The Graduate (PG)
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Caution: spoilers!

This came out in 1967 (eight years before I was born). I'm not sure when I first became aware of the movie; it may have been when a famous line from it was sampled in George Michael's 1992 song "Too Funky," or it may have been earlier than that. Anyway, I didn't get around to seeing the movie until 2013. Been vaguely looking forward to it for many years, because it is a classic, and of course, Mrs. Robinson is basically the proto-cougar. Kind of odd that the actress who played her was like 36 when the movie was made, though the character was definitely older than that (she looked older, but still hot). And the 20-year-old she seduces was played by 30-year-old Dustin Hoffman (who looked 30). So the whole May-December thing, I dunno how believable it was, but whatever. Movies are all about suspension of disbelief.

Anyway, so this guy, Ben Braddock, graduates from college shortly before turning 21. He goes home to hang out for the Summer, I guess, and his parents want him to go to graduate school, but he isn't really thinking about that. Apparently he did pretty well in school, but he has absolutely no idea what he wants to do with his life, no ambition. So I guess it's lucky that his parents apparently have plenty of money, which I assume is why he always has cash. (Incidentally, his father was played by William Daniels, whom I know best for his later role on Boy Meets World.) When he first gets home, his parents throw a party and invite all their friends, including Ben's father's business partner, Mr. Robinson, and his wife, Mrs. Robinson. Mr. Robinson leaves the party early, so Mrs. Robinson asks Ben for a ride home. Every single thing she says or does makes it painfully obvious that she plans to seduce him, and he eventually calls her on it. Even before he realized that (and it took him longer than it should have), he was pretty nervous around her... because he's just a nervous kind of guy, I guess. Also about the most stoic character I've ever seen. The acting seemed pretty wooden, but I'm quite certain that was intentional; Ben is just a wooden character. Anyway, she denies trying to seduce him, and just goes right on trying to do so. He apologizes profusely for having suggested it, but when it finally becomes impossible to deny any longer, he leaves. Or tries to, but then Mr. Robinson shows up. And says that when their daughter gets home from college, Ben should take her out. (I have no idea why she was still in college if Ben had already graduated; I wasn't aware of colleges having Summer courses, but whatever.)

Anyway, it's not too long after that night that Ben calls Mrs. Robinson up, and nervously begins an affair with her. I have no bloody clue why he changed his mind. He definitely still thought it was wrong. But whatever. And then, after maybe a few months, Elaine Robinson gets home from school. (Maybe it was a few weeks, I dunno. Months seems odd, because then it would be Fall.) And Ben is basically forced by his parents to take her out, which he doesn't want to do, and which Mrs. Robinson really doesn't want him to do. So he acts like a jerk, and that goes exactly as planned... but then for some reason he regrets it, and starts acting nice. And apparently the two of them fall in love in the course of one date, which is utterly absurd and has no basis in anything. Just another "suspension of disbelief" thing. But they make a date for the next day, which Mrs. Robinson tries to stop. And that leads Ben to confess the relationship to Elaine. Which, naturally, horrifies her. Soon after that, Elaine goes back to school (I really have no idea how the passage of time works in this movie). And Ben follows her. He rents a room from a guy played by Norman Fell (best known for his later role as a landlord on Three's Company). And finally, Ben and Elaine talk about what happened... but I don't want to reveal any more of the plot. Except to say the end is kind of... ambiguous (which I liked about the movie).

Anyway... for the most part I thought the movie was redonkulous. Overall, I didn't like it as much as I'd hoped I would, but it was okay. There were definitely some really funny bits. But nothing really made much sense. Oh, also, just in case the movie wasn't already 60's enough, all the music is by Simon & Garfunkel. Which is mostly not funny at all, but I guess I liked it. So... um... there are lots of classic scenes and lines and music from the movie. I didn't particularly care for the dramatic elements, because everyone seemed to do stupid things for no reason... but that's kind of what made the comedic elements work, I guess. And... maybe I would have liked it better if I was old enough to have seen it in 1967. I wouldn't say the movie is too much "of the era" to have aged well, because, I kind of think it probably still holds up today, more or less. But... I dunno. Anyway, I'm glad to have finally seen it, and I do think in some ways it was sort of clever and subversive, or something. But it's just hard to care about a movie when I can't manage to care about any of the characters.