Fix: Reference Librarians, Witty Banter, Holiday Cheer, Drinking At Your Desk
Platform: Netflix
Netflix Summary:
A crack reference librarian at a television network resists the efforts of an efficiency expert when he tries to automate her research department.
FYA Summary:
This Stream It comes via a tip from FYA reader/my friend Tara, who tweeted about unexpectedly loving the movie so much that I turned it on before she was even done watching. She’s so right: it is the best movie ever.
Fast-talking, quick-witted reference librarian Bunny Watson and her fellow librarians are dismayed when the eccentric Richard Sumner comes to replace them with a gigantic computer. Like all the best Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn movies, the magic is in their banter. Hepburn is her usual ebullient, wise-cracking self, and Tracy plays the wry straight man to the hilt. Plus, there’s great fashion, a blowout office party that probably should result in a lot of people being fired, and it takes place IN A LIBRARY. What more do you need?
Familiar Faces:
Katharine Hepburn as Bunny Watson
Spencer Tracy as Richard Sumner
Couch-Sharing Capability: High
If this movie doesn’t make you want to have a party (at your work desk), I don’t know what will.
Recommended Level of Inebriation: Have Some Laughs
I think I’ll just quote from the movie:
Bunny [holding up a bottle of champagne]: “And this is for laughs! I’ve had a couple of laughs already.”
Bunny Watson: “Oh […] my other bottle of champagne.”
Peg Costello: “If you take that champagne back to Legal, you won’t even get another swallow.”
Bunny Watson: “That’s right. Maybe I’d better drink it right here. Join me, Peg?”
Peg Costello: “Certainly. How does champagne go with Four Roses, Scotch, Martinis, and Bloody Marys?”
Bunny Watson: “Oh, fine. They’re all the same base: alcohol.”
HERO STATUS.
Use of Your Streaming Subscription: Do You Hate Joy?
This movie has it all: romance! Comedy! Reference librarians! And it’s set during Christmastime, so I think it counts as a holiday movie. It’s charming and funny, the jokes are sly and quick, and it’s full of the Tracy/Hepburn chemistry. You could even put it on today while you’re celebrating Thanksgiving! It’s old enough to satisfy your grumpy uncle who only watches things made before 1980, and fun enough to keep everyone entertained (well, except for young kids). What are you waiting for?
