TV Tuesday: Shrek The Halls (2007)

 

Shrek The Halls - 2007

On this edition of TV Tuesday, we feature "Shrek The Halls", where we see Shrek and the gang celebrate Christmas.

The film's voice cast includes Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Eddie Murphy, Aron Warner, Conrad Vernon, Cody Cameron, Christopher Knights, and Marissa Janet Winokur.

It's Christmastime in the swamp, and Shrek has promised Fiona and the kids something special.  He doesn't know the first thing about Christmas.  So, he's got to learn in a hurry.

He goes into town, where an overzealous bookseller gives him a crash course in Christmas.  She stresses the importance of the telling of the Christmas story, which has Shrek more than a little bit worried.

Back at home, Shrek starts in on the decorating.  Donkey isn't at all impressed.  "It's horrible!" he says.  "Usually, they just throw toilet paper and run away, but whoever did this means business!"

Donkey is visiting Shrek and Fiona so that he can pass out his Christmas card.  Shrek just rolls his eyes.

That night (Christmas Eve), Shrek and Fiona's friends come over for an impromptu Christmas party and swap Christmas stories.  Donkey tells of magical peacocks, a dancing roast turkey, and a waffle Santa Claus fifty feet high!

Puss tells of leather cravats and a cute little fuzzy thing hanging from his hat!

Gingy tells a horror story of actually ending up on the plate of cookies offered to Santa.  His girlfriend Susie gets eaten.

Things aren't striking the right note for Shrek, though.  He wants everything to be perfect for his family and he's not feeling that the evening is going as it should.  After a misunderstanding, everyone comes into the house for a sleepover, and Shrek gets to tell his Christmas story.

'Twas the night before Christmas, not a swamp rat did creep, as mom and the kids played kazoo in their sleep.

The house was a sight that would make any ogre droop for it was sickeningly sweet as unicorn poop.

And who should arrive to help this lost cause?  The vile, the foul, and handsome Ogre Claus. ("Hey, how's it going?")  He looked around scratching his beard, and said..."This is worse than I thought...feared!"  So, he adjusted his gut and scrunched up his face and let out a belch that transformed the place.

Seeing that his work was all done, he turned to the kids and he gave one by one a bottle of festering swamp juice and to mom a kiss and a big Christmas goose.  ("Four hundred twenty-five degrees, twenty minutes per pound.")

And I heard him exclaim as he rode out of sight, "Smelly Christmas to all, and to all a gross night!"

Shrek and the gang then get a Christmas surprise as Santa is riding by and performs a little magic with the moon.

Cast rundown:

   Mike Myers...................................Shrek

   Cameron Diaz...............................Princess Fiona

   Antonio Banderas...........................Puss In Boots

   Eddie Murphy................................Donkey

   Aron Warner..................................Wolf

   Conrad Vernon..............................Gingerbread Man

   Cody Cameron..............................Pinocchio/Three Pigs

   Christopher Knights.......................Blind Mice

   Marissa Janet Winokur....................Bookstore Clerk

And that's it for Shrek The Halls.  It's a pretty great installment in the Shrek franchise.  I love Shrek's take on the "Night Before Christmas" poem.

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Fever Pitch (2005)

Fever Pitch - 2005

Coming up next is 2005's "Fever Pitch", a fun rom-com that follows the story of a die hard Red Sox baseball and a businesswoman who is clueless when it comes to the game he is in love with.

The film's cast includes Drew Barrymore, Jimmy Fallon, KaDee Strickland, Marissa Janet Winokur, Johnny Sneed, JoBeth Williams, Andrew Wilson, James Sikking, and Don Orsillo.

Schoolteacher Ben Wrightman and businesswoman Lindsey Meeks meet cute when Ben brings his class on a field trip to Lindsey's office.  Ben awkwardly asks Lindsey out on a date, and she's charmed enough to accept.

When it's time for Ben to pick Lindsey up for their date, she can't make it.  She's got a bad case of food poisoning.  She quickly tries to get rid of Ben, but he decides to stick around anyway.

Ben helps her get into bed, makes sure she has plenty of fluids, and even cleans up her bathroom after she constantly throws up.

Lindsey can't help but see how charming and lovable Ben is.  She decides to keep seeing him.

However, Ben has a secret.  He's a Red Sox baseball fan.  Not just a fan.  He's a HUGE fan.  He sleeps in the team's sheets, has the shower curtain, various memorabilia decorating his apartment, and even New York Yankees toilet paper.

Lindsey is completely oblivious to this fact, though.  The two run full steam ahead into their relationship.  At Niagara Falls, Ben takes the opportunity to find a barrel and gets inside, which makes Lindsey laugh.

Ben is also a Red Sox season tickets holder.  He is so excited when the year's tickets are delivered.  He eagerly opens the package and smells the new passes to his baseball dreams.

Ben surprises Lindsey one day with a box.  She's nervous and apprehensive, not sure of what's happening.

She's relieved when Ben opens the box and asks her to be his date for opening day at the baseball game.

On opening day, Lindsey and Ben have a great time, though Lindsey doesn't get his fascination with the sport at all.  She tries for his sake to enjoy herself.

Lindsey and Ben go to more and more games.  Things get out of hand, though, when Lindsey gets hit by a foul ball.  Oblivious to this is Ben, who high fives the man who gets to keep it.

And Lindsey is mortified when she sees the replay on the news broadcast.

She invites Ben on a trip to Paris, where her job is sending her.  He wants to go, but says he has to stay in town because there are baseball games that weekend.  Lindsey decides enough is enough, and she hits the brakes on their relationship.

With Lindsey out of his life, baseball is all Ben has left.  And even that starts to dissatisfy him.  His friends stage an intervention and snap him out of his funk.

Eventually, Ben chooses Lindsey over baseball.  He decides to sell his seats for a large sum of money.

Lindsey hears of this plan and books it to the stadium.  She can't get to Ben as quick as she'd like, so she improvises and decides to make a beeline right for him through the grass.

With security closing in around her, Lindsey tells Ben, "If you love me enough to sell your tickets, I love you enough not to let you."  She tears up the contract he's just signed.

As the Red Sox make it to the World Series, Ben and Lindsey are with them every step of the way.  After the team wins, the two lovebirds kiss on the field as the team rejoices around them.

Cast rundown:

   Drew Barrymore................................Lindsey Meeks

   Jimmy Fallon.....................................Ben Wrightman

   KaDee Strickland...............................Robin

   Marissa Janet Winokur........................Sarah

   Johnny Sneed...................................Chris

   JoBeth Williams.................................Maureen Meeks

   Andrew Wilson...................................Patrick Lyons

   James Sikking...................................Doug Meeks

   Don Orsillo........................................Himself

And that's it for Fever Pitch.  All of the baseball events in the film, with the exception of one, are real.  While filming in Toronto, Drew Barrymore was asked to throw out the first pitch of a baseball game.  She obliged, but the pitch barely made it to home plate and she was extremely embarrassed.

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