Bad Lieutenant (1992) and Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009)

Today, I'll be looking at the two Bad Lieutenant films, both crime movies involving a (kinda) crooked cop. One coming from the guy who made a film about a kung fu prostitute murderer, and a guy who kills hobos with a power drill, and the other from the man who gave us Nosferatu, and Aguirre: Wrath of God...

Abel Ferrara's Bad Lietuenant is about an unnamed lieutenant, and stuff happens involving a nun. That's it, basically. Nothing happens in this damn movie!...

When I first saw this some years ago, I really liked it! And now I hate its guts. Funny how things work out. I had the same reaction to The Hit.

Onto the good, Harvey Keitel acts the hell out of his role, and he is fantastic! His monologue at the end is awesome! The film also has something from Keitel which is nothing new if you've seen The Piano.

As good as Keitel is in the role, the unnamed lieutenant is a dull character. Dull because we know nothing about him, and he has no character, or depth. He's just a druggie semi-crooked cop.

For the titular bad lieutenant, he's not that bad. Sure, he's addicted to drugs, and he stoops to stealing the stuff from crime scenes, but aside from that, he's not a killer, not a rapist, or a torturer, or psycho. He's a dick, but he ain't all that bad. By the way, given he's a cop with at least three kids, you'd think he wouldn't have time for drugs and bookies.

The plot to Bad Lieutenant is barely there. The film is mostly just a bunch of stringed together random scenes of this cop's life.

Like I said above, the monologue near the end is great stuff. Unfortunately it's pretty unintentionally hollow, rather than insightful, given something annoying about the whole last act. Also, the "I've done so many bad things!" line comes across as clunky. It's a pretty unreadable line (if it doesn't seem that way seeing it there, it will if you see the film).

By far the biggest problem with Bad Lieutenant is that it's BORING! Many scenes are too drawn out, and the editing is scattershot. The direction is pretty good throughout, and great in the last half-hour. Tip of the hat to Ferrara for that at least.

If you want an example of this movie's boredom, here's one. There's one scene where the lieutenant and some chick (played by co-writer of Bad Lieutenant, and star of Ferrara's Ms. 45 Zoe Tamerlis Lund, the movie never bothers to tell us who she is) both take turns in shooting up heroin IN REAL TIME! It takes nearly five minutes, and there's no dialogue at all for the majority of the scene!

There's one strange scene, where after having a threeway with two prostitutes, a naked Harvey Keitel walks around tweeting like a bird. Yeah. He's bombed out on drugs, but the film doesn't show that, so unless you've read about the reason for his behaviour beforehand, you're gonna be very confused and weirded out!

There's also a really stupid scene where the Lieutenant takes out his big fuck-off magnum and literally shoots his car radio out in anger after losing a gamble! Now, I remembered this scene taking place late in the film, when his final gamble has failed, and he now owes hundreds of thousands to his bookie. While stupid, that would at least make sense, given how desperate he is. But no, the shooting scene is way before then, so it just comes across as hilarious.

The movie has lots to do with sport, so if you dislike sport as much as I do, then you'll be a touch annoyed. Also if you dislike sport, you have full license to fast-forward through the opening credits.

The film has some overwrought symbolism here and there, like the intercuts of Jesus on the cross during the rape scene.

I don't like the plot point of the nun forgiving her rapists, as I find it annoying. This nun is brutally raped and tortured, yet forgives her attackers, because religion, love, and stuff. However, that doesn't nearly piss me off as much as the ending, because the thing with the nun is just a bullshit decision from a character in the story, rather than the writer. The ending is total bullshit, given what happens with the rapists!

The film is dark and grim, and some find it pretty soul-crushing, but it left me unfazed. But I'm me, and I was left unfazed by a film where a woman vomits out her intestines, then makes love to them*. Emily of Deadly Dolls House of Horror Nonsense hilariously said in a comment in a post that "I'd rather buy Abel Ferrara a puppy and ice cream cone and tell him the world isn't nearly as bad as he makes it seem." Yep, that's about right!

*That film may or may not exist.

I don't recommend Bad Lieutenant at all. It's a total snooze. Some people like it, and I once did, but now, I say stay away from it, and watch what I'm about to talk about...

Now, onto Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans...

