Julie Adams' other leading man

Word's gotten out that longtime character actress Julie Adams died. She's best known for playing the damsel in distress in "The Creature From the Black Lagoon."

Everyone's forgotten another role in which she played the object of creepy affection. Of course I'm talking about "The Jimmy Stewart Show" (1971).

This was some vanilla TV. Jimmy's adult son, his wife and grandson are forced to move in with him when a fire destroys the son's house. Its one gimmick: Jimmy's grandson was older than Jimmy's other son. The son's an uncle who is younger than his nephew!

After that the writers called it a day because there was nothing else in this show. No drama, no comedy, the family got along wonderfully. It was one of those shows where I think a very desperate NBC was more interested in having a star than giving him a vehicle.

But that's not the creepy part. The creepy part is in the first episode, Jimmy Stewart is seen riding his bike through town (an oldster on a bike! Can you imagine??!!). He comes home and kisses Julie Adams, who appears to be his adult daughter,  on the mouth. Well that's pretty creepy, then as they talk you realize... it's not his daughter, it's his WIFE! This is more horrifying than "Creature From The Black Lagoon."

I know, there are couples out there with 18 year age differences, but good lord, this just did not look right. This is a longtime Hollywood trope: Once a leading man hits 40, the age difference between him and his leading ladies gets bigger and bigger.

Poor Julie, her leading men were from the black lagoon or the nursing home.

Review: Hotel Transylvania

Adam Sandler spends the whole movie playing Dracula with an Eastern European accent which is unfortunate because it's this constant reminder of Steve Carell's accent in the much better, much funnier "Despicable Me."

You sit there and start analyzing. Why was "Despicable Me" so much better? Better jokes, better characters, better plot, better pacing? Pretty much all of the above. It's distracting, you stop paying attention to the film and keep recalling better-done scenes in "Despicable Me."

I saw it with my 5-year-old son and we both sat there for 90 minutes waiting for the movie to start getting funny, and with the exception of a few chortles, it never takes off. Granted it was a Wednesday night, the theater was empty. But the jokes and pacing were leaden.

The film is a mash-up of Rankin-Bass' "Mad Monster Party," and those '60s movies about uptight dads who can't stand the thought of their daughters growing up ("The Impossible Years," with David Niven, "Take Her She's Mine," with Jimmy Stewart. Also the 70s "Super Dad," with Bob Crane, and Tony Danza's "She's Out of Control" from the 80s.).

(These movies are funny because the dad doesn't want his daughter dating hippies, and the guys she's hanging out with are squeaky clean Kurt Russell, Bruno Kirby types).

And I kept thinking about the monster jokes from "Mad Monster Party." They're pretty much the same jokes.

And if you can sum up all the many cliches in this movie in one line it would be: "He's in love and he must get to the airport!"