Erin and I decided it was a Redbox night last night, so we watched "Captain America." Not a huge fan, especially compared to other marvel films (specifically "Iron Man"). It drives Erin nuts sometimes, but when I watch movies I like to think about the hours and hours of someone's life that went into crafting the story line, designing the sets and costumes, finding the right actors, composing the underscoring music, assembling the musicians to record that underscoring, ordering lunch for the cast and crew, making sure that Chris Evans's hair is perfectly quafted even though he just jumped into the water to stop a German submarine looking thingie, etc ...
But even with the hundreds of thousands of hours invested into making a film like that, the thing that continues to amaze me is that when it really comes down to it, the thing that keeps my interest the most is the chemistry between the leading actors. In Captain America, it was all about Peggy Carter and Steve Rogers (Hayley Atwell and Chris Evans). From their conversation in the car before his big "procedure" to the way she looked at him when he came out of the big body-transformation machine thingy (btw, ohmyheckwherecanIgetmyhandsononeofthose?), to their final cheesy kiss right before he jumped from the super long car into the butt end of the futuristic plane thing, they had me caring about what would happen to them. The story line, the villain, the side stories, the millions of dollars worth of special effects, none of that interested me even a hint as much as the romantic chemistry between the main characters. That's why when the show ended, Erin and I looked at each other and went, "really?" We were bummed because they didn't end up happily ever after.
For me, it's like that in all genres. Plays, movies, musicals, sitcoms, whatever - the thing that I really care about is the chemistry. My favorite movie is unabashedly "Serendipity" starring Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack. Although in the movie their characters spend a relatively small amount of time together, the chemistry they create during the opening scenes is more than enough to keep our interest peaked through the rest of the necessary plot twists and details. I love how they look at each other after the glove magically falls from the sky. They're excited, yes, but it's that calm magical feeling that surpasses all outward displays of excitement. They just look at each other, straight in the eyes as calmly as can be.
K so that's my point. All I ever really care about is the chemistry. "Captain America" was kind of boring and predictable, but the chemistry made me like it.
Are you like me?