I Think I’m Going to Cry Again

I Think I’m Going to Cry Again

    Kim and I enjoy watching Michael Douglas and Akan Arkin in The Kominsky Method on Netflix.  They are Hollywood friends of a certain age even though Arkin is 85 and Douglas is ten years younger.  I am ten years younger again than Douglas, but I find this show hilarious.  Maybe that’s because it’s written by Chuck Lorre, creator of The Big Bang Theory, and a man of my age.  The show is about a wealthy ex-agent (Arkin) and a struggling actor-turned-acting-teacher (Douglas) who are best friends going through the typical trials and tribulations of aging in America, specifically the Hollywood part of America.

             I honestly think the writing is excellent, but it may just be that old guy humor hits my funny bone.  There is a scene in the new season where Paul Reiser (a 62-year-old and made up to look even older) plays a throwback hippie retired schoolteacher who is playing the 68-year-old boyfriend of Douglas’ thirty-four-year-old daughter. It’s a contest between Douglas, Arkin, Reiser and the hunched-over octogenarian waiter (Alex) as to who is both the most debilitated and the funniest. Paul Reiser ends up winning by virtue of a heart attack with a humorous sharting episode thrown in for good measure.  Watching Alex “rush” to call 911 is enough to cause several heart attacks worth of laughing.

             In another scene where Arkin is discussing existentialism and Scientology with his Scientologist grandson, his grandson explains that he has left the Church because it has lost the origins of its mission.  Arkin immediately resonates with this and says that the same thing happened to him with the Elks.  I find that sort of humor, based on the anachronistic reality that we all live with in a fast-changing world, to be high comedic art.  Very few actors do it better than Alan Arkin.

             I was first introduced to Alan Arkin when he played a Russian sub commander in The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! For which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. He went on to play the bad guy in the 1967 Audrey Hepburn Wait Until Dark, one of the scariest and most jump-worthy movies of all time. He hit his comedic and dramatic stride as Captain Yosarian in Joseph Heller’s Catch-22.  His line at the end of Sunshine Cleaning remains one of my favorite movie business lines.  He has put “since 1968” on the side of his daughter’s (Amy Adams) truck and says, “It’s not the same as a life lie, it’s just a business lie.”

             What a great career Arkin has had.  I have no idea how happy his life may be, but he has a manner that always draws my attention and I listen to his every word.  I like Michael Douglas as well and have found his good-looks comedy appealing ever since Romancing the Stone with Kathleen Turner (who, by the way, plays Douglas’ ex-wife in The Kominsky Method).  But it’s Arkin and his wry comments and camera looks that make me laugh out loud.  To be able to maintain that acting capability when you are his age is a great testament to his talent.  I’m sure I will get put into the annals of bigotry for saying this, but old Jewish guys are the funniest guys.  Between Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Billy Crystal, Jerry Stiller, Larry David and Alan Arkin, I could be kept laughing for the rest of my life.  The intersection of wit and intelligent humor are truly a craft that needs to be kept alive, whether at the Friars Club or elsewhere.

             One of the recent Kominsky episodes has Arkin, who has recently lost his wife, but who is visited often by her circumspect visage, chancing upon a 50-years-ago girlfriend played by Jane Seymour (herself 68-years-old).  They go on a horseback ride near Seymour’s Santa Barbara home.  Those settings may be normal in many movie instances but thinking of horseback riding for an eighty-something city-dweller has the natural makings of plenty of humor, both by reference and obvious sight gags (think City Slickers). Arkin has to get helped up into the saddle and is seen tilting in the saddle as he rides off with Seymour. At a rest stop where he declares that his ass is sore and during a tender moment after talking about their respective lives and loves lost (both are widowed), Arkin and Seymour hug and kiss.  This causes Arkin to say, “I think I’m going to cry again”, a line which is both poignant and funny at the same time.  What makes it such a special moment is that when Seymour asks what else is troubling him, Arkin brings it all back to the reality of aging in the moment by saying that he has no idea how he is going to get back on the damn horse.

             Here’s the thing, when I saw Arkin dismount at the rest stop, I immediately wondered to myself (putting myself in his physical predicament) how he would manage getting back on the horse.  That is how into Arkin’s acting I find myself.  I am literally in the scene with him, anticipating some of his very thoughts.  This is what makes for good dialogue and good comedy.  It is relatable.  And I predict that as my cohort of the Baby Boomers further ages, we will see other great comedic scenes like this one.  They don’t all have to be like Grumpy Old Men or Last Vegas. These were both examples of movies written by thirty-something screenwriters who think like young men laughing at old men.  As we are all taught in Sunday School, it is better to laugh with someone than to laugh at them.  The same approach works better to create truly lasting and better screen comedy.

             It probably works better for drama as well as comedy.  When Arkin hugs Seymour and makes his comment that he thinks he’s going to cry again he does two things to me.  He reminds us that it is OK for men to cry and show emotions and he tells those of us lucky enough to have found the loves of our lives (whether first, second or third time around) that we should be aware of our good fortune and be so happy about it that we are able to cry about it.  I am certainly among those who often feels I am so blessed and happy that I can cry.  And then again, I am also willing to cry about the hilarious comedy that men like Arkin and Douglas are prepared to share with us for the low, low price of $12.99/month on Netflix.  That even fits into my Social Security monthly budget.