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WHY'D I WATCH IT?
Saw it mentioned once or twice in orestb333's Your Favorite Dark Comedy Movie thread and bearing in mind that I haven't seen it for over 5 years I thought I'd give it a rewatch and see if my neutral/boring feelings towards it have changed.
WHAT'D I THINK? *SPOILERS*
And thus ended the only romantic comedy that's ever made me cry.
I'm SUUUPER HARD to sell on romance movies, ESPECIALLY romantic comedies, so I suppose the fact that this one got to me by approaching the general concept so unconventionally makes sense.
I hate so many things about romance movies mainly because I hate so many things about dating and "love" in real life. That **** just gets under my skin in a bad way and I hate it.
The only vague whisper of any of that is Harold's plan to marry Maude.
Say what you will, but that's a checkbox ticked on my list of "Stupid Things You're Wasting My Time With".
That part of the movie is infinitesimally small compared to everything else though.
The idea that the two love interests take a wild stab at taboos by featuring a social recluse and a criminal with an extreme age difference of at least 60 years sounds like a weak shock material. But while young Harold's obsessed with death and suicide and retreating into his own head, Maude brings a frightening counterbalance by being a 79-year-old woman high on life and living in the moment in the truest sense of the phrase.
I like how the two contrast and complement each other in their various ways, Maude to Harold moreso than Harold to Maude though, that would be a criticism of mine. Harold seems to offer Maude little more than what is probably some overlooked attention while Maude serves to enlighten Harold to the little things, small joys, and the thrill of living in the moment, rather than mulling in the distant past or the future.
Neither character is entirely respectable on their own, Harold just seems to miserably loiter around and Maude clearly jacks cars on a regular basis (with the purest of intentions of course), but the relationship, if anything, manages to even out at least one of them by the end.
The humor is so incredibly deadpan that many of the gags throughout just kinda hang (in an incredibly punny way) and while I laughed a few times, most of the humor was very very mild so while I wasn't exactly bored this time around, I didn't feel a whole lot of punch from what was onscreen.
A few scenes are exceptional of course, the scene in which Harold explains why he pretends to kill himself and the finale are very memorable. The scheme to get Harold out of the military was also memorable although for very different reasons.
Something that I noticed this time around is that this romance develops over the course of a week.
Generally I'd be inclined to call BS on an Overnight Romance, but considering that neither of these characters have anything but time, both find each other totally atypical, and Maude's live-in-the-moment philosophy is conducive to it, I'm gonna let it slide.
Not only these things, but unlike the vast majority of romcoms I've seen, both characters legitimately develop their relationship with one another throughout the movie, both by learning about each other AND sharing the same interests (even if they are funerals) without devolving to those ******* "rules" I hate so much.
Harold and Maude breaks rules, it doesn't make them.
Harold and Maude
Romantic Comedy / English / 1971
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
Saw it mentioned once or twice in orestb333's Your Favorite Dark Comedy Movie thread and bearing in mind that I haven't seen it for over 5 years I thought I'd give it a rewatch and see if my neutral/boring feelings towards it have changed.
WHAT'D I THINK? *SPOILERS*
And thus ended the only romantic comedy that's ever made me cry.
I'm SUUUPER HARD to sell on romance movies, ESPECIALLY romantic comedies, so I suppose the fact that this one got to me by approaching the general concept so unconventionally makes sense.
I hate so many things about romance movies mainly because I hate so many things about dating and "love" in real life. That **** just gets under my skin in a bad way and I hate it.
The only vague whisper of any of that is Harold's plan to marry Maude.
Say what you will, but that's a checkbox ticked on my list of "Stupid Things You're Wasting My Time With".
That part of the movie is infinitesimally small compared to everything else though.
The idea that the two love interests take a wild stab at taboos by featuring a social recluse and a criminal with an extreme age difference of at least 60 years sounds like a weak shock material. But while young Harold's obsessed with death and suicide and retreating into his own head, Maude brings a frightening counterbalance by being a 79-year-old woman high on life and living in the moment in the truest sense of the phrase.
I like how the two contrast and complement each other in their various ways, Maude to Harold moreso than Harold to Maude though, that would be a criticism of mine. Harold seems to offer Maude little more than what is probably some overlooked attention while Maude serves to enlighten Harold to the little things, small joys, and the thrill of living in the moment, rather than mulling in the distant past or the future.
Neither character is entirely respectable on their own, Harold just seems to miserably loiter around and Maude clearly jacks cars on a regular basis (with the purest of intentions of course), but the relationship, if anything, manages to even out at least one of them by the end.
The humor is so incredibly deadpan that many of the gags throughout just kinda hang (in an incredibly punny way) and while I laughed a few times, most of the humor was very very mild so while I wasn't exactly bored this time around, I didn't feel a whole lot of punch from what was onscreen.
A few scenes are exceptional of course, the scene in which Harold explains why he pretends to kill himself and the finale are very memorable. The scheme to get Harold out of the military was also memorable although for very different reasons.
Something that I noticed this time around is that this romance develops over the course of a week.
Generally I'd be inclined to call BS on an Overnight Romance, but considering that neither of these characters have anything but time, both find each other totally atypical, and Maude's live-in-the-moment philosophy is conducive to it, I'm gonna let it slide.
Not only these things, but unlike the vast majority of romcoms I've seen, both characters legitimately develop their relationship with one another throughout the movie, both by learning about each other AND sharing the same interests (even if they are funerals) without devolving to those ******* "rules" I hate so much.
Harold and Maude breaks rules, it doesn't make them.
Final Verdict: [Pretty Good]