensitive, and domestic than the typical cheerleader energy of Avril Lavigne in her "Girlfriend" music video.  Peter, on the other hand, has very introverted, older-brother, risk-averse Asian-American son-of-immigrants energy, and Joanna makes it her mission to pull him out of his shell.

5.1 / 6 Stars

Short Film Review: Somewhere Like This

Wong Fu Productions sure can tell a story.  The last song especially always makes me cry.  (https://youtu.be/IOu0DuxFAT0?si=jYkeOqSehYHshd8n)

This beautifully structured, short haiku of a film reminds me a bit of “Sleepless in Seattle” with the waltzing around the main point, brief moments of affection and tender glances.  So artfully done, not overly sentimental or self-aggrandizing, but perfectly sweet.  Poetic and beautiful, nostalgic and gentle

Anyone fondly remembering their first crush will see themselves in our main characters, and I beautifully fill in the details of early dates that Ted and Wesley have left out, quite a rhetorical technique in itself

It’s all about the feeling the story leaves us with.

5.9 / 6 stars

https://youtu.be/83BxayyVcbA?si=IyeO-lAkL2cfNHig

Movie review: Descendants

Dove Cameron stars in this beautiful tribute to everyone’s favorite classic Disney movies.  We meet her and her lovable band of misfits as they are assigned to infiltrate Auralon prep school by their parents.  Dove’s Mal’s mom Maleficent gives them their assignment, and the poor second generation are left to figure out every detail.  Besides Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos star as the children of Queen, Jafar, and Cruella de Vil

Ben, son of Belle and The Beast, gives them a chance to live in Auralon, where there is no crime, fresh fruit, and beautiful grounds.  His level of generosity and naive faith in their goodness constantly puts him at odds with his parents and the other second generation Disney heroes, and especially the older generation who was personally affected by the villains’ schemes    

But because Ben has so much faith in the Villain Kids (VKs), Mal starts to change, and her friends do, too.  They were basically brainwashed into being schemers by their parents.  But the brainwashing is difficult to overcome; they “relapse” a few times despite Ben’s, fairy godmother, and their other new friends’ best efforts.  

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the production value, writing, acting, and definitely the musical numbers.  Ben is especially likable, but Evie, Carlos, Mal, and all the other students have their moments

5.75 / 6.00 stars

Movie review: Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, and Blonde

The Elle Woods sequel sees our hero moving to Washington DC to free her adorable chihuahua Bruiser’s mother from an animal testing facility.

With the help of her usual outgoing golden retriever energy, Elle lands a job with a congresswoman.  She makes plenty of friends as usual, and also draws criticism because she’s an outsider.  Her direct boss, in particular, is extremely mean and discourages any attention towards “Bruiser’s Bill” and Elle, who is uninterested in helping the congresswoman’s team in their normal work

Although she’s doesn’t have to be as stubborn in overcoming folks’ assumptions about her blonde cheerleader look, in the sequel she definitely faces plenty of obstacles, mostly bureaucratic.  The powers that be reject her anti-animal-testing bill for multitudinous reasons, many stemming from regular old fashioned apathy.  And unfortunately in real life Congress is one of the most notoriously slow moving bodies in the world, with the possible exception of the DMV

But our Elle soldiers on, creatively and boldly finding a way around every obstacle Washington puts in her way.  She has the help of a very knowledgeable and helpful footman who repeatedly helps point her in the right direction, but she is very much the protagonist, leading the team to get the bill on the floor of Congress over and over

She is as likable and indefatigable as ever, and I’m sure you will also enjoy cheering for her as she dodges, ducks, dives, dips, and dodges every hurdle

4.75 / 6 stars 

Movie review: Legally Blonde

The classic Reese Witherspoon romantic comedy made me laugh, despair and cheer for Elle.  And we know we’re supposed to love Elle because she’s constantly effortlessly surrounded by fan girls!  But seriously, Elle’s reputation is deserved; she’s always helping random strangers and is full of beauty and social tips

If you haven’t seen the movie, let me walk you through the plot more linearly, avoiding major spoilers as usual.  Elle starts the movie anticipating her long term boyfriend Warner’s marriage proposal   She is a senior in undergrad, the president of her sorority, and has a great GPA in her fashion major, besides her high profile romantic relationship with Warner

But she’s about to be dealt a major blow, which will soon not be a spoiler, even if you don’t watch the whole movie.  Elle’s resilient reaction to this major life change starts us off, and she continues to resiliently tackle challenges because of how she looks throughout the movie.  Everyone stereotypes her because she’s obviously fabulous, with great shoes and beautiful blonde hair to boot.   

