Grab Bag

Sure I enjoyed The Hangover but it's a sign of how little in penetrated my consciousness that it took me three days to getting around to write about it. Because of the film's success all its stars will have the opportunity for future work sooner rather than later; I think we can be reasonably sure what can be expected from Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms (and yes, Heather Graham) but what of Zach Galifianakis? I'm not convinced he's much of an actor yet but Galifianakis does have a creased and rumpled comic presence coasted with a sweetness not present in Will Ferrell, the last Todd Phillips-created star. How long before Galifianakis is roped into some project that totally misunderstands his abilities a la Land Of The Lost?

Colson Whitehead's novel Sag Harbor is the story of Benji, an African-American youth spending what's really the last summer of his childhood at the beach circa 1985. Benji is a curious case, more into Depeche Mode and other unlikely bands than the early rap his friends like, but the novel is really about the minutiae of a pre-Web and pre-a lot of other things summer. Ice cream, BB gun fights, the beach, and a father's talent (or lack thereof) for barbecue make up Benji's days. I wish Whitehead had kept the book in Benji's 1985 consciousness and not imposed a halfhearted framing device on the book; hearing Benji's perspective from 25 years later doesn't really add much. That said, Sag Harbor is a much warmer and more accessible book than the last Whitehead I read (John Henry Days) and will have me coming back for his next effort.