Caught up on two cultural events that seem to have passed me by:  First, I finally saw The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, which turned out to be extremely moving and not in a stupid way.  I don't need to recommend it, as you've almost certainly already seen it.

Second, I finally, finally, finally saw The History Boys.  Yes, I know, but frankly, I'm wondering a little what the big deal is.  It's very funny and very eloquent, but it's also overlong (that final scene before the interval takes forever) and not really believable in any respect.  The boys don't seem like real boys, the school doesn't seem like a real school, and Hector and Irwin don't seem like real teachers.

For instance, after a full hour of getting to know Hector as a louche bon vivant, do we really think he'd cave so easily to the motorcycle-groping accusation?  Wouldn't his character have had some explanation at the ready, no matter how wrong-headed or overblown or needlessly literary?  And wouldn't that have been more ambiguous and interesting, made us feel a bit more uncomfortable about him?  Lovely language and writing, but I'm not quite sold.