22nd
In which my pop-culture fascination rears its head
A couple of years ago, I went to the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, where I very much enjoyed a movie called “Ira and Abby,” a sweet, quirky, goofy romantic comedy about a guy (played by Chris Messina, the guy who played Claire’s boyfriend Ted on Six Feet Under) who meets a cute, friendly girl at the gym (Jennifer Westfeldt; more on her in a minute) and then hastily marries her. Complications ensue, it’s adorable, etc.
After the film, Jennifer Westfeldt, the star of the movie and also the writer, came and spoke. She’s also known for writing and starring in Kissing Jessica Stein, which I had also seen and liked. I was absolutely amazed by how articulate, charming and down-to-earth she seemed to be. Obviously, she’s beautiful, but she’s far from the empty-headed starlet you normally picture. I remember hoping she really hit the big time. She really seemed to deserve it.
A little while later, she had a show on ABC, Notes from the Underbelly, which was kind of crappy and didn’t last long, and didn’t exactly boost her into stardom.
But I just saw last night that a) she is about to be on Grey’s Anatomy for a multi-episode arc, and while Grey’s has sucked lately, that’s pretty big, and b) apparently she is in a long-time relationship with Jon Hamm. AWESOME. So I find this all very nice. Obviously it’s been a good year for the two of them and from all accounts, they deserve it. It’s refreshing to watch a couple of people who have actually worked hard to make it in Hollywood and seem to be pretty OK people with a lot of talent. It makes me feel a lot less guilty about my unadulterated love for the entertainment biz.
