October 13, 2014
Family Film Blogging: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Posted by Christine Hurt

On Saturday, our whole family met another whole family to go see Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.  Because we were in Provo, we were one of only three families who were not going to see Meet the Mormons.  Even though we were meeting Mormons to go see Alexander, there was a moment of shame that we weren't going to see the documentary.  Next week.  But this week, we saw Alexander.

So, any reader will understand that my criteria for a good movie would not make me a good film teacher or film critic.  I like movies that my whole family can watch, that make me laugh, don't have too much potty humor or gross-out jokes, and have some sort of intelligence.  I would say that Alexander fits the bill.

Obviously, the movie does not track the book other than the general gist (sort of like Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs).  Alexander's bad day takes place in the first 15-20 minutes of the movie.  He gets gum in his hair, falls down in front of his 6th grade crush, finds out the most popular boy in his class is having a blow-out bash the same night as his 12th birthday party, etc.  Alexander's angst comes not because he had a bad day, but because his family doesn't seem to care in their self-centered busy-ness:  Big brother crowing about his prom the next day; big sister preening about her big theater debut the next day; mother worrying about her big book launch the next day; dad cautiously optimistic about his big interview the next day.  As you can see "the next day" has a lot of potential for the other family members.  You can brace yourself for what happens next.  At midnight on his birthday, Alexander wishes that his family could have a bad day (I'm sorry -- a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day) so that they could know what it is like and maybe empathize with him more.  And beginning the next morning, that is what happens.

What separates Alexander from a number of movies (family and not) where a series of things go horribly wrong is that the movie never loses its sweetness.  The awful, cringe-worthy things that happen are followed swiftly by an epiphany, a shared moment with a family member, a recommitment to optimism and family togetherness.  Hokey?  Maybe, but exactly the kind of movie that I like to see with my family, which is not too different from Alexander's family.  (I was sitting by my 12 year-old, and he definitely empathized with Alexander's middle child angst.)

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