The scalpers, I mean.

Indications are that Paul Feig‘s The Housemaid, based on Freida McFadden‘s three-year-old novel, a feminist potboiler that has since grown into a multi-book franchise, is going to be a bit of a groaner…perhaps even a forehead-slapper.

All feminist airport fiction is based upon a single premise, which is that the principal male character is a toxic piece of shit who has made his own bed and deserves all the bad karma that’s sure to come his way.

It certainly seems unlikely that Feig’s film will deliver the intrigue and complexity of Im Sang-soo‘s The Housemaid (’10), which I recall as being half-decent.

Both versions have vaguely similar plots with the husband banging (or at least looking to bang) the housemaid, and the wife freaking out and the usual blowback kicking in.

The Housemaid costars Sydney Sweeney as the titular character; Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar (the bearded, nice-guy suitor in It Ends With Us) are her wealthy employers.

Feig began filming The Housemaid only a couple of months ago; Lionsgate will open it on 12.25.25.

Fake dialogue: “I may not belong here, but I’m not leaving without the truth.”

This stripped-down performance, posted three months ago by “Deirdre”, was recorded 58 years ago. Paul McCartney‘s sublime bass-playing can be more fully appreciated without his lead vocal track. That’s all I’m saying. Eliminating lead vocals can do wonders for an old song.

Generally speaking films with excellent, stylistically innovative opening-credits sequences (North by Northwest, Se7en, Dr. No, Raging Bull, Psycho, Dr. Strangelove, Goodfellas, Butch Cassidy and teh Sundance Kid, Fincher’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) tend to be excellent films in their own right. One tends to go with the other.

The opening credits sequence for Martin Scorsese‘s The Color of Money is an exception to the rule — one of the very few times when an opening credit concept is much, much better thqn the film itself.

Scorsese narration: “Nine-ball is rotation pool. The balls are pocketed in numbered order. [But] the only ball that means anything, that wins it, is the 9. Now, the player can shoot eight trick shots in a row, blow the 9, and lose. On the other hand, the player can get the 9 in on the break, if the balls spread right, and win. Which is to say, that luck plays a part in nine-ball. But for some players, luck itself is an art.”

Intriguing if not fascinating…hooked! But if memory serves, luck (artful or otherwise) has virtually nothing to do with the story and characters in The Color of Money. Not a single damn thing.

Why haven’t I re-watched The Color of Money in the nearly 40 years since it opened (10.17.86)? Because it’s not very good, that’s why. Because it’s widely regarded as one of Scorsese’s weakest films.

Yes, Paul Newman‘s performance as a graying, moustachioed Eddie Felson won him a Best Actor Oscar, but all I remember are the fake-outs. Ignoring advice about how to lose, intentionally losing, winning too fast or slow, making bets, losing money, trying too hard…is this what the film’s going to be about? This?

I remember seeing Money at an all-media screening in Westwood, and the crowd couldn’t have been more jazzed at first. But within the first 35 to 45 minutes that energy had all but evaporated.

Which social conditions and attitudes tend to define general “happiness“, for the most part?

I’ve been all around and the eternals that define happiness the most are (a) high-end classic architecture (especially the centuries-old stuff), (b) access to good music (public concerts), (c) a general feeling of social fairness and stability (aka chill factors), (d) affordable access to elegant clothing, (e) lower obesity levels, (f) first-rate wifi,(g) good movies, (h) plenty of parks, hiking trails and wide-open spaces, (i) reasonable prices, (j) reasons to believe that things are improving somewhat or at least are better than they were in the past, (k) knowing that reptile predators (Venezuelan gang members) are constrained by sensible government moderates, (l) fair opportunities for advancement, (m) vacations.

In short, a general feeling of sanity, fairness and order.

I for one feel tremendously bummed by the astronomical cost of seats at sporting events and concerts, and the absurdity of even thinking about buying tickete to a good Broadwsy play or musical.

Happpiness-wise, the United States of America isn’t exactly a shithole country — it’s ranked 24th in the current World Happiness Report — but I understand, I think, why Americans feel doleful and downish about where things are and seem to be headed.

It’s because people are sensing that the good things (trust, fairness, optimism, hope) are eroding, and because the diametrically opposed MAGAs and wokies are over-dominating and throwing things out of balance. Especially the despised wokies, many of whom have fled into the forest.

And yet two of my all-time favorite countries — France and Italy — are respectively ranked in 27th and 41st place. Never in my darkest dreams could I imagine natives of those countries feeling worse about their culture than Americans do about theirs. This makes no sense. You’re walking around Piazza Navona on a warm summer night and you’re feeling shitty about things?

I’ve strolled around a fair-sized number of the so-called happiest countries — not Finland (the happiest of them all) but Denmark, Iceland, the Netherlands, Costa Rica, Norway, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, etc. And generally the happiest seem to be the Bernie Sanders social-welfare countries. Societies that are invested in mellow governance and good, first-rate public transportation + dependable cradle-to-grave health care.

Miserable Afghanistan sits at the very bottom of the list (#147). Just behind are four woe-is-us countries — Sierra Leone, Lebanon, Malawi and Zimbabwe.

CNN quote: “The decline in the U.S. in 2024 was at least partly attributable to Americans younger than age 30″ — coddled Zoomers — “feeling worse about their lives. Today’s young people report feeling less supported by friends and family, less free to make life choices and less optimistic about their living standards.”