The Return of Winter...

Friday January 27, 2017

Tonight we saw another high school play. This time it was “Twelve Incompetent Jurors” at Darby H.S. It was supposed to be a sort of spoof of Twelve Angry Jurors. It seemed like the dozen teenagers cast in the various roles really enjoyed playing their characters, and forgive me for saying it, but this play was a perfect choice for a high school play due to the quirkiness of the characters. If you don’t want to strangle each one by the end of the play, then there’s something wrong with either them or you.

The plot revolves around the jury trial of alleged cat thief Donald Pleats who is being accused of stealing a box of kittens from a yard sale (though the kittens weren’t for sale apparently). Although there was witness testimony as well as a confession by Mr. Pleats, there is one juror who just isn’t completely sure of his guilt. She manages to cast doubt in the minds of some of the other jurors who can’t even decide whether they should be a hung jury. Pity the foreman who practically has a meltdown by the end due to the illogical theories being discussed by the jurors.

My favorite juror was the lady in red who has a tirade near the end when she points out the flaws of each juror one by one. It was both funny and satisfying, for her and us. I also liked the dark, and somewhat creepy Marilyn Manson wannabe who spent most of the play stroking a taxidermied cat and occasionally eating French fries (without sharing them).

I’m not sure I can say I ‘enjoyed’ the play, as much as endured it, but like I said earlier, these kids did their characters proud as each and every one was annoying in their own way. Hence, they’re somewhat grating to watch, though the audience, (which seemed to consist of quite a lot of their peers) seemed to find them pretty hilarious, which I probably would have done too if I had known any of them personally.

Saturday January 28, 2017

Today I was going through my stack of unwatched dvds and came across “A Christmas Story 2.” With the somewhat wintery weather this weekend, it seemed like an appropriate enough time to finally watch it, so that was our evening entertainment.

My husband and I went in with low expectations since sequels can sometimes be notoriously bad, and “My Summer Story,” which was the original sequel to “A Christmas Story,” got panned by the critics. Hence, we were pleasantly surprised when this turned out to not be half bad. Although it didn’t star any of the original actors (who would have been way too old to play themselves a few years older than they were in the original film), their replacements did them proud. My only question was why Randy stayed about the same age while everyone else was about five or six years older now. Minor point I suppose.

Ralphie was now getting close to the magical age of 16 when most boys dream of getting their driver’s license and owning a car. This was especially timely since my niece was just about to turn 16 the next day. There’s a whole storyline involving the car of Ralphie’s dreams and an unfortunate accident involving the soft top of his dream car.

You don’t need to have seen the first movie to enjoy this one, though it’s easier to get more of the references from the first film. Either way, it’s a movie I can definitely recommend for a little light-hearted holiday entertainment. Rated PG (there’s only one swear word in the whole movie, though it is repeated more than once).

Have a good week everyone!