I loved Teen Wolf. It held up well on the rewatch. Some of the nostalgic movies do not. And, for about the 20th time, I was a bit surprised to see a jotter in the hands of his dad, Howard, who does not know that soon Lowe’s is going to try to put him out of business in about a decade.
Perhaps the most obvious MacGuffin in film, or as some directors would call it “plot” that provides the excitement for the story.
Howard doesn’t need to talk much. Everyone, including Scott’s basketball coach, who provides some of the most hilarious lines in the film out of absolutely nowhere, knows who Howard is and they respect him. One step beyond the film is a story about growing up, with an added challenge of being a werewolf. A step deeper is a father and son who lost their mother to cancer and have done well in her absence. And beyond is a community that cares for one another and knows one another.
I weep a lot these days for many reasons. Among them, tears I should have shed as a kid. When Howard confronts the principal of the school I shed a few tears. A good man, standing up for his son without going anywhere near the levels we might have hoped. “Rusty, I want you to leave my son alone. <beat> He’s a good kid, <beat> he’s just going through some changes… <beat> (deep growl, mildly red eyes, no extra fur… Rusty loses control of his bodily functions. This happened the last time Howard confronted him….) <beat> Click, click… I knew I could count on you Rusty.”
There’s more to say about the film. Styles, Pamela, Boof. The rest of coach’s advice: “Never play cards with a man who has the sam first name as a city and never date a woman with a tattoo of a dagger on her body… You follow those (and the one listed at the top) and everything else is cream cheese.” The communal cavalier approach to sex, drugs, and basketball. But I’m only here for the pens.
Jotter in Film 