Bit of Ivory

It is available, pretty widely, at Hollywood Video. Go and rent it!

It *is* a low budget movie, so expect a little bit of bad acting every now and then, some bad editing, and a bit of a slow start. It gets better, I promise. And in my opinion, the small flaws are outweighed by its many successes. I enjoyed it every bit as much last night as the first time I saw it.

One thing I didn’t like, though. The DVD has had nearly all of the Mormon-specific references taken out. I personally think this is a crying shame, as it was still entirely accessible in its orginal form, and it makes it impossible for us Mormons to laugh at all the little in-jokes. It’s like editing HP for Americans– dude, people who aren’t members of the LDS Church are smart enough to figure it out. Really.

It also makes a few of the lines relating to Wickham make less sense– in the original, he was supposedly waiting for a temple divorce, which has to be obtained separately from a civil divorce before a member of the church can be married in the temple again. He convinces his victims that it would take too long to wait for it to come through, and they should elope to Vegas now, and get sealed in the temple later. So at the end, when Lydia says “are you sure we shouldn’t wait?” and Wickham answers “we could be waiting for months!” It makes absolutely *no* sense.

Anyway, this may be good for those of you who were worried about not getting the Mormon jokes, but dude, some of those lines were the best part of the movie. They should have made two versions– a Mormon version and a national version. I’m rather upset about it. I think I’ll write a letter.

Anyone want to join me?