But despite all these judgments, Elle really grows up and starts succeeding in her career due to her hard work, great memory, creativity, perky optimism, generosity and overall likability 

She makes new friends along the way and makes us laugh and root for her

An oldie but a goodie!

5.4 / 6 stars

Procrastination

How has procrastination impacted you? When did you first realize it was an issue/what led to it becoming one? What makes it hard to not procrastinate?

    1.  How has procrastination impacted me?  Procrastination has contributed to me flunking out of : 1st: my first undergrad at Olin college of Engineering and 2nd: my Ph.D at University of Delaware.  I did not get very good grades at Columbia either, and procrastination definitely contributed to all three of these experiences.  

    2.  When did I first realize it was an issue?  I guess it mostly started being a serious problem in my senior year at LASA (Liberal Arts and Science Academy) high school in Austin, Texas.  This was a public magnet school I had applied to get into, passed the IQ test or whatever it technically was, to get into, and did fairly well at, although there were many high achievers in that crowd who "beat" me.  For the most part, though, I consider that part of my career a success; I think I ended up in like the 11th or 12th percentile GPA-wise and got into pretty much every undergrad college I applied to.  While I didn't apply to Harvard or Columbia or wherever, again, I would say that was basically a success.

    All that work did take a lot out of me, though.  I still remember crying over a "B" I got in a biology class my freshman year, I pushed myself perhaps a bit too hard junior year and got shittier grades, and overall didn't really have much of a life outside of doing my work.  My relaxation was on the weekends; I went to ...  I decided here that while some of this narrative background info is helpful for you to feel like you know me better, it also isn't very future-focused or sensation-focused; 

    2b.  I think the real question I should face is 4. "what does procrastination feel like?", 5. "what other external feelings / events lead to my being more likely to procrastinate?" and 6. "when you feel like procrastinating, how can we make decisions that we feel like are more the 'real nathan' or 'best version of Nathan' making those decisions?"

    3.  What makes it hard to not procrastinate?  Similar to the questions 4 and especially 5, a little of 6, too

    4.  What does procrastination feel like?  I guess the best one word to describe procrastination is an urge, or maybe sometimes even a "need" .  When I expect that something will be painful, stressful, or even if my mind just kind of categorizes the thing as "work," the procrastination urge sometimes overwhelms me, just kind of feels like it comes from my whole body at once as soon as I realize there is some work I'm thinking about doing, or some external stimulus reminds me of work (ie. my Google Calendar), guilt trips me (a person).  

    4b.  Sometimes it's not even really a moment of overwhelm; today, for example, I went for some dinner at like 4:30 P.M. and my default choice was, instead of working through the meal as I do when I'm busiest, "let me just go mess around on the computer while I'm eating my dinner" and I started to read some essays from one of my favorite essayists, a Mr. Paul Graham, who also founded the world's most successful (and I think first) software startup incubator.  Paul has a lot of essays which are pretty well known on the internet, and I think he was famous for those before he got famous for funding Dropbox, stopping AirBnB from going bankrupt, and also other software companies you've probably heard of like Twitch.tv and Door Dash.

    4b. cont.  Anyway, in that instant today, the process of "unprocrastinating" looked more like "conscious Nathan's attention realizes he is not doing what would be best for future Nathan's bank account and/or career and/or worldwide fame, so conscious Nathan ought to steer automatic, impulsively-acting, habitual Nathan back towards the activities that would be best for future Nathan's bank account, career, and/or worldwide fame.  So I guess the most helpful practice here is to continue to meditate nightly, maybe also start doing it during the morning, and to make that mindfulness such an intrinsic habit that I notice these split-second-decision moments more consciously and can consciously ask myself "alrighty Nate-o, are we gonna keep having fun right now or is it in future-Nathan's best interest to get back to work or even just take a walk outside, get something to eat, exercise, talk to a friend, etc?"  I feel like I do this to an extent, but I'd like to make these decisions more consciously, even if that means walking outside or ducking into a bathroom and talking myself through the decision more sensibly

