R.I.P. Rob and Michele Reiner

Rob Reiner and his wife Michele were tragically murdered in their sleep by what appears to be stab wounds inflicted by their son. This is a true modern tragedy. This is awful. This was avoidable. This didn't need to happen. People with substance abuse and mental illness need to find help that suits them. If they need to stay in these facilities longer they should be able to. This is so horrible and awful and brutal and simply did not need to happen. Rob Reiner and his wife should still be here right now making people happy with their work.

I am gutted by this. This one hurts. Regardless of what that volatile, maniacal, egotistical, narcissistic fascist in the White House has to say about Reiner, he was a beloved figure by everyone. His movies and his work meant real things to people. His and his wife's death had nothing to do with their political affiliation, and to try and make it about that is insane. Josh Gad and Jack White and James Woods and Tim Heidecker are right, anyone who agrees with his horrible rhetoric on Reiner, and still supports him and knowingly voted for him needs to live with that shame for the rest of their lives. But as I said above, Reiber's work meant so much to so many generations of people. Forgive me, I do not know much about his wife's work, other than the very few factoids my folks told me this morning, so the rest of this blog will focus on Rob Reiner's work.

I was out to coffee with my dad, who is in his 70's, my brother who is in his mid 40's and myself, just turned 43, and we all had different movies we mentioned when talking about Reiner. My brother instantly mentioned "Stand By Me". That was his movie when we were kids. He would watch it over and over again, and if I were lucky enough to get to spend some time with him. I'd watch it too and it stuck with me. My dad mentioned two things, "All in the Family", which I am not so aware of, and "This is Spinal Tap", which is the greatest mockumentary for me to date. I have always been a fan of "The Princess Bride", because that may be the only perfect movie that has ever been made. But look, just between three people aged 30 years apart, we found four things we all loved that Reiner had his hand in. "Stand By Me" is the quintessential coming of age movie. This was what I envisioned growing up to be like when I was a kid. That movie made me laugh and cry and gave me feelings I had never had until I saw it. It is truly incredible. "All in the Family" has its place as one of the greatest sitcoms in American history, and from what I can glean, Reiner played a pivotal role. "This is Spinal Tap" is one of the greatest comedies ever made, Reiner had to give Christopher Guest the idea for his future career and it has some of the best music that has ever been put in a theater. That movie never fails to make me smile, I laugh harder each time I watch it and Reiner as the director is perfect casting. As for "The Princess Bride", this movie made fun of fairy tales while telling one of the greatest fairy tales ever. This movie moves at a perfect pace, is beautifully cast, has romance and kissing, but it is never over the top, it has a grandpa/grandson relationship, I mean it truly has it all. We showed it to our kids recently, 13 and 10, and they loved it. That movie spans generations and will always and forever be a classic. Then you go and look at some other stuff he made or was a part of. We have one of my wife's all time favorites, "When Harry Met Sally", which might be the best romantic comedy ever. He also had a part in "You've Got Mail". He gives one of the best line reads in "Tammy and the T-Rex". He made "A Few Good Men", which may be the only courtroom drama I can sit through and be engaged with the entire time. Reiner directed one of the better Stephen King adaptations, "Misery". "The Bucket List" is funny and heartbreaking all at the same time. He did the most recent documentary on Albert Brooks and his last movie, unfortunately for us, was the decent "Spinal Tap" sequel. As for some memorable acting roles, I mentioned the director in "This is Spinal Tap". He's in "Mixed Nuts". He was in an episode of "Curb" and "30 Rock". He voiced himself in "The Simpsons". And the most recent thing I saw him in, in which he was fantastic, was "The Bear".

Look at all of those credits, and think of so many others I didn't mention that one person gave us. He was prolific and profound and we are all very lucky to live in a world where Rob Reiner gave us so much incredible content. I still cannot wrap my head around how he and his wife were ripped away from everyone. It baffles and upsets me.

Rest in Peace you two. You should still be here with us right now making us laugh and smile. I hope wherever you are now you are reunited with some of the people you worked with who have also passed away. What a tragic, tragic loss. Michele and Rob Reiner, you will be dearly, dearly missed. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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