"L.A. Story"

This movie is fascinating, the way it works on so many levels.
The first time I saw it, I was single, in college and thought it was a wonderfully whimsical look at romance and an absurdly surreal look at California.
Now that I've been in CA for more than two years and am in a serious relationship, I can appreciate the slight exaggeration of CA lifestyle and I still love how Steve Martin captured romance.
You know those romances, the boy-meets-girl or girl-meets-boy or boy-meets-boy flicks? They completely miss the glow.
I know it seems sappy, but seriously, when the timing is right, when you find the person you couldn't even begin to imagine you'd find? You're surrounded by a buffer.
And that type of feeling just can't be expressed in a world that denies magic. But "L.A. Story" is all about magic. Martin infuses the movie with just enough reality to keep cynics from scoffing, but it's a reality based on mysticism.
Funnily enough, by giving into the surreality of it all, he ultimately made a movie that feels more real than most.
The film is a smart movie, too, chock full of Shakespeare and clever dialogue. I've always thought Martin was smarter than he got credit for and the dialogue ("I keep thinking I'm a grownup, but I'm not," "I was deeply unhappy, but I didn't know it, because I was so happy all the time," "All I know is, on the day your plane was to leave, if I had the power, I would turn the winds around, I would roll in the fog, I would bring in storms, I would change the polarity of the earth so compasses couldn't work, so your plane couldn't take off.") sparkles, soars and touches my soul.
Sometimes I weep over the brilliance of the dialogue, the visions, the music, the performances ...
It is just about the perfect romantic comedy.

But what do I know? "Xanadu" is another one of my favorite movies.
So maybe I'm actually just a sucker for surreal movies about L.A.