The Incredible Shrinking Mormon World

When the know-it-all 60+ year old man in my Sunday School class started talking about how great the movie New York Doll was, I knew I had to get it in gear and see this movie. Can't have old man winter being more in touch with pop culture than I am.

So I rented the DVD this past weekend. I watched it once and enjoyed it. But only after I got over how completely bizarre Arthur "Killer" Kane was. For most of the movie all I could think was, oh boy, he's that guy. The guy that you talk to because you feel mean not talking to him, but you'd rather be doing something like, oh say, sewing your face to the floor. The take-away of the story is that despite Arthur's wackiness he gets his impossible prayer answered and is reunited with the New York Dolls once more. It's really quite inspirational.

Normally I don't watch the bonus material on DVDs - but since this film was so short and I was bored I started watching the directors interview. I sat there for a second. And then I rewound to the beginning to see that, yes, the director is the same Greg Whiteley I went to school with at BYU. We were in the same ward or some such nonsense. It was surreal watching a movie created by someone I actually knew. Should I let VH1 know that I'm available for interviews of an "I knew him when" ilk? Actually I doubt he'd remember me, since I kept a pretty low profile. But seeing him was a fun throw back to those days of Peter Breinholt and Mamma's Cafe. Ahh - The Good Ole Days.

Naturally, knowing the director made me much more interested in the film. So I watched it a second time. And must say, that even though one viewing is great, it improves upon repetition.

In essence the film did 4 things for me.

1. It made me feel cool (albeit a bit nostalgic) that I knew someone that had made a movie. (a real movie - not one of those silly Mormon movies. I know lots of those guys. Lincoln Hoppe, you're still my secret crush!)
2. It inspired me to Google a bunch of old school friends to see if they've done anything notable (thankfully, they're all slackers, just like me).
3. It made me want to say my prayers, because if it can happen for that guy, it can happen for anyone.
4. It made me want to buy some New York Dolls music. Those funky fem-bots rock!