PlatKat.com: Higher Standards

Monday, July 11, 2005

Higher Standards

Why does every romantic comedy ever written have some scene near the middle where the couple is just starting to fall in love and they do something really mundane and stupid, but have "such a fabulous time" anyway because they're so in love with each other? What a bunch of horseradish!

My recently viewed, extremely pathetic examples include 40 Days and 40 Nights, where our adventurous young couple rides a bus across town, and Nadine in Date Land, where the zany 30-somethings troll around a grocery store. Both scenes, while designed to portray the characters as innocent and freewheeling, end up looking contrived and stupid. The actors work really hard to make throwing paper products at their desired mate seem darling and fun, but if you look deep into their eyes, they're really thinking, "Why the hell did I even pick up this script?" And you find yourself in the middle of the montage thinking, "Why the hell am I watching this anyway?"

If someone's gonna sweep me off my feet, it's not happening in a place where whores ride to keep warm or where mothers bring their three kids to buy economy-sized boxes of cereal. We're creative young adults with extra cash and some free time. Let's at least eat at a nice restaurant and go dancing afterward. In San Francisco, where 40 Days takes place, there is so much to do your head could explode. They could have gone for a scenic bike ride or a hike in the mountains or a swim at the beach... something for the folks at home to vicariously enjoy. Plus, as a couple of young hipsters, they have the run of the entire city. Go to a goth club or a hippie festival or a wine bar... again, something most people can't do because they've resigned themselves to a life of monotony in the suburbs. Nadine also takes place somewhere urban. Plus, the object of her affection was loaded. The sky's the limit! Forget the grocery store, go to the best restaurant in town and dance on the roof in smurf costumes!

That said, I must admit that the onset of my current relationship was not without one of these obnoxiously simple moments. It involved driving my younger sister Seguin (aka, where fun goes to die) to see a guy she was semi-involved with and way too good for. As Gus and I were having a decent time doing nothing together, this guy's actual plan was nothing. I spent all that time doing nothing with the guy I love just so she could do nothing with some dork. I gave the dork in question a verbal bitch slap, and Gus and I headed back to Austin for a night on the town, hoping to never do nothing again.

posted by platkat @ 5:05 PM