{This is the babbly part}
So, I just now got around to watching the movie Chance.
You'd think I'd have done this quite a bit sooner, as it's directed, written and produced by Amber Benson and also includes James Marsters in the cast.
Thing is, aside from a couple minutes of YouTube clip I stumbled on months ago during one of my idle "how many clips of Marsters' giggle fits can we find?" marathons, there's not a whole lot about this movie readily available for those who aren't looking for it already.
It's not at the library, which is where I generally find my more-obscure movies, and even Amazon's over-eager "suggest everything with three words in common" recommendation engine never mentioned it to me. Sure, if you click on "CreateSpace" in the "Directed By" field to see their other works, you get a selection that from the titles appears evenly split between pornography and children's educational programming ... but still. Not relevant to the matter at hand, which is: At the very least, Tara and Spike are in this! I bought all seven seasons from you, Amazon, don't you pay any attention?
Anyhow.
I was doing a mini marathon of Joss Whedon's music in honor of his birthday in June, and I saw in his Soundtrack credits (along with The Lion King II, which I already had on my list) a song from a movie called "Chance."
"Why, wait," thought I, "isn't that the name of the one James Marsters was having a giggle fit in?"
I determined that it was, and that there were exactly two places I could find to purchase it. Being the cheapskate that I am (and having no idea whether I'd really like it), I decided to forgive Amazon's betrayal/failure in this department and purchase the digital version for $9.99 (which was really zero dollars since I still have a gift balance left from returning my textbooks).
The reason I didn't actually watch it for two more weeks was that I managed to scrape up just enough self-control to finish watching series 2 of Being Human and Sherlock (which I did get from the library and had to return soon) before starting in on this.
Given some of the reviews I'd read, it wasn't as messy and confusing as I'd expected. Granted, I'd just watched the Dark Shadows remake earlier in the day, so ... that's where the bar for that was set.
Just saying.
It did seem a bit aggressively "quirky" at times, with the extended depressed-troubadour-who-sounds-like-Weird-Al scenes (spontaneous troubadour appearances early on seem to be the era's shorthand for "get ready for some quirkiness up in here" -- see Gilmore Girls).
That aside, I spent most of the movie with a big stupid grin on my face. This is not, as some may be tempted to suggest at this point, my default facial expression. While it's true this may have been my reaction even if the entire hour and fifteen minutes was James Marsters making faces and shuffling around with his hands jammed in his pockets, it was a genuinely cute and funny movie.
Tara, for all her importance in the later seasons of Buffy, was sort of a quiet and secondary character by nature; seeing Benson in a lead role (where she's free to swear like a sailor, no less) was refreshing and fun. Same for Marsters wearing his real accent (though due to the timeframe, he's still stuck with Spike hair).
I'm not sure whether it's acting or just "him," but either way Marsters as Simon was pretty convincing with that somewhat childish, "too impatient/energetic to stay still, too reserved/shy to act full-on hyperactive" persona. Half the time he's looking down, keeping his arms against his sides, talking quietly, sitting in corners, getting hung up on by strangers -- but then he'll casually get all jammed up in the doorframe ...
... or spin around in incessant circles waiting for the microwave, or start jumping on the bed and singing, or erupt into a stream of swearing, or tackle someone, or dance into a room before promptly plopping down onto the floor in the lotus position. (In other words, he acts a lot like me ... and a lot of other people, no doubt.)
And in keeping with that vibe, the latter sort of behavior mostly shows up when Simon is alone or alone with the title character, his best friend Chance. This is excepting, of course, the manic gigglefits, which Marsters generously doles out to any and all regardless of which character he's playing.
This admittedly makes it all the more impressive when he makes it through some wonderfully goofy lines and scenes with a perfectly straight face.
