Hurray for Hollywood – Weaving Alzheimer’s into the Storylines

Last night I watched Friends with Benefits. My neighbor said it was one of the funniest movies she had seen in a while – primarily because she wasn’t expecting Justin Timberlake to be so good. As an SNL fan, I’ve known for years how funny he can be (The Barry Gibb Talk Show is just one of the examples I could find).

I wasn’t expecting a comedy to feature a dad with Alzheimer’s. The movie did a nice job of addressing how random the behavior is as well as how difficult it is to deal with a parent who starts to exhibit these behaviors. Timberlake made it seem a little too easy to accept his dad, but they played it right. His dad knows something is wrong, he’s frustrated. When the son tunes into his dad’s emotions and gracefully follows his lead, they both find a happy moment.

Now I need to leave to discuss with my 14-year-old all the other emotional and personal items the movie covered. Grounded.

Here is a list of some other movies that deal with the topic of Alzheimer’s / dementia.