Kristopowitz’s Top 5 Movies That Grew On Him: Road House, More

The Top 5 Movies That Grew On Me

I’m sure that we’ve all had movies that we didn’t like the first time we saw them and then, maybe a few years later, we watched that same movie again and, for whatever reason, that movie wasn’t as terrible anymore. Somehow, that hated/disliked movie was better. Heck, maybe that movie was now even pretty good. I know I’ve experienced that. So I thought about it and I came up with five movies that I used to despise but now love.

And so, without any further what have you, here are my Top 5 Movies That Grew On Me.

5-Road House : I first saw Road House back when it debuted on cable and just didn’t care for it. I didn’t buy Patrick Swayze as a badass (how could the guy from Dirty Dancing be a badass? How?) and the story didn’t make any sense to me. The fights were kind of cool, and the big hooha flying car that explodes stunt at the end of the movie was exciting, but what, exactly, was the point of this movie? Would a bar bouncer really get involved in all of this kind of shit? And how could Patrick Swayze beat up Terry Funk? Yeah, Stallone could do it in Over the Top because Stallone was Stallone (Rocky, Rambo, Cobra), but Patrick Swayze? Get the fuck out of here. I watched it again a few years ago and realized that the movie is basically a western. Patrick Swayze is kind of like Shane, and he’s basically in town to deal with a scumbag businessman (that would be the guy Ben Gazarra plays). And I got over the whole “Swayze can’t be a badass” thing because he was actually very good at being an unexpected badass. That’s hard to do and be convincing. I still think the movie is ridiculous (it’s also way too long) but I’ve learned to like it. I get it now.

4- My Big Fat Greek Wedding: When I first saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding I didn’t understand why it was such a big deal at the box office when it came out. I mean, it wasn’t boring, it wasn’t unfunny, but it didn’t seem all that special, either. The movie, at best, was mildly amusing. I didn’t think it necessarily deserved all of the praise it received. I thought the movie was overrated. I decided to revisit the first movie after watching the sequel, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, which I loved, and realized I was wrong. The first movie was great. The writing, the cast, the performances, it was all fun. And that’s all the movie wanted to be. Fun. And that’s likely what audiences were responding to back in 2002. Here was a movie that thrived at being light entertainment and was proud to make people smile and laugh. There was also the whole “Put some Windex on it” thing. That was so ridiculous you couldn’t hate it. I wish Nia Vardalos had a chance to make more movies like My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I’d be totally down for a third one. I have no idea what it would be about but I would love to see it.

3- Moonstruck: I wanted to see Moonstruck because Nicolas Cage, the guy from Raising Arizona, and Vincent Gardenia, the guy from Little Shop of Horrors, were in it. They were both outstanding in those movies, and I was sure that Moonstruck was going to be more of the same. When Moonstruck wasn’t anything like either Raising Arizona or Little Shop of Horrors I was outraged. What the hell happened? And why was Danny Aiello, the guy from that fucking ABC After School Special I was tortured with, A Family of Strangers, in it? Fuck this movie. Nicolas Cage had a goddamn wooden hand in this movie. So I watched Moonstruck again when I was older (it was on one of the HBO channels after something I watched and didn’t change the channel) and I finally understood what the movie was about. Relationships. Aiello wants to marry Cher, but he can’t do it because his mother is dying. So Aiello goes to see his dying mother, and Cher goes to see Aiello’s brother Nicolas Cage and ends up having an affair with him. At the same time, Olympia Dukakis is upset with Vincent Gardenia because Gardenia is cheating on her. They’ve been married forever. Why is he cheating on her? All of these relationship issues come together at the end with a very funny breakfast sequence where everything is sort of resolved, in a way. The performances in this movie are brilliant. The writing is spot on. And Nicolas Cage has a wooden hand. That’s awesome!

2- Dirty Dancing: This was a movie I was tortured with throughout my youth. The female members of my family loved it and watched it every chance they got, and I just hated it. I couldn’t stand the dancing, the music, the characters, it was all excruciating. And what was the deal with Baby’s sister, Lisa, singing all of the time? Who thought that was a good idea? And besides, I wanted to watch a movie with explosions and fighting in it, not this dancing shit. While I still want to watch movies with explosions and fighting and whatnot in it, I’ve come to appreciate Dirty Dancing since my youth. There’s a social and political element to the movie that I didn’t understand before (basically, the rich people in the movie treat the poor/working class people like shit because they can). The love story between Baby and Johnny Castle is kind of creepy (he’s 25 and she’s 17. That’s disturbing) but I’ve come to accept it because Baby’s family seems to accept it at the end and it’s only a movie. And since my musical tastes have broadened I dig the music now. I get this movie now. And I like it

And, yes, the big hooha dance sequence at the end is the best part of the movie. I get goosebumps now when Johnny and Baby are able to successfully do the lift.

1- You’ve Got Mail: I avoided this movie for years because I didn’t like Sleepless in Seattle and I really didn’t want to suffer through another Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan love story. I mean, I liked Tom Hanks and I liked Meg Ryan, but I didn’t like them together. And they were going to fall in love over e-mail or something? Who the fuck wanted to watch that? So, again, I avoided this movie for years. Deliberately. But then I ended up just watching it one day. It was on TV, other people in the house were watching it, and I didn’t have anything else going on at the time so why not? I didn’t like it the first time I saw it but I didn’t really hate it, either. It was okay. And over several years I found myself just watching the movie when it was on TV, sometimes catching it in the middle and watching it because there was nothing else on. And the more I saw it the more I liked it. Dabney Coleman was great, as usual, in it. Jean Stapleton was actually weirder than Steve Zahn in it. And Greg Kinnear was just an insufferable asshole that I loved it when Meg Ryan dumped him (I also love the whole thing where Meg Ryan thought Greg Kinnear was the Unabomber). And I actually grew to love the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan relationship story. Their e-mail relationship seemed almost plausible. I adore their final sequence together, when Tom comes around the corner with his dog and Meg realizes that Tom is the one that she’s been talking to online the whole movie and they embrace. It’s a great moment.

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