    5.  What other external feelings / events lead to my being more likely to procrastinate?"

   Specific stimuli like walking into my bedroom at night lead to the "bad things I do" (as mentioned in question 7, vegging out with YouTube/Netflix/whatever, video games, porn, reading old fiction books, playing sudoku, etc.).  Other events that lead to my procrastinating / relaxing: lunch, dinner, some discouraging thing at work like being ignored by all the AirBnB hosts I cold-message, getting my account blocked by AirBnB, losing a lot of money all at once, flunking out of school, getting an F (or even a B, depending on when in my life we're talking about) in a class, etc. 

    Another stimulus: a friend / my sister coming into my life; normally in friendship situations I just blab about whatever comes to mind (very rarely something constructive or structured about work), hang out and get food or drink alcohol or play some video games or watch a movie.  At least in these situations I feel better because I'm bonding with people and really getting to know them, whereas when I'm alone and veg out I usually feel like that's just because that was the lowest energy state (it was easier to read 30 minutes of Paul Graham today rather than go back to spamming AirBnB hosts) or I'm escaping something

    Times that I tend to procrastinate:  again, right after lunch or after dinner.  Right before bed.  Weekends when I'm alone in the iSuite and no one else is there working with me, when I'm out of town visiting my mom or dad or whoever.

    Feelings that lead to procrastination / are related to work: fear / anxiety is probably the number one.  if I'm afraid I "can't" get the work done, I will avoid that thought and the work.  Even if I just know the process of working will be a bit painful, make me feel stupid / slow / unfocused, I avoid the work.  It's weird because sometimes usually my anticipation of how bad a situation will be is that I anticipate it being much worse than it actually is.  There are exceptions, like when I flunked out at Olin I actually managed to fail every single class, which I definitely didn't anticipate.  And I think the same could be said for my first attempts at my startup, trying to understand nuclear fusion at Columbia before I switched my major to Computer Science, the two most serious breakups I've had, etc., but besides those extremely bad events in my life, usually my brain, in an attempt to keep me safe, actually really fuckin makes me feel unsafe and anxious, and most days when I actually start the work I've been avoiding, that catastrophizing just goes "poof" as I get a reality check and am like "oh wait, duh, I just had to keep moving keyboard keys with my fingers like I've been doing for decades.  And actually, hey, at least this one part of writing this massive wall of text is pretty fun, and I'm pretty smart and have fun ideas and I can get this done and hey while we're at it, it's probably more pleasant to smile through this situation rather than focusing on how boring it is to just keep writing in a silent room when I could be petting a cat or watching Andy Samberg's and Melissa Fumero's characters fall in love

    So anyway, I guess a solution to the anxiety is cognitive and/or the practice of mindfulness.  Just taking a deep breath, forcing a smile onto your face, etc., all of these things can help the guilt, shame, and/or spiraling thoughts surrounding taking a short break or even avoiding the things future Nathan really wants present Nathan to be doing today

    And I think even more importantly, the first few times I actively have to take a deep breath, get away from a group and talk myself through something, or even just silently become mindful and make a better decision will take conscious effort, but if I make it a habit for 21 days, it's unlikely the habit will just vanish, and will probably make it easier to take that action in the future

    6. "when you feel like procrastinating, how can we make decisions that we feel like are more the 'real Nathan' or 'best version of Nathan' making those decisions?"

    I think it's just about moderation, right?  Obviously I will relax at some point in my future.  And some of that relaxation is probably necessary, or at least good for me.  But as I mention in question 7, doing too many hours of any one thing puts my brain in a funky place, and if there's no spiritual purpose or external purpose or benefit to a task, it's really not worth doing it for hours

    So that's where that priority list I wrote out in #7 comes into play; the best version of myself takes a more active role in my daily proceedings, at least until those more active, good decisions become habitual

    The things mentioned in my answer to my own question 6 (a solution to procrastination is cognitive and/or the practice of mindfulness.  Just taking a deep breath, forcing a smile onto your face, etc. can help the guilt, shame, and/or spiraling thoughts surrounding taking a short break or even avoiding the things future Nathan really wants present Nathan to be doing today)

