The Year of Getting to Know Us (2008)

In the past year (probably longer) I have really fallen in complete love with Jimmy Fallon. I have always liked him, I loved his time on SNL. I loved him for the same reasons most people didn't like him on SNL (half the time he couldn't keep a straight face and would crack up...) that made him super endearing to me. I love what a fanboy he is on his talk show. He gives my absolute favorite interviews and I love love LOVE his new show. I have seen most of his movies as well, and always enjoyed them. My favorite role, of course being his small role in Almost Famous. The scene on the plane just cracks me up every time. Just so we all get it....I love Jimmy Fallon. So I jumped at the chance to watch this, when I saw it appear on my instant Netflix options the past few weeks. This was a small, slow, sad little movie about a young man named Christopher Rocket, who has to return home when his estranged father has a stroke. The story is told mostly in flashbacks, where we catch a glimpse of a very unhappy boy, in a pretty dysfunctional family. His mother (played by Sharon Stone) was clearly not happy in her life/marriage and I hate to use the word nutty, but I can't think of a more appropriate word for her. She definitely was "out there". Tom Arnold played the father, who was very distant, and ended up being a womanizer. The movie was just okay for me. I thought Jimmy was fabulous of course, proving that he actually can act, because I tell you, he barely cracked a smile throughout the entire movie. He was somber, depressed and pretty serious, while trying to make some sense of his childhood and past in order to move forward in his future. I thought he was completely believable and would love to see him take on more serious roles like this. He really was great. His girlfriend, played by Lucy Liu, seems to be waiting for him to make a commitment, which he seems to be unable to make, and the movie sort of makes this a focal point at the end. It was very choppy to me, I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be feeling half of the time. The high point for me, was the always fabulous Illeana Douglas ( can she just be in every movie, all the time?) as one of his fathers conquests. I wish I had liked this more than I did....I saw one reviewer compare it to Garden State, which I liked SO much better. I don't think this was an awful movie, I just didn't love it. I was glad I put forth the effort to watch it, though, as it gave me more reasons to order my I Love Jimmy Fallon T-shirt. Skip the movie, tune in to his late night talk show...thats my advice!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0924134/