We started the day with breakfast at Original House of Pancakes where I got the Mandarin orange crepes. Karen got a bacon and egg sandwich on sourdough. She wanted a car wash, so we went and waited while they washed it. As they were drying it, a bird kept shitting on the roof because they parked it under a tree to dry it. Quite amusing.
I’ve loved this book ever since I read it and damn near everyone I’ve recommended it to has loved it too. It’s hysterical, perverted, romantic, and just plain ole’ fun. I think Michael Cera is a great actor and have liked him ever since I fell in love with Arrested Development (thanks Maury). I was really pre-disposed to like this movie. Only, sadly, I didn’t.
The movie was awesomely cast, and everyone was believable in their roles which was good because I didn’t really buy Michael Cera as Nick Twisp, but he pulled it off. CD Payne wrote the book, and he had a hand in the screenplay so I figured the book would be followed closely, just with stuff missing to fit in to the allotted time. I should have known there was trouble when I heard how short the movie was.
It started of perfectly, and while things weren’t quite in order, it was true to the spirit of the book. A significantly scene with Lefty was cut and that thing in the book which set it all in motion was replaced with a far more stupid reason. François was well done. Then when they visit Sheeni in school, it falls apart. (They pull in and are clearly the only car in the circle, but as the camera pans, cars mysteriously are parked everywhere. In the room at night, as they are going to bed, sunlight is hitting them full on. At night.) The movie gets sloppy with continuity like that. Worse, it stops following the book and goes to Hell quickly.
The acting was fine — odd but in-line with the book — but the whole thing felt weird. There were random Claymation and animated sequences thrown in for no good reason. It was just uneven and not in a good way. Karen thought it was boring. Perhaps if I hadn’t read the book, I might have liked it better because it was still quite funny. It just isn’t what this book’s legacy deserved.
Afterward, we went to Rock And Roll Ribs, the new BBQ place owned by the drummer for Iron Maiden, Nicko McBrain. The service was absolutely horrific and if we hadn’t had two hours to kill, I’d have walked out. Twenty minutes and nobody came to our table and there are only fourteen tables and six waitresses. Brenda had to get up and ask for someone to come over and it still took five minutes. Not even an apology for not coming by. And it didn’t get much better after that. The food was not fantastic. I got my corn on the cob and it was still FROZEN SOLID. Yeah, they used frozen corn. First, it’s Florida and there is no excuse for frozen corn on the cob. None. They at least apologized for that. My meat was tough and stringy. The sauce was decent (sweet) and the regular sauce was okay but a bit too peppery for my taste. I didn’t try the tangy sauce. Karen’s baby backs were better than my brisket. Evan’s spare-ribs were much better and if I went back, that’s what I’d get. The atmosphere was great and that’s everything you’d expect from a rocker. Tons of memorabilia and if you don’t like metal, you won’t like the soundtrack. Karen hated it. I didn’t mind it, though I’m not a big Iron Maiden fan so many of the songs didn’t interest me. It was a tad too loud and it was hard to have a conversation, but they finally lowered it. My desire to return is low, not because the service is so bad, but when we complained, they just didn’t care. We spent over $100 for our table (two checks) and that just isn’t acceptable. Even a poorly run restaurant, the manager would have apologized and offered a free appetizer, drink, or desert. We didn’t even get the apology and that is inexcusable. After that, we went to the mall to look around FYE Music (Karen got Kenny Loggins. EWWWW), then to the Panthers game who had a stellar win (if the Panthers win it’s stellar). It sounds like a complaint filed day but we had a great time.