    7.  What relationship do I WANT to have to procrastination?

    I think procrastination is just a part of life.  The aforementioned essayist Paul Graham says "you're always putting off something; make sure you're putting of the 'wrong' things for the 'right' things."  So in my case, the priority list the "best Nathan" would put together is something like:  A.  Startup work  B.  Day Job / funding the startup work  C.  Quality time with deep friendships / family relationships / dates  D.  Exercise  E.  Eating at least enough to survive, +a little healthy eating too F. Meditation G. Other emotional self-care, like making music, making a new friend, or reflecting in a bunch of words like I'm doing right now H. vegging out with YouTube/Netflix/whatever, video games, porn, reading old fiction books, playing sudoku, etc. and 

    Perhaps more importantly, an hour of the veg out is probably fine here or there, but once it starts getting to like, hour 3 or 4 or whatever, it starts becoming this weird self-loathing / apathetic thing where I just kind of zone out and keep doing the veg out task without appreciating it as much

And now that was all good for me to work through the impulses of procrastination, how to solve it, (i didn't cover feelings as much in this little essay / exploration, but i know there are feelings of pleasure, guilt, shame, anxiety, fear, even anger, ego, perfectionism, etc. associated with procrastinating), etc.  But there's also plenty we can learn from others, and writing all this made me remember a great talk I'd heard on procrastination from someone who actually did academic research on it, got data, got peer-reviewed, etc.  Dr. Tim Pychyl:      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhFQA998WiA

Movie Review: Home Alone, Holiday Heist

I felt very seen as the main character is obsessed with video games.  Not a typical part of movies.     

As is typical of the Home Alone sequels, the writers decided to not mess with perfection.  The main character's fear of people isn't exactly first-movie-Kevin's helplessness, but the two character traits serve the same purpose in the plot, to give our boy something to grow out of through the dispute with the burglars

Strengths: funny, entertaining, especially his sister and online gaming friend

Areas to improve: some more originality, please.  Some of the Home Alones clearly add artistically to the franchise, increase character depth, lore, leave us with a fresh moral, etc.

The original was better, but not by too much

4.25 / 6.0 Stars

TV Season Review: Seasons 5 and 6: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

This ought to be split into multiple reviews, or at least one review per season. But I was particularly inspired to write a review after crying at the Susie Myerson roast episode. (Season 5, episode 6)  this is a review of seasons five and six.

Mild spoilers alert. Nothing too consequential!

Susie and Midge have been through so much over the years and throughout we saw this (unfortunately quite rare in Hollywood) female-female friendship flourish and (very occasionally) struggle. We fell in love with their wry, whip smart, witty banter and to see Midge's tributes to Susie was so moving, I just had to write this

Gordon Ford has been one of my favorite characters in recent episodes, along with James, Susie's actor. And Midge has been navigating the day job minefields with aplomb; I've been very happy to see her succeed where she earlier ultimately failed with Shy.

Abe is a bit annoying but his grandchild drama arcs have certainly been eventful. I certainly look forward to seeing how Ethan and Ethel progress in episodes to come. I hope Ethan finds a talent that makes everyone proud; we wouldn't want to see him completely left behind.

Rose is going to have to wisen up to real business expenses soon enough, and of course they'll have to replace Zelda more permanently. The first episode with her book was quite funny

Overall,

5.7 / 6 stars

Movie review: Godmothered

Disney's "Godmothered" is a fun romp reminiscent of Enchanted.  The godmother and youngest daughter particularly stole the show, but all the acting was very moving and convincing.  As usual, Disney knows how to tug on our heartstrings

The movie starts out in a cynical suburban-urban setting, with a tired mother who is relatable, though a bit crankier and more pessimistic than the average adult.  Her foils are her upbeat coworker Prince and the (not quite) fairy godmother herself, who each present a bit more "upbeatly".  But as the movie progresses, we see Mackenzie evolve and grow into the version of herself with more energy, hopes and dreams, and we root for her progressively more and more as she navigates career and romantic obstacles.

