The Twilight Zone

Word of the Post: Andare al Cinema (To go to the movies)

Irresistibly corny.

The last time I used those two words together, I was talking about an ‘N Sync Christmas album. This time I am talking about the latest sensation for teen girls and women nationwide, the movie, Twilight directed by Catherine Hardwicke. I am not one to give into the hype of book series. When I was younger, I read the Babysitter’s Club to make my mother happy, but I never really enjoyed it. When I got to the end of elementary school and began middle school, the new rage was the wizard, Harry Potter. I am proud to say that to this day, I have never read a Harry Potter book. The next series on everyone’s list was Lord of the Rings, and again I can proudly say that I have never picked up a Lord of the Rings book. Sure, last year I gave in and read Something Borrowed (Emily Giffin) followed by it’s sequel Something Blue, but I didn’t give in because it was the hype, I gave in because I hadn’t read a quality book since 1984 by George Orwell in my senior year of high school. Many Italians are chain smokers, but while I have been over here in Italy, us American students have been chain reading the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer.

I have never been a fan of movies that have stemmed from books. My only exception to this rule has been the beloved David Fincher film, Fight Club. The Borrowers (1997) directed by Peter Hewitt was a let down, Pride and Prejudice (2005) directed by Joe Wright was a major let down, and needless to say Stuart Little (1999) directed by Rob Minkoff was the ultimate let down. I don’t really know what I was expecting walking into the new release of Twilight. I had an inkling of an idea as I read through the reviews posted in various newspapers, and as I heard friends in my program in Italy ranting about what they loved about the movie (mostly the male protagonist Edward played by Robert Pattinson) and what they hated about the movie (mostly the female protagonist Bella played by Kristen Stewart). But I had to go see it none-the-less, since even I gave in to the hype of the series to begin with.

And the only words that I can use to really describe the film are “irresistibly corny.” Maybe it is Edward’s changing eyes, or his cold pale skin, or his subtle grin, or maybe it is the random clever lines thrown in once in a while (especially right near the end of the movie) or the desire for the movie to slightly differ from the book in one particular way-which of course it could never do, that makes it so irresistible. But it is definitely the acting, the effects, the unforeseen gore, and the general dialogue that contributes to the corniness. Lines using the word “monkey,” and “buddy” come to mind.

The acting is below subpar, well at least on Stewart’s part, the special effects are elementary as the characters almost seem to be moving robotically when they are supposed to be moving faster. They leave out key scenes, and everyone who has read the book would know what I am talking about. Things that took 150 pages in the book to occur take only the first half-hour of the movie to occur, jumping from one thing to another with no middle explanation. I understand that with a 450 page book there have to be cuts somewhere, but did they really have to cut out some of the pieces that really stood out in the book? They even leave out the most romantic scenes, and take away from the ones that are supposed to be romantic throughout the movie. The only exception is the piano scene where Edward sits perfectly playing “Bella’s Lullaby” by Carter Burwell—which he is actually playing himself in the movie. The director has added scenes that never take place in the book, and the director has changed scenes, scenes that were better left untouched, but I guess that always happens in movies taken from books. Still, I wonder if Stephanie Meyer really had any say in the screenplay for the film that they adapted from her novel.

While most scenes were filled with previously mentioned corny lines and more, some scenes were played well, but I could just be biased—since I am a huge baseball fan and my favorite scene happens to be the baseball scene. Something about the music, the lighting, and the sound just all seem to come together in this one scene, as the family whips around the bases, the ball ricochets off of trees, and the lighting falls to a dull gray with colors faded into it. It is almost like a real family playing stickball in their backyard, and it is about as real as the family gets to being mortal.

Yet, while the movie still borders on a corny darker 21^st Century version of a Peter Pan (the immortal and his mortal girl), it is still irresistible in going to see—especially if you have read the also irresistibly corny book that doesn’t fail to also produce the same corny repetitive lines.

It’s like a guy with bad pick-up lines—you just keep falling for it, but yet you aren’t quite sure why.