Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
HOLLYWOOD Q&A
Q: I really loved those ensemble holiday romcoms “Valentine’s Day” and “New Year’s Eve.” Will there be any more?
A: There won’t be any more, but it may be a small consolation that you seem to have missed one.
“Valentine’s Day” (2010) and “New Year’s Eve” (2011) came out a year apart, but there was a five-year break (plus a couple of months) before legendary director-producer Garry Marshall put out the third in his holiday trilogy, “Mother’s Day” (2016).
And then, sadly, he died. (Hence it being unlikely there will be any more.)
The films — sprawling, ensemble pieces with multiple separate narratives all circling around the eponymous holiday — were very much labors of love for Marshall. And love letters to him at the same time.
“Marshall’s later films were nothing if not a marathon of actors and actresses paying their dues to the lovable icon,” wrote Vice.com reviewer Lindsey Weber.
The list of luminaries paying tribute included it girls and it boys of the time, such as Jessica Biel (“The Illusionist,” 2006), and Hollywood megastars ranging from Robert De Niro (“Raging Bull,” 1980) to Julia Roberts (“Pretty Woman,” 1990).
That said, the sheer number of big-name stars involved led to suggestions that the films were just cash grabs — criticisms that irked Marshall.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly in 2011, Marshall said the movies that critics prefer are “a different kind of movie than I make. I make a joyous movie for the holiday so you come to have a good time.”
When Marshall died in 2016, so, too, did the distinctive voice behind the films.
So if you haven’t seen “Mother’s Day,” check it out, but you could also branch out from the holidays: Marshall’s voice can also be heard in the rest of his lengthy cinematic catalogue, including romcom classics “Pretty Woman” (1990) and “The Princess Diaries”(2001).
Q: I was re-watching “The Muppet Christmas Carol” over the holiday and noticed that they seemed to make a big deal out of showing Kermit’s legs in the skating scene. Is that the first time they did that?
A: No, but you can tell they’re still excited about it.
The skating scene in 1992’s “The Muppet Christmas Carol,” when Kermit as Bob Cratchitt is on his way home on Christmas Eve, grabs you every time. In the second or two of screen time Kermit’s legs get, the viewer is prompted to note that: a) we don’t often see his legs, b) because he’s supposed to be a puppet, and c) hey, wait — he’s supposed to be a puppet!
It’s pretty much the same thought process viewers went through when it first happened back in 1979’s “The Muppet Movie” — but the surprise was greater then.
In critic Roger Ebert’s review of the film, he wrote, “Jolson sang, Barrymore spoke, Garbo laughed, and now Kermit the Frog rides a bicycle. ‘The Muppet Movie’ not only stars the Muppets, but, for the first time, shows us their feet.”
This lets you know how momentous this development was. So momentous, in fact, it was actually part of the film’s plot: Kermit must flee the evil owner of a restaurant chain specializing in frog legs.
But it wasn’t just Kermit’s bottom half making a debut — the film featured full-body shots of multiple Muppets.
The trick was accomplished in various ways, including remote control, wires (for the bicycle) and clever log placement (Kermit sits on one with Muppet creator and puppeteer Jim Henson hidden inside).