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Twilight

In the last few years a literary phenomenon has taken place called the Twilight series. I believe the author is named Stephanie Meyer, but I'm not certain. These books, from what I'm told are very long, but similar to other pop culture phenomenons (Harry Potter) they are written for a very young crowd. Not too complex and not too sophisticated. This is why I have no interest in reading them.

So why would I have any interest in seeing the movie? Well, there is one reason and one reason only. I hate not knowing about something everyone else knows about. It kills me to be naive on any topic. When Seinfeld, Friends, even the recent Lost and Grey's Anatomy were popular, I gave them a shot to see what it was all about. In all four of these cases, I was very disappointed. Not only in the shows, but in the declining intelligence of the average TV viewer. Television, popular fiction and for the most part movies have declined so recently. I had no reservations when sitting down to watch Twilight. It would be awful.

So the movie starts and the voices of friends were in my head. They told me I'll hate it, the acting sucks, it's for teenage girls. Now I've seen tons of vampire films and they usually are pretty terrible. Very gory, very silly and very cookie cutter. This one starts off like an after school movie. Girl moves in with other divorced parent. New kid at school trying to fit in. Immediately she's friends with one group, but she's interested in another. Basically it's the traditional boy meets girl, girl likes boy, brooding boy turns out to be a vampire. So what caught my fancy about this movie? It's actually believable. OK, not the vampire part. The thing is, all this family of vampires wants to do is exist without scrutiny and keep their secret hidden. Hell, they don't even feed on humans and because of this they ironically call themselves vegetarians. So the boy and girl fall in love and she learns his secret. So she's dead, right? He bites her, right? Nope. This is where the movie is different. It switches gears. She's accepted as a non-vampire into their home. Yes, it's hokey, but it works. The movie ends with the traditional and all too predictable prom (even though they mention they are juniors a few times).

So what truly makes this movie, geared at teenage girls, stand out for a soon-to-be 40-year old? It's a nice teen love story. The same way Juno was great because of the main character's sarcasm. This one works, because the actors act like high-schoolers. They are nervous, they are flirty, they are awkward. too often these days movies portray teens as sophisticated when in reality, they are so far from it. A 17-year-old has no idea what romantic love is. But a 200 year-old vampire in the body of a youngster does. That's what makes this interesting. He's far more complex than her in many ways and that is important to notice. It actually makes the story credible.

Now I will fully admit it. I wanted to hate this movie. The male actors are all better looking than the female characters, the smaller characters are pretty much insignificant and some special effects are downright silly looking, but on a whole it works. I can't explain it, but I just loved the movie. The soundtrack is perfect, the scenery is perfect and if you can suspend your disbelief for a moment it's basically a great love story. Anyone who has seen the original Dracula movie Nosferatu, the Vampire, knows that the movie is truly nothing more than a love story about a man, who will live for ever, but will never find true love. Twilight is this story and if you embrace that thought, it is quite enjoyable.

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