The film is about Terence Mcdonagh (Nicolas Cage), a detective working in New Orleans (unfortunately Shadowman does not show up). During Hurricane Katrina, McDonagh injured his back when rescuing a prisoner stranded in a flooded jail cell, and is on constant medication, which he gets addicted to, as well as other drugs. McDonagh is promoted for his bravery to Lieutenant, and months later, he's assigned to the investigation of the massacre of a family...

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans isn't a sequel, nor is it technically a remake (although it absolutely could be seen as such), and it just shares the title with the 1992 movie, without Abel Ferrara's approval. About that, Ferrara was...slightly annoyed. That's a kind way of saying he wanted everyone involved in the film to die in a car crash. I'm not using an analogy, he actually said that! Herzog denied that he was ripping off, or drew inspiration from Ferrara's film, which sounds like a blatant freakin' lie! I have no idea why he bothered, as not only do the films share the same title, but both are about a crooked, drug-addicted cop with bookie problems, and there are even some similar scenes.

Further comparing the two films, while Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant is starkly realistic, Herzog's, while still realistic, is in fantasy land, if that makes any sense. The tone is very different, in a good way.

I can only hope that despite his justifiably pissed off attitude, Ferrara either saw the film and loved it, or will see the film at some point and love it.

The plot to Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is very good! It's well written, and it's a very enjoyable sit! You won't believe the movie's two hours long, as it goes by so fast. The atmosphere is great, thanks to the locale, and the great score.

The film is very quotable ("To the break of dawn, baby, to the break of dawn!"-"What are those fucking iguanas doing on my coffee table?!"-"Could I have my prescription, please?!"-"It's my lucky crack pipe. Do you have a lucky crack pipe?"-"Shoot him again, his soul's still dancing!" and many more), with numerous laugh-out-loud moments. The ending is a laugh riot! If you're used to grim cop movies, you're in for one hell of a surprise!

By the way, who knew the line "Do fish have dreams?" would be thematically relevant!

The acting's all great! Nicolas Cage turns in a fantastically kooky performance, Val Kilmer is depressingly out of shape here, but still a good actor, and everyone else is fine.

There is one problem I have with the film. Near the end, the first couple of minutes of a prior scene where McDonagh finds a young couple, hassles them for having drugs, and the girlfriend comes onto him to avoid getting arrested, etc., is replayed, for no reason. It's like a mistake happened in the editing process. Since it's not, I assume it meant to be metaphorical/symbolic of something, but of what? That McDonagh is still a bad guy, and hasn't changed? That sounds like it could be the reason, but that's bullcrap, as the whole climax and ending is just the freakin' opposite of that, so if that was the point, then the movie screws it over, or vice versa.

So, if you want to watch a Bad Lieutenant film, please, please make it the 2009 version! And if you want to watch a better Abel Ferrara film, then watch Driller Killer, or Ms. 45...

Pyjama Party (1965)

No, I'm not going to spell it 'pajama', America, it's 'pyjama'. Also, aluminium, not aluminum, and Herbs, with an AICH. The H is not silent!

Err, getting that out of the way, onto beach party flick Pyjama Party...

This movie is an entry in the Beach Party series, in the respect that it isn't. It isn't, but is made by the same people, has hot women in bikinis, and stars some familiar actors, albeit in different roles, although it does have the Rat Pack from all the other films.

I was really looking forwards to this after how much I enjoyed How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, but it was apparent very soon that this movie sucked. I debated turning it off only ten minutes in until a gang of certain characters showed up...

Despite the awesomeness that is Elsa Lanchester and Buster Keaton, I had zero interest in the film until Eric von Zipper and his Rat Pack showed up! But that made things worse, because that meant I had to sit through a movie I wouldn't like just for a select bunch of funny characters I do like. But I didn't. I switched the movie off. Sorry Alberta. I'm sure you were awesome.

When I saw that aliens were in this movie, I was surprised, although I've no idea why, since other entries in this series involve magic, and ghosts, as well as a tangentially connected movie with Vincent Price's girl bomb and bikini machine creating mad scientist Dr. Goldfoot. But still, the aliens really come out of left field.

The movie has a few guest stars, like an unfunny and annoying song that unfortunately stars Dorothy Lamour-Unfortunate because I like good ol' Dotty Lamour. And said musical number also has a cameo from a young Terri Garr and Toni Basil. Did any of you just have the same thought as I did? "Toni Basil? Singer of Hey, Mickey? Wasn't she in diapers in 1965?!". And the answer is yes, that Toni Basil, and no, she was born in 1943! Hey, Mickey is such a teen girl song, and even in the video clip, Basil is decked out in cheerleader garb, and she was forty?! And she's seventy now?! God, I feel old!