Strengths: puns, humor, cute kids.  I chuckled very loudly at some of the wry wit, like when they mentioned Spanx 

Room for improvement: it's just a Disney movie.  Still lacks some realism, nuance and concern for real world events by the end.  Definitely no "Inside Out 2" or "Breaking Bad" in the level of nuance(s)

4.5 / 6.0 Stars

Movie review: Management

"Management" stars Jennifer Aniston and Steve Zahn, with Margo Martindale and Woody Harrelson as well.  I loved it!  Such a heartfelt slice of life

The main characters are very down to Earth and relatable.  We fall in love with Mike and his Golden retriever energy as he follows his heart, mostly without regard for his future or long term planning.  He knows what he wants and keeps at it, trying all manner of things to show our heroine how he feels about her, to give her a better life, and help her with her goals and aspirations

These are average people doing average things, but in a very unaverage way, with more heart and boldness.  He inspires us to try again and again, regardless of whether those attempts make sense, are perfect, etc.  Just keep trying, keep going at it, and eventually you'll break through.  Dreams do come true, and through life's hardships, we do get what we deserve.  What we work for, strive for, and what the universe can give.

4.75 / 6 stars

Movie review: Inside Out 2

My favorite Pixar movie.  Inside Out was great, but the sequel is even better.

The complexity of the emotions' interactions is beautifully elegant, intricate, and nuanced.  For those who hadn't seen the first movie, Joy and Sadness were foils for each other.  Not exactly enemies or even rivals, but certainly stepped on each others' toes and had to collaborate through diametrically opposed philosophies

Disgust, Anger, and Fear make up the supporting cast along with Riley's parents, Bing Bong, and a funny imaginary boy band boyfriend.  They all have their relatable, charismatic, important and funny moments, but Joy is the main character and Sadness is her lieutenant.

In Inside Out 2, we meet Anxiety and her lieutenants Envy, Ennui, and Embarrassment as Riley starts to experience adolescence.  Anxiety is the new Joy, managing the others' opinions and debates.

But a life led by Anxiety instead of Joy and positivity looks very very different; Riley is now angling at becoming the youngest ever varsity hockey player, and has to push herself much harder than is comfortable to achieve this goal.  Once in awhile she loses who she really is to get ahead, fitting in with and outcompeting the other girls on the team

And the B-plot sees Anxiety and Joy internally battling for control over Riley, with the smorgasbord of other emotions bouncing around as well, swaying Riley this way and that

The complexity and nuance that Pixar have brought to the table continue to turn the traditional narrative on its head.  We have no real villains in Inside Out 2, like in Finding Nemo and Toy Story 4 before it.  Anxiety is an important part of Riley, just like we learned that Sadness held an important role back in Inside Out 1.    

I came, I laughed, I loved, I reflected, and I was conquered.

5.6/6 stars

Movie review: Tag

"Tag", featuring Ed Helms, Jake Johnson, Annabelle Wallis, Hannibal Buress, Isla Fisher, Rashida Jones, Leslie Bibb, Jon Hamm, and Jeremy Renner, et al. is a great movie.  Spoiler alert: spoilers follow.

A group of childhood friends swears to stay in touch into adulthood for years.  The Spirit of Youth lives on in their favorite childhood game, one month a year.  Of course they've moved away from their childhood neighborhood, some of them across the country.  So it's a commitment to cross state lines and randomly tag their friends.  But one must keep friendship alive; it is a beautiful flower that wilts unless watered

Ed Helms leads the gang with aplomb and enthusiasm, inspiring us with tales of years past, nostalgia around their families, romantic intrigue, goals of finally tagging Jerry, and most importantly, the growth of their friendship in future years.     

I won't give it all away, but the schemes to surprise his friends certainly entertain and amuse us.  I laughed enthusiastically and consistently throughout, and Helms' Hoagie inspires the audience and the group throughout.  His wife is equally inspiring with how intensely she takes the game.  Kids would have much more trouble executing the schemes we see Hoagie and Jerry pull.

As we progress through the gang, picking up new characters, watching their chemistry, and learning more about their childhoods, the lore of the movie grows progressively more convincing and moving, inspiring me to reflect on past years and friends with nostalgic fondness.    

My favorite character is Karen Filippa's Cheryl, who captures the energy of admiration while navigating her past arguments, ups and downs with, and the egos of two grown men

But I loved them all, even Chilli, who of course I pitied as well

The movie left me with a warm nostalgic fuzziness and plenty of chuckles.  Fun for the whole family (if you're open with your children), though it is rated R

5.5/6 stars