Before the evening unpleasantness, I did have an enjoyable Saturday afternoon at the movies, tripling my total of trips to the theater since moving from 1 to 3. The Cooler was, well, pretty damn cool. It combined two themes I really like--the schlub gets the hot chick, and old Vegas vs. new Vegas. Why is it, by the way, that in that story we're always romanticizing Mob Vegas over Corporate Vegas? I'm not disagreeing, I'm just asking. I also saw Intolerable Cruelty. I make no claims for this as a great movie, but it was tremendously enjoyable. Even when the Coen Brothers are off their game (OK, a quick glance at their filmography tells me that hasn't ever happened before, but go with me here), they have some great set pieces and memorable supporting characters you won't soon forget. Also, Julia Duffy reminded me of her existence for the first time since "Newhart" by appearing as Catherine Zeta-Jones' best friend. Zeta-Jones and George Clooney do not have great chemistry, but they're good enough, and I always enjoy Clooney when he's in a role that you're not supposed to take too seriously.

Of course, you should keep these two things in mind if you take any of the above as a recommendation:

1. Since I haven't seen any movies lately, I might have just been so happy to be there that I would have loved most anything.
2. I watched Justin Timberlake host Saturday Night Live on, well, that night, and I really liked that too. So, um, see #1.