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My Family's Crazy and Scarface Sucks

August 24, 2006 6:35 PM

e went out for my birthday yesterday, and it was a bit of a debacle. But I don't really want to talk about that. What I found funny was the way that my family acted. First, a little background.

We had originally planned to go to this one restaurant. I drove my grandma in one car. My aunt drove my mom and Mia (my cousin Gloria's daughter) in another car. Gloria met us there in her car. Kaky met us there in her car. When we got to the first place, I decided it sucked and that I wouldn't have a good time. Using my authority as birthday boy, I decided we were going somewhere else. Everyone was cool with that. The problem was that the seven of us had driven there in four cars. So, my cousin Gloria decided to take my other cousin, Kaky (Gloria's sister), along with Mia, my mom and my aunt, to the new restaurant. I drove my grandma. So, we left two of the four cars at the first restaurant.

We showed up at the new restaurant and, sometime later, my cousin Noel and his girlfriend showed up, each having driven their own vehicle. So, let's count up. There are now eight adults (me, my mom, my aunt, my grandma, Kaky, Gloria, Noel, and Noel's girlfriend) and six cars involved. After our meal, it was decided that I would go over to Noel's and hang out for a while and everyone else would go to their respective homes. But we had an issue: how do we get my aunt and Kaky back to their own cars?

This may not seem like a problem to you, but here's why it was. My mom used to own a truck, which she would constantly fill with random crap. She now drives a Lincoln Continental, which is not a truck. The problem is that she hasn't realized that she no longer drives a truck. She still fills the car with random crap. So the backseat of this huge car could only fit one person comfortably. So, I suggested that, since Noel and Noel's girlfriend are both there with their cars, perhaps my aunt and my mom can ride in one of those cars. When I suggested this, I was immediately screamed at that we shouldn't impose on Noel or his girlfriend and that we would make due in the Continental. This despite the fact that Noel was sitting there saying "No, really, I don't mind. Seriously, it's ok." But, to no avail.

So, now we were faced with the problem of fitting four people into a car that could reasonably fit three (due to the extra crap). So I said that I'd move all the stuff into the trunk. My parents initially agreed, but then decided we shouldn't go through the trouble (I'm saying "what fucking trouble?") and just climbed into the back seat with their feet tucked into their chests and all crammed together. Mind you, my mom and my aunt are both over 60.

I just thought that was ridiculous, and a perfect illustration of how far they're willing to go to avoid what they perceive as a great imposition on someone. Whatever.

Anyway, I did end up going over to Noel's place. We watched Scarface on his 50 inch plasma. That movie fucking blows. Not one of the main characters was in any way sympathetic. In fact, I hated them all. They were all fucking worthless, lazy criminals. Al Pacino's character was the worst. A misogynistic, abusive, self-centered drug addict, Tony Montana is neither a good character nor a good man. It frightens me that there might be people, especially men, in the world that look up to him. All of the women in the movie are shown to be stupid, drug addicts, whores, or worse. I don't require that my movies change my life, or that they be a morality tale about good triumphing over evil. I love the movie Traffic (and not just because parts of it were filmed in my home town). There are few if any purely "good" characters in Traffic. The same is true of Crash. Those are both excellent movies. But Scarface does not appeal to me in any way because Mr. Montana represents literally everything that's wrong with men. Not to mention that he's a murderer. So, I could use an explanation as to why this movie's hailed as being awesome.



6 Comments


morenonesense said:

I don't understand the reasoning that links Tony's character's "goodness" and "likeability" to being able to enjoy the movie. Its just a good film. You should let your reading audience also know that you don't like that genre of movie to begin with, not just Scarface. The reason why people like his character is because he has the courage that few people have in trying to achieve something at a high level; unfortunately, his methods of reaching his goals are definiately flawed and should not be emulated, but i think that those methods are exactly what makes him a cult figure. But because many people admire him for bad reasons does that make it a bad movie?

August 25, 2006 7:26 AM



Jorge Montego said:

Mr. morenonesense has acheived a high level of post duplication. Few people can match his level of courage and dedication. I bow in admiration to you sir and raise a toast in your honor. Salud!

August 25, 2006 9:42 AM



jbob said:

snap!

August 25, 2006 10:22 AM



Ismael Tapia II said:

You're right, morenononsense, I don't like that genre of movies, for the same basic reasons I don't like Scarface. These movies just don't meet any of the criteria that I use to determine what movies are good. I don't like the plots (I think they're predictable), I don't like the characters (I think they're terrible people), and I think the acting is good, but there are lots of movies with good acting that I don't like.

As far as Tony, I don't think that his success is due to his courage, and I definitely don't think it has anything to do with intelligence. Rather, I think his fleeting success was due to an incredible amount of arrogance and a hell of a lot of luck. Tony basically walked into places, thought he was the shit when he wasn't, and then ended up being lucky about the whole thing.

Oh, and the reason for the double (or triple) posting is a glitch on the blog that I'm working to fix. So, don't be too hard on morenononsense.

August 25, 2006 12:37 PM



The Couchess said:

First - Happy Birthday

Second - I agree that Scarface sucks. The reason I hate Tony is not because he is twisted or evil (actually this can make for a good movie - see American Psycho), but because he is completely one dimensional. Tony is just a "bad guy." This makes him extremely boring and his story distasteful. Ismael - I applaud your taste...

August 25, 2006 2:46 PM



tRJ said:

You should see the original Scarface (1932), which is about mobsters in Chicago in the 20s/30s (instead of cokeheads in Miami in 1985). Soooooooo much better.

August 26, 2006 11:50 AM



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