#91 When I Grow Up
03/02/23 08:27
On the day the teachers went on strike, I found myself looking after my youngest son and his friend for the afternoon, since their school was closed. After making valiant efforts to distract them from screens (around 40 seconds painting a mountain scene), I suggested we choose a movie, as that seemed preferable to YouTube clips of nasal twenty-somethings playing Minecraft. My son’s friend chose Grown Ups 2, having watched the first Grown Ups with us a few weeks back.
Now, Grown Ups 2 is not a good film. There’s no plot to speak of, it’s all pretty aimless, plus the humour is completely puerile and sometimes creepily tit-focused. Nevertheless, I laughed like a drain. Right the way through. Sometimes I disgust myself. Maybe it’s because I was a bit desperate – it was a Wednesday, I was supposed to be footloose, fancy-free and more importantly child-free, but here I was doling out pesto pasta, marshalling two roistering boys and picking up discarded Nerf bullets. Possibly, I was just happy that they were sitting quietly on the sofa, contained and entertained. But, you know, a man inflating a dinghy in a supermarket so violently that it shoots him across the aisle is pretty funny. A man stuck in a giant construction tyre rolling through town is quite amusing. So, it seems, is a man who can burp, sneeze and fart at the same time. My son certainly thought so, and his enthusiasm was infectious. But *Carrie Bradshaw face* I started to wonder… do I have a juvenile sense of humour? Do I need to sharpen up my comedy act?
When I’ve not been watching Grown Ups with non-grown-ups, in my own grown-up evening time, I’ve been watching Life & Beth. I’ll admit there was a fair degree of narcissism involved in this selection, but also I like Amy Schumer, its star and creator. Amy plays Beth Jones, a woman who re-thinks her life choices after a tragic event, and the story is told in bingeable half-hour episodes, which is handy if you have to let the dog out and have an old-lady-wee yourself in between.
Having previously worked as a wine rep in NYC, Beth dumps her boyfriend Matt and moves back to her childhood home of Long Island to re-evaluate and catch up with old friends. She starts hanging out at a vineyard, where she meets the endearingly eccentric John, who’s more intriguing than man-child Matt, and more inclined to take direction during sex. Or maybe Beth is more inclined to give it. My favourite relationship, though, is the one Beth is re-forging with her sister Ann. I love Ann. Pretty much everyone in this show is nuts in some way, but Ann is nuts in the best way. The kind of way that makes her take a lake-caught fish home to swim with in the bath.
To be honest, the show is kind of patchy – the tone lurches about a bit, there are a few too many disparate elements vying for attention and some of the action is as aimless as Grown Ups. But, like Grown Ups, it makes me laugh. On a different level, but there I am on the sofa, chuckling. The humour in Life & Beth is weird. Quirky, low-key, jolie-laide, wincingly, side-eye funny. Less zooming inflatable dinghy, more the gentle rocking of John’s boat as its passengers zone out on shrooms. Is it female-funny as opposed to male-funny? Amy Schumour versus Adam Sandledy? Alright, that didn’t quite work; just roll with it, like you’re in a giant runaway tyre.
Grown Ups is a blunt instrument – a bit of a tool – whereas Life & Beth is like the fish hook that gets embedded in John’s hand – delicate, sharp, reeling you in. In other words, it’s a bit more grown-up. But both of them made me giggle – what can I say, I’m a cheap date. I think it’s because I’m a bit desperate. You’ve got to laugh, haven’t you, in this grown-up world we find ourselves in. Where teachers strike because they don’t earn enough to live on, and their struggling schools send your kids home on a Wednesday to litter your floor with Nerf bullets.
If you didn’t laugh, what would you do?
Now, Grown Ups 2 is not a good film. There’s no plot to speak of, it’s all pretty aimless, plus the humour is completely puerile and sometimes creepily tit-focused. Nevertheless, I laughed like a drain. Right the way through. Sometimes I disgust myself. Maybe it’s because I was a bit desperate – it was a Wednesday, I was supposed to be footloose, fancy-free and more importantly child-free, but here I was doling out pesto pasta, marshalling two roistering boys and picking up discarded Nerf bullets. Possibly, I was just happy that they were sitting quietly on the sofa, contained and entertained. But, you know, a man inflating a dinghy in a supermarket so violently that it shoots him across the aisle is pretty funny. A man stuck in a giant construction tyre rolling through town is quite amusing. So, it seems, is a man who can burp, sneeze and fart at the same time. My son certainly thought so, and his enthusiasm was infectious. But *Carrie Bradshaw face* I started to wonder… do I have a juvenile sense of humour? Do I need to sharpen up my comedy act?
When I’ve not been watching Grown Ups with non-grown-ups, in my own grown-up evening time, I’ve been watching Life & Beth. I’ll admit there was a fair degree of narcissism involved in this selection, but also I like Amy Schumer, its star and creator. Amy plays Beth Jones, a woman who re-thinks her life choices after a tragic event, and the story is told in bingeable half-hour episodes, which is handy if you have to let the dog out and have an old-lady-wee yourself in between.
Having previously worked as a wine rep in NYC, Beth dumps her boyfriend Matt and moves back to her childhood home of Long Island to re-evaluate and catch up with old friends. She starts hanging out at a vineyard, where she meets the endearingly eccentric John, who’s more intriguing than man-child Matt, and more inclined to take direction during sex. Or maybe Beth is more inclined to give it. My favourite relationship, though, is the one Beth is re-forging with her sister Ann. I love Ann. Pretty much everyone in this show is nuts in some way, but Ann is nuts in the best way. The kind of way that makes her take a lake-caught fish home to swim with in the bath.
To be honest, the show is kind of patchy – the tone lurches about a bit, there are a few too many disparate elements vying for attention and some of the action is as aimless as Grown Ups. But, like Grown Ups, it makes me laugh. On a different level, but there I am on the sofa, chuckling. The humour in Life & Beth is weird. Quirky, low-key, jolie-laide, wincingly, side-eye funny. Less zooming inflatable dinghy, more the gentle rocking of John’s boat as its passengers zone out on shrooms. Is it female-funny as opposed to male-funny? Amy Schumour versus Adam Sandledy? Alright, that didn’t quite work; just roll with it, like you’re in a giant runaway tyre.
Grown Ups is a blunt instrument – a bit of a tool – whereas Life & Beth is like the fish hook that gets embedded in John’s hand – delicate, sharp, reeling you in. In other words, it’s a bit more grown-up. But both of them made me giggle – what can I say, I’m a cheap date. I think it’s because I’m a bit desperate. You’ve got to laugh, haven’t you, in this grown-up world we find ourselves in. Where teachers strike because they don’t earn enough to live on, and their struggling schools send your kids home on a Wednesday to litter your floor with Nerf bullets.
If you didn’t laugh, what would you do?
- Life & Beth – 10 episodes, Disney+
- Grown-Ups 1 & 2 is on Netflix but don’t bother unless you’re as childish as me