I ducked out about twenty minutes into this flick. I figure at a point I'll buy the Beach Party box-set, and when I get to Pyjama Party, I'll just fast-forward through all scenes that don't include the Rat Pack (maybe I'll watch the Elsa Lanchester scenes, but only maybe, because her character is linked heavily with the annoying dull plot I don't like).

Now, how about I close us out with some tunes from another sort-of-but-not Beach Party flick, Ski Party!...

Yeah, I'll just as quickly listen to a Leslie Gore song as I would heavy metal or hard rock, and I know the lyrics to Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows just as verbatim as the lyrics to Alice Cooper's Bed of Nails. I definitely have a taste for varied types of music, that's for sure!

How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965)

Bikini beach party movies were big in the 60's, and it's cool that this particular series actually bothered to have fun, entertaining, and varied (from what I've read) plots, rather than just have samey stories, with each one be just of people at a beach in bikinis. If this entry is any indication, these films aren't one-note.

So, this is the sixth in a seven film series that tended to star Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello as couple Frankie (HOW ORIGINAL!) and Dee Dee, as well as other characters, including a goofy biker gang led by Eric von Zipper. How to Stuff a Wild Bikini has Frankie out in South East Asia on navy reserves, where he's banging every native girl with a pulse, yet doesn't want his girlfriend Dee Dee cheating on him, so he goes to a witchdoctor Bwana (Buster Keaton), to get a spell done to make sure that no man goes near Dee Dee. The spell takes the form of Cassandra (Beverly Adams), a beautiful, yet clumsy bombshell, who's meant to distract all men from Dee Dee. The plan would work, if not for ad exec Peachy (Mickey Rooney) discovering her and hiring her for his new girl next door ad image. A worker for the company, Ricky (Dwayne Hickman) is attracted to Dee Dee, and the two hit it off really well.

Meanwhile, biker Eric von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck) falls for Cassandra, and as the two team up, they and Ricky and Dee Dee are in for a motorcycle race to decide the girl and boy next door...

This is definitely an entertaining sit! It's funny, is a cool musical, and most importantly, *ahem*, let me compose myself...BABES IN BIKINIS!

The acting is all good. My favourites were Annette Funicello and Alberta Nelson as biker lady Pus. Buster Keaton is amusing as witchdoctor Bwana, and the cameo at the end with Bwana's daughter is funny too. At least, it is until the nose twitch.

The musical numbers are all fine. The songs are catchy and memorable, but most are short. Not cripplingly short, but still not long enough. Either way, I had songs like American Boy, Healthy Girl, and Greatest on Mad Avenue in my head for a while! Still do as of writing this in fact!

The characters are all fine, although Cassandra not only doesn't get much character, but she all but vanishes from the movie at the halfway point, and pretty much only comes back when the race comes. If she was around for the whole movie, I'm sure her character would fare better, but as it stands, she's just a clumsy bikini broad who exists.

As for the character of Frankie, he's an asshole! He has no issues cheating on his girlfriend, but he's so paranoid that she might cheat on him that he has a magical spell performed to keep her away from all men.

Given that I know next to nothing about the previous entries in this series, as far as I know, this movie's treatment of the Frankie character could be a character assassination, or maybe not, since practically every previous entry in this serious was about Frankie trying to win Dee Dee back, so I guess he was always a dick.

As for Frankie Avalon's appearance in the movie, he's only present for about six minutes total. Some sources say that it's because he asked for more money than the producers were willing to pay, and thus was delegated to what basically amounts to an extended cameo, but it's more likely because he was working on another movie at the same time as this, Sergeant Deadhead. Keeping in tune with the latter possibility is in the ending credits, where they say "The producers of this film wish to extend a special thank you to Frankie Avalon". That doesn't really sound like the kind of thing producers would say to an actor they've put on punishment duty.

The plot to How to Stuff a Wild Bikini is fun, although the ending sucks.


extremely mild spoilers
Yeah, I consider spoiling the end of this particular movie to be an extremely mild spoiler!


