Happy Saturday, friends! Hope you’ve gotten outside today (if for no other reason, do it for cooped-up me).
What The Princess Bride gets wrong about the pandemic, in this essay I will—
One new review to share from TIFF today: the Sebastian Stan-starring romance Monday, over at The Playlist. It has moments! Yeah…
(Luckily, I’ll have a movie that I am *psyched* to recommend tomorrow … but am not allowed to share my feelings about yet.)
A lot of what you’ve been reading (or haven’t) in this section over the past few days has been pre-programmed since Labor Day, so I have not put in anything about the dystopian wildfires on the West Coast. To all my PDT friends, I see you and am thinking about your health and safety. To everyone else, I echo the brilliant Charlie Warzel’s words here: “I Need You to Care That Our Country Is on Fire.”
Lastly, apologies for the re-run if you also subscribe to the Anti-Racism Daily, but their recent edition on protecting the aging population from COVID-19 was particularly great. They introduced me to a new charity that sounds simply *amazing* and up the alley of many of you I know, Mon Ami. The service can connect you with an elderly person as a “phone pal” who you can connect with on a regular basis. It could mean the world to a group that is currently experiencing a lot of isolation!
Now, what you came for…
DAY 184: The Princess Bride (available on Disney+)
With something as iconic as The Princess Bride, what is there for me really to say that hasn’t been said? And certainly every brilliant piece of dialogue has somehow been refashioned into clever praise for Rob Reiner’s film. I mean, trying to bring something new to the table here has got to be a classic blunder just below the magnitude of getting involved in a land war in Asia. I can’t say that this is one I grew up with or have a particularly long relationship with (I maybe saw this in high school once?), but a revisit confirms that the people who can rattle off quote after quote were clearly onto something.
This is one of those rare childhood classics that can still bring delight as an adult. You don’t have to dumb yourself down to find The Princess Bride relevant, either. It uses the simplicity of a fairy tale structure as a way to tell a thematically rich story about love, teamwork, friendship, chivalry and power. Maybe it’s a sign of my own changing relationship to the movie that I found the framing device of a grandfather reading the story to his sick grandson just as intriguing in its dynamics.
The genius of Reiner and screenwriter William Goldman is to hit that sweet spot of complex enough to merit repeat viewings for adults but simple enough for children to grasp onto at first watch. Rewatching The Princess Bride recently made me realize just how remarkable a feat that is — making something look simple and effortless when it’s anything but. There’s such overwhelming charm and sweetness throughout, entrancing both the imagination and the heart as Westley (Cary Elwes) attempts to rescue his true love Princess Buttercup (Robin Wright) with the help of a motley crew of uniquely hilarious companions. To not let some portion of this film warm your heart is simply … inconceivable.
P.S. — If you’re a big fan of The Princess Bride, then you might want to know that the cast is reuniting for a live read this Sunday, September 13 (AKA tomorrow) as a fundraiser for the Wisconsin Democratic Party. (Apologies if those aren’t your politics, but that’s the only way to get access to this one-time event.) A donation here gets you access!
Be good to yourselves and to each other,
Marshall