23rd and Dexter: Charlie Jacobs

Charlie Jacobs is a neighbor of mine. He lives just down the block with his mother, Nicole, his father, Ben, and his brother, Jack. Nicole is a nurse. Ben is co-owner of Tocabe Restaurants (if you haven’t been there, go). Charlie, 3, and Jack, 1, are unemployed. I recently asked Charlie to write down the name of a movie character he would like to be sitting next to. “Branch.” Who’s Branch? “He’s from the movie Trolls. He saves Poppy a lot.” Charlie informed me that in the movie, “big monsters think they need to eat trolls to be happy.” Indeed. I had never heard of this flick, so I did a little research. The Internet Movie DataBase provided the following synopsis: “After the Bergens invade Troll Village, Poppy, the happiest troll ever born, and the overly-cautious, curmudgeonly Branch (voiced by Justin Timberlake!) set off on a journey to rescue their friends.” The 2016 animated film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song – Timberlake’s Can’t Stop That Feeling.