Now, about Amber Benson. Mad respect for her being so involved in this, and not giving off a "HAHA I WROTE THIS AND I'M ALSO THE HERO OF THE STORY, DEAL WITH IT CUZ I'M FABULOUS" vibe (you know what I'm talking about, M. Night). I mean, I do have to wonder who wrote that line describing Chance's eyes as "bottomless pools of soul" ... but even if Benson put that in herself I can't say I'd fault her for it (seriously, the woman has nice eyes).
Some people, it seems, were a bit put off by the running voiceover/narration. But me, I am a sucker for the semi-humorous voiceover. Dexter, Scrubs, Better Off Ted, Moonlight. Perhaps it reminds me of the running commentary in my head. I even -- nay, especially -- enjoy wacky illogical character narratives that involve addressing the camera when other people are present, and providing commentary on things the character could not possibly have witnessed.
Also, enjoyed the fact that pretty much every guy in the movie who has more than one line and isn't Simon is just creepy as heck, though each with a grain of "aw man, I actually know someone like that." For example, the creepy neighbor guy (who upon reflection is weird and antisocial in a slightly different way from the others, but not necessarily to a greater degree). Working at the library I see so many people like this ... blankly smiling, vaguely shiny, always staring at you when you turn around quickly to look at them. Like them, this character's clearly not malicious, but he's got the blithely-unnerving lurking thing down.
And as it turns out, he's worked out a deal with Simon for free pizza, so perhaps he's a good deal savvier than he looks.
Which brings me to this: In the end, humor (and even entertainment in general) is more about surprise than wittiness for me. A clever joke that follows a formula I've heard a dozen times will make me smile respectfully and perhaps chuckle quietly in hindsight; a stupid joke that's entirely out-of-the-blue in some key way will get me laughing right off the bat. That's one of the things I enjoyed most about Chance -- not that it's stupid, but that it has surprises.
Take the tried-and-true "wouldn't know A from B" line used to imply someone is clueless on a given subject. In my experience most people, after abandoning the proverbial hole in the ground, will try to sound witty or knowledgeable here by using two completely different items that have similar sounds ("wouldn't know a gigabyte from a snake bite") or that are different *and* sound nothing alike but both belong to the pursuit in question ("wouldn't know a rumba from a waltz"). Anticipating this, I'll admit I laughed aloud when Simon described Chance's cooking habits by saying she "wouldn't know a convection oven from a toilet."
A completely valid comment, but of all the possible options that zipped through my head to finish the line, I just really, really wasn't expecting him to say "toilet." Plus, "toilet" is a funny word, especially when James Marsters says it with that little facial shrug he's so adept at.
Another example of a slightly unexpected swerve would be the reason Chance has a bad feeling about lending guys money, but I won't give too much of that one away.
{tl;dr}
So to sum up, I hoped this would be a good movie, and I ended up liking it more than I'd expected to. It had some odd bits and some hiccups, but given the circumstances it's actually a pretty impressive movie. It's funny, it's sweet, it's very weird ... but generally not in an off-putting esoteric way so much as that comfy, recognizable way that your best friends are weird (or maybe that's just my best friends).
Also, the leads aren't the only familiar names for Buffy/Angel fans -- I counted at least a couple other cameos, including producer David Fury as the pizza guy.
{coda}
So, the question of the evening: Why Mumford & Sons?
You were wondering that, right? I mean, I put it in the title and everything and I haven't mentioned them once till now. That bothered you, didn't it?
If your brain works like mine (my condolences), or if you're like Sherlock and can pretend it does, you saw that I'd been watching S2 of Being Human, you recalled that the song "Sigh No More" figured prominently in an episode, and you deduced that (while browsing Amazon for a copy of Chance) I stumbled across the entire MP3 album for $4.99, couldn't resist buying it with my gift balance, and have been listening to the thing on repeat ever since.
If your brain works like a normal person's, then that sort of thing probably wouldn't have happened to you, but I've just explained it so you know about it anyhow. Well, either way it's been lovely babbling at you tonight like the sleep-deprived fangirl I am.
'Ta.
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