Sunday, February 08, 2009

Star Gazing

My friend and I abandoned our respective familial duties to see Last Chance Harvey this afternoon. It was tricky to coordinate our escapes, but well worth the effort. In my opinion, any movie that features both my secret boyfriend and Emma Thompson (an actress unafraid to look middle-aged on screen) simply cannot be missed.

Now, I don't get out to the movies much. I think I last went 2 years ago to see The Good Shepherd. Before that? 2004...Unbelievable, right? Anyway, my friend and I get to the box office window and the guy charges me $7.50 for my ticket.

"Aren't there matinee prices on Sunday?" I asked as I handed over my money.
"Those are the matinee prices," he told me.
"Don't mind her," my embarrassed friend interjected. "She's from Mars."
"Men are from Mars," said the ticket guy. "She must be from Venus."

Apparently, everyone gets to have fun at my expense.

Inside the theater, we detoured to the concession counter to torture my friend's hard-working teenage son. She insisted on asking him if there was any fat-free, low-salt popcorn available; and I railed (loudly) against the idea of paying 4 dollars for a tiny little bag of the stuff. We stopped just short of demanding to speak to his supervisor. I confess, it was fun to see him squirm. Mothers of teens can be vengeful like that.

The movie? Oh, yes - there were about 15 other people in the theater with us, all of them old. There should have been a shuffleboard game set up in the aisle to while away the time before the previews. The plot was thin, and a little sappy, but not too sappy. And, really, who cares about the plot? I got to spend over an hour watching Dustin Hoffmann gazing adoringly at Emma Thompson. Of course, I got my money's worth by pretending that he was looking at me.

********************

Anyone else agog with anticipation? I know I am - because tomorrow Mrs G will unveil the all new and improved Derfwad Manor/Women's Colony. Mrs G, your fans await you!

20 comments:

  1. I'm not a movie goer either. I couldn't tell you the last one I saw at the theater. This one looks pretty good, but I'll probably wait for the DVD. I'm cheap like that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Come to the moves in Manhattan. You pass out from the cost.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I just can't commit to spending two hours doing anything these days, much less spending $10 to do it.

    The last movie The Husband and I went to was The Family Stone, and I cried for three days afterward. Before that (not counting kids' cartoons) was Shakespeare in Love. Yeah, sad.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I got to go to a movie Friday night for the first time in a long time. I love to go to movies alone, strangely enough. I saw Doubt - it was pretty good!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I havent been to a movie in forever I have issues with the theater...your post made me LOL...

    ReplyDelete
  6. your sidebar with paenting tips made me pee myself!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I LOVE Mrs G! Can't wait to see what she has in store.

    I'll meet you at the Women's Colony.

    ReplyDelete
  8. A great thing about your kids getting older--you get to see a lot more movies.

    Yes, I too, eagerly await Mrs. G.'s return.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I whinge and complain when I go to the theatre, they dont have it focused properly, the seats are sticky, there's teenagers making out behind me... but I am careful not to complain too loudly because after all I am getting 2 hours without kids:)

    ReplyDelete
  10. I took my middle son to the movies this weekend and we smuggled in our own candy...a huge carton of WHOPPERS.

    The only problem was that the Whoppers in a carton make a LOT of noise - despite being stuffed in my purse - and I don't think I fooled the movie guy.

    I've also smuggled in fat-free, low-salt popcorn before (that's much quieter).

    Am I cheap?
    I'm cheap.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Last summer we took the kids to see Ratatouille. That was the first movie I'd seen in a theater since, um, that Texas football movie with Dawson in it, I think.

    When we were kids, before we went to the movies my mom used to pop two pans of popcorn and distribute them in brown paper lunch bags. We'd all carry in our own popcorn. When they dragged me to see Gandhi (I was 8, maybe, and bored to tears) the only thing that kept me quiet was eating EVERYONE'S popcorn.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'm agog and ready to be gobsmacked.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Saw this movie and loved it!

    Too bad Mrs. G didn't open the Women's Colony today...waiting sucks.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Movie prices kill me. I'm a smuggler. Candy. Water. A bagel is my favorite thing - 2 bucks at the bagel place, and the perfect thing when you're going to see at 10 a.m. movie.

    ReplyDelete
  15. That was a sweet movie. I'm so glad you got a chance to spend the afternoon with your secret boyfriend!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Yeah, the cost of movies is outrageous but the concession stand is highway robbery. We smuggle popcorn in a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I'm so glad you were able to get out of the house and catch a movie. It's something every SAHM dreams of on occasion. Well, the having-a-life part, not so much the movie part.

    ReplyDelete
  18. In Seattle, movie prices are $10. Can you believe that?

    ReplyDelete
  19. I don't get to the movies much either. I remember seeing Finding Niemo a while back. The kids got us 3 months of Netflix so that we would at least watch more than 1 movie a year - or decade. I ordered all odlies (Rebel Without a Cause, High Noon, etc.) so they can remain frustrated when we don't have a clue what movies they are talking about.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I'm hurt. I thought that I was Dustin Hoffman's secret love.

    Shoot.

    ReplyDelete