holiday movies

My zaftig girlfriend and I were discussing holiday movies Saturday night, partly due to having just watched Love Actually, which took place during the 3 weeks before Christmas. She wanted to know my favorite holiday movie and I said Lethal Weapon followed up by Die Hard. She informed me that those weren't "real" holiday movies and she said hers is A Christmas Carol, one of the older versions but I don't recall which one. Can you say nudnik?

I really like Groundhog Day also and I've seen it on a few holiday movie lists but I don't get it. It's not at Christmas, it's obviously on Groundhog Day.

In case you're wondering why I think Lethal Weapon and Die Hard are holiday movies, it's because both take place during the week of Christmas and both include references to the holiday in multiple places in the movie. In fact Jingle Bell Rock is the music that opens Lethal Weapon. Oh, and as we all now know, Mel is really, really into Christmas. Not so much Hanukkah though. BTW, that's December 15-23 this year.

Going back to Groundhog Day, I can see in a way how some would include it in a holiday list. To my mind it's thematically a remake of It's a Wonderful Life except that Groundhog Day doesn't suck. I know everyone is supposed to like that schlocky classic but the economics in it really are stupid and any movie that sentimental about some bum that can't run a Savings and Loan just isn't my cup of tea.

Think about it. The bad guy has this big bank that nobody likes and nice guy James Stewart everybody loves. So why is Stewart's bank on the verge of failing? If he gave low interest rates on his mortgage loans people would come flocking. Since they're not, obviously he's making high interest loans so people only come to him if they can't get a loan at the bad guy's bank--which must have low interest rates which is why it's big.

So who would come to Jimmy Stewart? The high risk people that frequently default. With customers like that, Stewart would have to charge high rates which in turn would keep away low risk customers. On the other hand, most likely Frank Capra just didn't know much about how a business is run when he made the film and my criticism is beside the point. That's just meshugas. If you want to see the 30 second bunny version of the film, go here.

Speaking of tea, does anyone else put Triple Sec in their tea? It adds a very nice bright orange taste. If I add enough of it I can even ignore Capra's bad economics. Maybe.