This movie's ending sucks! Dee Dee ultimately breaks things off with Ricky, Frankie comes back, and the two stay together. That's bull. She should have ended up with Ricky! Frankie's a cheating dickhead! The only reason Dee Dee and Ricky don't get together by the end is because they had to have the status quo back for the next movie...buuut neither of them are in the next (and final) movie. I guess then that they just wanted fans of the series to be happy, even though Frankie'll probably end up going all "You don't like my music?" on Dee Dee at some point in their lives.

What also doesn't make sense is Cassandra and Eric parting ways.

Also, Ricky ends up with Cassandra at the end, but when they get to his place, she disappears. Uh, why? That was specifically what Bwana said he wouldn't make happen! I guess Ricky ain't gettin' a happily ever after then.


There are a couple of funny and stupid things about the movie, respectively. The first is the choice of food Dee Dee and Ricky have on their date-KFC!* Who eats KFC on a date? And with a massive bucket each? I couldn't eat a whole bucket like that of KFC, and I'm the type who strips a whole pizza down like a piranha for myself. Also, there are a couple of terrible green screens while characters are simply walking at a beach. And it's painfully obvious that they're only making motions, and not actually walking.

*KFC showed up in plenty of B-movie type flicks, because Colonel Sanders was apparently a big fan, and was willing to fund many such movies as long as they has product placement of KFC in them. I can't complain, KFC is worth product plamenting!...

So, yeah,  despite the sucky ending, I absolutely recommend How to Stuff a Wild Bikini! It's great fun!

Mr. Nice Guy (1997)

Mr. Nice Guy (or No More Mr. Nice Guy as I regularly mistakenly call it) is about Jackie (played by Jackie Chan-Wow, they really went out of their way to give his character an original name, didn't they!), a TV chef who gets embroiled in a gang's hunt for an incriminating tape that plucky journalist, Diana (Gabrielle Fitzpatrick) has filmed...

Mr. Nice Guy is a cool action flick! The acting is all good. Jackie Chan is great as the hero, and Richard Norton is fun as the villain, even if his dialogue is pretty cheesy.

The martial arts choreography is all great, and Jackie's stunts are always cool (except for the super dangerous ones, which just make Chan look like a fucking idiot with a death wish. There are no such stunts on display here though, unless that bandsaw was real).

The score is ok, though there's this clang music effect that's  reused again and again and again! It's a neat bit of incidental music, but my God is it overused!

The characters aren't exactly amazingly written, but they're servicable. The only problem is that the film has no resolutions to anything, as I'll address when I come to the ending. There are some stupid character moments, like how despite the fact that they're trying to retrieve incriminating evidence, Richard Norton's gangster's run around in public, in broad daylight, chasing, kidnapping, and shooting at people!

Diane is also kinda stupid. After everything goes down with filming the tape (her getting repeatedly nearly caught and killed), why doesn't she just go to the police? She'd be safe, the evidence would be in the right hands, and anyway, her cameraman is dead as far as she knows! She could at least call to send help for him to see if he got out ok, or at least make sure those who murdered him are brought to justice. Also, the chase scene partway into the movie with Diane only in her underwear is fanservice for sure, but, hey, I don't care. I'm a guy, so I can't hate on a scene like that! WOO!..Yes, I'm weak...

And there's that Jackie doesn't want he and co. to go to a safehouse, like goddamn idiots!

There's also a just-so-happens moment with a belt sander-ish thingy, where the only thing that stops Jackie from getting gutted like an unfaithful boyfriend is the machine's cord just happening to pulled out when the villain holding it goes to far (it cuts of jjjuuuuuussst as it hits Jackie).

This is a Hong Kong made film, though filmed in Melbourne. This was filmed pretty much entirely in English, with Australian actors, but when it came to the American release...

God, "I don' twant read no darn movie" fuckwits piss me off to no end! The offensive jerkoffs! It's even worse when Australian and British films get dubbed into American. English films getting dubbed into English! Yeah, American distributors really are that freakin' insecure.

The fact that the American distributors dubbed the Australian actors into American for their cut is not only offensive and borderline racist, but it also pisses me off because 1, Having the film be set in Australia is unique for a movie like this, or in fact, any movie, and 2, Do you know how many Australian films get released every year. About one, maybe two. And all the homegrown fiction we get on TV is terrible soap operas, and shitty gangland dramas! That's almost literally it. So when a film that's very Australian is Americanified, I get really pissed off! Thankfully I watched the proper-ish English cut of the movie.

