Journal of a Working Mom, or, Up From Sloth

Friday, March 13, 2009

For Movie Buffs Only

Oh, dear readers, I scarce know how to say this.

When someone says, "Joan Cusack," what do you picture?

Well, this is what I picture:

And later, in the same movie:

(For those of you not obsessed with John Hughes teenage movies from the '80s, this was one of her first film roles in Sixteen Candles. Which also featured her little brother John Cusack as one of Farmer Ted's geek friends.)

But, anyway, in the mental picture of her I carry around in my head, she is in high school. And then later in some other good films, a grown-up, but still youngish woman.

Soooo, I took the afternoon off today just 'cause and decided I wanted a light, fluffy, girl movie. So went to see Confessions of a Shopaholic in part because I loves me some Isla Fisher.

The movie was meh. Very predictable, and, even fashion-challenged moi can spot a Patricia Fields-costumed outfit from a mile away. (I'm a little tired of them, frankly.)

But here's the part that made me feel sad. And elderly. Joan Cusack plays ISLA FISHER'S FUCKING MOTHER. Not older sister, not young hip aunt, not slightly older coworker, but HER MOTHER.

I just couldn't get my head around it. It wasn't just that she was playing a mom, it was that she was playing the mother of a grown woman.

She wasn't a character in her own right, she was just the "mom" character in every other "girl meets boy" story you've ever seen.

I can't even pretend to be young anymore, I am so old that the ingenues of my youth are playing the mothers of the ingenues of today.

The mind boggles.

(And I'm not even going to mention the fact that Julie Hagerty plays the love interest's elderly secretary. Oh wait, I just did.)

posted by Bookhart at 4:52 PM

11 Comments:

  • That is really off-putting. I mean, I always kind of thought of Joan Cusack as close to my age.

    My image of her is the exact same as yours. I am really not sure what to do with this news. Except take a Geritol and go to bed at 8PM and get up at 4AM.

    By Blogger Jaye Joseph, at 6:25 PM  

  • I had to click on the Julie Hagerty link because I thought I knew the name but couldn't quite remember(yeah, I'm geting old, too).
    But, "elderly secretary"?! She's not THAT old!
    It's scary to think the actresses that are around our age are considered only for those roles now....
    I somehow never managed to see "Sixteen Candles" so seeing Joan Cusack like that..wow! made me think of the omy old passport photos I found recently and almost crying because I could see how much I have aged..and realising that 20-plus years have gone by when it feels like only 5. sometimes.

    By Blogger Gal Friday, at 8:34 PM  

  • I'm going to take an entire bottle of Geritol and follow it with a bottle full of Milk of Magnesia and hopefully--hopefully--it will put me out of the elderly misery this post is causing me.

    BTW, my favorite Joan Cusack? Melanie Griffith's friend/coworker with the HUGE hair and Jersey accent in "Working Girl."

    "That cost $600? It's not even leather!!" (pronounced leh-thuh.)

    By Blogger Karla May, at 8:42 PM  

  • Bookhart, you CAN pretend to be young, honey, cuz you can get away with it.

    I took Onni to a Father/Daughter Girl Scout Dance a week ago tonight and I was amazed by how haggard, grizzled, and just plain aged 95% of the fathers appeared. Girlfriend, people just age at different rates. Republicans, with all that guilt they've built up, age real fast. People who don't eat enough vegetables do, too.
    So, B, let me tell ya, now-- you don't look anywhere near as old that Joan Cusack-- (whoever that is! I am blissfully unaware) so you just go on being just as young and fresh as you already are. No joke.

    By Blogger Po, at 10:30 PM  

  • Dude. I KNOW.

    Here's when I knew I was old: a few years ago a friend loaned me her DVDs of My So-Called Life, which I had never seen when it was on TV. And as I watched them, I found myself identifying with THE PARENTS. And thinking the dad was hot.

    I have to say, though, it was harder to deal with being old when my kids were younger. Now that the boy is taller (and hairier) than me and the girl will be freaking TWELVE this year, I'm making peace with it. And don't tell anyone, but I actually even kind of LIKE it. WEIRD.

    By Blogger Badger, at 9:29 AM  

  • That's just wrong! Was her mom character one who had Isla when she was 15 years old?

    And Karla May, that was a Staten Island accent, not a Jersey one (the Hudson River divides us).

    By Blogger SUS, at 5:04 PM  

  • It's just a long march toward uselessness and death. Give me a pill, please. Or 5.

    Or 22. "Come on, 22. 22, 22."

    That was for all the Julie Hagerty fans.

    By Blogger peevish, at 7:44 PM  

  • We were just talking about her the other day while watching School of Rock. I was thinking of all the sidekick characters she's played and - this? I cannot get my mind around it, either. That's just wrong.

    By Blogger Keetha, at 7:11 AM  

  • I love Joan. I'd totally switch teams for her. My favorite Joan roll is the jilted fiance Emily Montgomery in In & Out. ("Is EVERYBODY gay?"). A close second is every other roll she's had.

    By Blogger Tuli, at 7:22 AM  

  • This still kills me, days after reading it.

    My fave Joan Cusack role is as the secretary in Grosse Point Blank. She's frikkin' HILarious.

    And Badger, I recently watched my so called life years later after watching it the first time, and I, too, identified with the parents this time. I just wanted to SMACK Angela, and f*ck the dad cuz, yeah, he's hawt. I did not feel this way the first time I watched it.

    I don't want to be this old. I am NOT this old. Really. Not.

    By Blogger Karla, at 9:35 AM  

  • I just watched "confessions of a shopaholic" and was surprised to find Joan Cusack as the mom. How about this: Joan Cusack is 46. The actress playing her daughter is 33.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:43 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home