The Dilemma turns out to be quite neighborly
it's gotta lotta my life (and Sly Boyd's, too)
01/23/2011 4:55 PM
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Who cares what the story is in The Dilemma, our hometown-boy-gone big Vince Vaughn's latest big screen foray? It's like a local travelogue that you can get lost in and forget the story anyway. Although the story's not bad; it revolves around what happens when you are a recovering compulsive gambler and afraid of real intimacy and you find out the wife of your best friend and business partner is cheating on him? Vaughn's character couldn't put it out of his mind, had to do something about it--so we have this terrific Chicago movie that has a ton of fun connections to the South Loop and beyond.
Like Printers Row resident and businessman Sly Boyd--and husband of Paulette, who happens to be a former president of South Loop Neighbors. He signed on to be an extra during a United Center scene--and lo and behold, they made him a yellow-jacketed security guard and he ended up with several seconds of face time in the flick, in a scene where Winona Ryder walks past him as she exits the stadium during the Blackhawks game to text on her cell. I was totally impressed when I saw the movie yesterday afternoon. It really was Sly! Actually, I think Sly should spend his spare time working security at United Center and forget about being an extra. He totally looks the part.
Then there was a scene where Vaughn (who lives in real life in a big condo at Walton and Michigan which was at different times the Palmolive Building, the Playboy Building and a plain old office building where my daughter's dentist was for years) is reading none other than the Chicago Journal. And our wonderful neighborhood newspaper featuring news of the South Loop and West Loop, not to mention my monthly column and the host of this blog, gets a lot of face time in the movie, too. Trouble is, I could have sworn that this particular scene in the movie was supposed to be in Detroit. See the movie; you'll see what I mean. Detroit doesn't have that big a role in the picture but it's in there and I think that's where they are when the reading of the Chicago Journal takes place.
In another scene, Vaughn tries to cut himself a piece of pumpkin cheesecake but flounders and then just picks it up with his hand and throws it sloppily down on the plate. My best friend who goes all the way back to college with me actually wrote a story for the Tribune Company about this particular slice of cake, which was made by a bakery in Tinley Park.
To round things out, there are other scenes that feature things such as a Lou Malnati's pizza box, dancing at the Green Mill in Uptown, running through the street in what appears to be either Bucktown, Wicker Park or Lincoln Park--Who can tell these days? They all look alike--and lots of fabulous birds-eye views of the Loop--and parts south, west and north of our big downtown.