By the way, I use that term 'Australian actors' loosely, as many of the actors' accents waver between broad Aussie, and broad American. I can only imagine it's because the actors wanted to pander to the American market, but also wanted to stay with their proper accents. This is kinda like that 60's Doctor Who story Enemy of the World, where the producers just figured South African was close enough to our accents (it's not), and hired a bunch of them to play Aussies.

Ok, back to the movie-The finale is great! It's extremely cathartic to see what Jackie does to the baddies after a whole movie of he and his friends repeatedly getting chased, shot at, and kidnapped.

The ending though, is not so good. It just stops! There's no denouement at all! And as for Diane, the last you see of her is in a hospital bed when there's still nearly half-an-hour left to go! This ending really doesn't give a shit about the characters! But hey, it's a Chinese film. We're lucky the damn film even has ending credits!*

*From what I've read, it was Jackie Chan who popularized ending credits in China. Until then, all you'd ever get was a The End caption, then movie over.

The effects (largely present in the finale) are fantastic! You can really see the budget onscreen with this movie! For those who think CGI is superior to practical effects, watch Mr. Nice Guy's climax. Then go watch The Thing. Then Demon Wind....Ok, I know I'm giving you steadily declining-in-quality recommendations, but still!...

Aside from some product placement, there's a bad edit near the end with the two Demon henchmen. Are they shot, or shot at? The camera never even shows them when the shots are fired. I've no idea why-The film is already pretty bloody, I don't know how much a couple'a blood squibs would up the rating. The film also utilizes that cutting frames technique, which is a bit annoying. And speaking of editing, how is the evidence video tape edited?!

Overall, Mr. Nice Guy is ridiculously ridiculous, but fun. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some Alice Cooper tunes to listen too!...

The Songs of Grease 2

I'd like to open up this new year by talking more about my new favourite movie-Grease 2! I'd like to talk about its great songs more in-depth, so without further ado...

Actually, yes further ado. I should brief those who haven't seen this movie on the plot. It's about foreign exchange student from England*, Michael Carrington (Maxwell Caulfield) coming to American school Rydell High, where he falls in love with popular Pink Lady Stephanie Zinone (Michelle Pfeiffer), who at first doesn't want anything to do with him, and he also faces opposition from the T-Birds, a bunch of greasers who are the only ones allowed to date the Pink Ladies...

*By the way, he's meant to be the cousin of the Australian Sandy (Olivia Newton-John from the first film), yet Michael is British. Was that a deliberate move, or did the makers of this film genuinely not know the difference? I'd say they just wanted Maxwell Caulfield for the role, and let it slide, because producer Alan Stigwood is an Aussie, so he'd know the difference.

So, to start...

Back to School Again

This is sung as an opener to the movie, as all the students of Rydell High School come back for the start-of-year.

Like all the songs in this movie, the choreography in this number is great! It's fun, energetic, and has fine singing!

A few times, the song is broken up by dialogue, but that's fine, as they're character introductions.

Let's Score Tonight

At the local bowling alley, the T-Birds and Pink Ladies are bowling against each-other.

There was one critic who was ridiculously negative about this film (that is, she came across like she only wanted to rag on it because she was bored, rather than for an actual distaste for the movie). She said "This time the story can't even masquerade as an excuse for stringing the songs together. Songs? What songs? The numbers in Grease 2 are so hopelessly insubstantial that the cast is forced to burst into melody about pastimes like bowling".

What?! You mean people sing about stuff in a musical? Oh balderdash and piffle, why ever would anyone do a thing like that?!

Look, it only tends to be bad when characters are just singing about what they're doing if either the lyrics suck, or if it's like with Bollywood horror movies, where a serious horror plot is routinely interrupted by peppy songs about picnics (I'm looking at you, Mahakaal!). Otherwise, it's more than fine, and Score Tonight is great fun to watch, and to hear, so no complaints from me.

Cool Rider

This song has Stephanie describing her ideal man to Michael-a tough biker hunk. She wants a whole lot more than the boy next door, she wants hell on wheels!...

Cool Rider is a great song, with cool lyrics, and great singing from Michelle 'Catwoman' Pfeiffer!

Reproduction

This one has a teacher talking to his unruly class about the title subject.

