SOME might remember summer 2008 as the season of "The Dark Knight." Others will declare it the moment chicks flexed their muscles and brought hordes of cosmo-drinking mamas into the cineplex.
I'm going to remember 2008 as "Revenge of the Geezers." OK, this is Hollywood, so by "geezers" we're talking about anyone over, say, 40, the merely thinking-about-Botox generation. Those who prefer e-mail to texting, which as anyone 25 or younger knows is the dividing line between the truly young and the poseurs squashed into True Religion jeans.
Who are the success stories of the summer?
Robert Downey Jr., 43; his onetime girlfriend, Sarah Jessica Parker, 43; Harrison Ford, 66; and let's not forget film's grande dame, 59-year-old Meryl Streep, she of the many storied accents, who's coasting toward a Robert De Niro-size career reinvention, spearheading the "Mamma Mia!" assault on the globe, singing and dancing her way to what some say could be a $400-million worldwide gross. Yowser!
Coming off her deliciously nasty turn in "The Devil Wears Prada," that's two summer hits for Meryl, who unlike some of her Oscar-winning compatriots (mmm, Sally Field, perhaps?) hasn't been reduced to hawking Boniva and other osteoporosis drugs.
And the summer's not over. We've still got 72-year-old Woody Allen's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," a way more potent and hilarious vivisection of young love than the bitchy angst-fest on the "Gossip Girls," and "Swing Vote," 53-year-old Kevin Costner's attempt to reclaim his feel-good, "Field of Dreams" crown and a film he financed out of his own pocket. (There's nothing rarer in Hollywood than a star willing to put up his own money, and Costner, unlike Mel Gibson, doesn't claim God is in his back pocket.)
OK, I admit it. I'm over 30, and I find all these success stories inspiring, right up there with my other favorite pastime this summer, cataloging amazing elderly athletes, like 53-year-old golfer Greg Norman and 41-year-old Olympic swimmer Dara Torres. (In fact, my friend at the Los Angeles Times library, Vicki Gallay, found a raft of spry contenders in this year's Olympics: 57-year-old trap shooter Susan Nattrass, 61-year-old equestrian Ian Miller, 43-year-old rower James Tompkins, and 50-year-old world champion sailor Iain Murray.) At least in sports, the only barriers to success are physical ones.
Everyone knows what happens to people over 40 in Hollywood.
They kill you.
Just joking.
