Another Riveting Series of Dialogues in the Pierre-Parsons Household

Graham and I are avid movie watchers. We don't have TV, but we do have a laptop with a DVD port. So we watch a steady stream of movies that Netflix (otheriwse known as the BEST IDEA on the PLANET) provides about twice a week. We usually stick to calssics, independents, and documentaries. Once Graham had a lapse moment and rented Shakespeare In Love, and was SHOCKED when he discovered it was a RUN OF THE MILL HOLLYWOOD PRODUCTION. I said, "It was starring Gwenyth Paltrow AND BEN AFFLECK! What did you EXPECT?"

Awhile back Graham came home and said, "So, I've got something I need to talk to you about." I froze, thinking OH NO. I don't know why I got scared, since last time he said, "There's something I need to tell you" it was followed with "I like Bernie Mac." Yet, I braced myself for A BIG TALK. He continued, "I was looking at our Netflix Que and saw that MY DATE WITH DREW was on it."

After I lost about twenty pounds from letting out a HUGE BREATH OF RELIEF, I shrugged and said, "Yes?"

"Is there something you want to explain to me?"

When we first moved to New York one of the movie posters that was plastered everywhere was for a movie called My Date With Drew--a low budget documentary about a guy that has something like $1000 and a dream to get a date with Drew Barrymore. We found the poster awful, with the wind blown Drew Barrymore looking sheepishly over her shoulder, while "the Regular Joe" stared up at her with a windsom smile, holding a gerber daisy. Often we would mock it and laugh.

Then my friend Jenny Sue saw the movie and said it was really inspiring and recommended it to me. I thought, maybe, just to maybe LIGHTEN IT UP A LITTLE I'd throw it in our Netflix que. The great thing about Netflix is that it is TOTALLY NO PRESSURE. You're not spending $10.50 to see a movie, and there are no late fees or anything involved, so if you don't like it, you send it back, knowing there is more where that came from. What could it hurt if we didn't watch a movie for once that wasn't in a foreign language, or dated around 1940, or somehow DEEPLY PROFOUND? I mean, it's called entertainment for a reason, right?

I explained all this to Graham, who finally conceded, when he realized I wasn't taking it SERIOUSLY, that I was trying just to HAVE SOME FUN. He still won't let me rent Oprah's 20th Anniversary special, but I am willing to pick my battles.

Since this conversation, I'd say that My Date With Drew was one of the most eagerly anticipated films in our little household. We'd look at our list of movies and say, "Guess what is coming next?"
"My Date with Drew?"
"Well, first we have The Women starring Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer and the heartbreaking and devestating film on Iraqi children, Turtles Can Fly. THEN we have...MY DATE WITH DREW!"
Finally last week I was able to say to Graham: "Oh look waht came in the mail! Stanley Kubrick's Lolita and...yep, you guessed it..MY DATE WITH DREW!"

So it was with great anticipation that we turned on the ol' laptop and put in the disc with the sheepish Drew and the windsom Regular Guy on the top and LET THE GOODTIMES ROLL.

I won't give you a review of the film. I don't want to ruin it for you. I will tell you that my sick mind of strange 80's celebrity trivia made me think: I bet you Corey Feldman's in this film. As it happened, I was RIGHT ON THE MONEY. Also, that the best part of the movie for me was when I discovered there are other people in the world who love Grease 2 (the best worst movie on the planet). I will also just say that Graham was kind at the end not to say, "What did you EXPECT? It was about a guy trying to get a date with DREW BARRYMORE." I know he was thinking it, and so I appreciate the restraint. Seriously, what a guy.