This is definitely a funny song, with kooky lyrics and great choreography! And Goose actor Christopher McDonald's chorus end line is awesome!

Who's That Guy?

I first saw Grease 2 when it was on TV, and I decided to watch it out of morbid curiosity. When I started watching, the film was up to the Reproduction number, and it was when Who's That Guy started that I stopped watching Grease 2 out of morbid curiosity, and started watching in genuine enjoyment!

Having mastered the cycle, Michael, with a guise on, hiding his identity, rides in on the bowling alley, were everyone's being victimised by the bikie gang, the Cycle Lords (or Scorpions, depending on how well you remember the first Grease movie), and as he suavely takes them down a peg, all the students only have one question on their lips-Who's That Guy?

This is one of my favourite songs of the movie! It's cool, fun, got nifty choreography, and is just plain badass, just like Michael's kick from the motorcycle!-Badass awesome!

Let's Do it for Our Country

T-Bird Louis DeMucci takes his girlfriend, Pink Lady Sharon, to an old bomb shelter, and has his buddies pretend that a war is starting, so he can get laid...No, he doesn't succeed...

This is another fun, comic, song-goofy and quick to the point. I suppose I wish it could have been longer, but it's not too short.

Prowlin'

Here, the T-Birds sing about their ladykiller lifestyle.

This is another fun song! It's goofy with its masculinity, and is a cool listen! The lyrics are fine, and the singing's great!

Charades

Charades is a personal song for Michael as he laments his torn feelings about having Stephanie like his mystery biker persona, rather than himself.

The lyrics of Charades are fine! They definitely capture Michael's feelings perfectly, probably moreso than dialogue ever could. I'd say this is one of my favourite songs of the movie, but I could say that about all of them. Charades is a great counter to the more goofy songs of the movie!

A Girl for All Seasons

A Girl for All Seasons has nothing to do with an overweight queen decapitating seven husbands, but is part of the school's end of year talent show. It has the band singing their love song, which is ripe with seasonal analogies.

No, I won't apologize for that terrible joke.

It's a fine song, and it has some funny bits backstage, where everyone involved in the following 'season' of the song is hurriedly preparing their huge, clunky costumes.

Our Love Will Turn Back the Hands of Time

Having broken off of singing A Girl for All Seasons, a forlorn Stephanie (sad because she thinks that 'The Guy' is dead) starts singing her own song, and we're whisked away to that white haze musical netherworld that the Grease movies love staging numbers in, where she sings this tragic duet with Michael.

This is a great song! Good lyrics, and perfect singing!

What's kinda funny is at the end, when the song phases back into the real world, where Stephanie is singing both parts of the song's chorus herself. Michelle Pfeiffer certainly does well, it's just kinda amusing.

Ultimately, this, Charades, and Who's That Guy are my three favorite songs from this movie.

Rock-a-Hula-Luau (Summer is Coming)

This is sung as a party song for the end-of-school-year luau. It's definitely a fun party song. Light on sensical lyrics, and heavy on 50's luau partying!
And those two twin ladies are ffffiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnneeee! What are you looking at me like that for, I'm a guy-I have to think like that.

By the way, where the hell is Michael during any of this? Since he's not dead, you'd think he'd have shown up for the talent show, or failing that, the luau. You're missing out on some cool end of school party fun, dude! And skimpy chicks. Prioritize, man!

This song is definitely a boppy-peppy ball of fun!

We'll Be Together

With the various couples singing to each-other lovingly,  this song closes out the movie.

One funny bit (I'd say unintentionally, but who knows, maybe it was deliberate) is when Johnny sings "I like what you got, I guess it's ok if you want to show it"-There's a pause when he says I guess it's ok, so until you hear what comes next, it sounds like he's telling Paulette that she's merely 'ok'.

By the way, I only noticed the the phrase 'Birds of a feather' is reversed recently! Yep! For years, I didn't notice that! Guh, I could die!

This, along with the Back to School reprise over the end credits finish the film perfectly!

One thing I love about all the musical numbers are the various characters (major and mainly minor) therein. Your eyes'll be all over the place   For example, Dolores only has a couple minutes of proper screentime, but if you keep your eyes peeled, you'll notice her all over the place. This is a great quality to the musical numbers.

To finish, I enjoy the hell out of all the songs in this movie. And they were definitely a fine thing to listen to in the close of 2013!

So, 2014, eh?