Yesterday I went to see a movie in a movie theatre for the first time since January of 2020, when I went to see the latest version of Little Women. I said, "If I want Hollywood to make more movies like this one, I need to go and spend money on a ticket." I was astonished at how much money I spent on a ticket in 2020, even though I avoided spending the prime time prices of $17.00 a ticket. Yikes! I expect popcorn to be grossly overpriced, but not ticket prices.
Yesterday, we had a pleasant surprise. My mom had some kind of valued customer card, and we got tickets for $5.00 each. Hurrah! We did not buy popcorn, which seems to be priced similarly to 2020 prices. I was a bit baffled by having to choose seats--I go to a movie to avoid having to make those kinds of decisions. It's not the symphony, we're seeing, and we went to the 1:55 movie, so most seats were open.
We saw 80 for Brady, which was as entertaining as I thought it would be. It was great to see a movie where it looked like everyone was having a great time. I love the women in the main roles--I would go to see them read the phone book (there I am, referring to phone books again! at some point, I'll choose a more culturally relevant metaphor for something dull). I was not in the mood for anything serious and gloomy--if I want that, I'll watch the news or read some reports on climate.
I went with my mom and dad, and I was also happy that there are still movies we can watch together. We have often had similar tastes in movies, so my happiness is rooted that there are still a few movies released for those of us who don't want a super hero movie, who can't keep up with all those Marvel storylines.
My only quibble: why does Jane Fonda always play the female who is most irresistible to men? I realize she's spent her whole life playing that role, but it would have been a more interesting movie if Lily Tomlin got to play that role--and make her irresistible to all genders which would have made an even more interesting role for me to watch. I did appreciate that we got to see these women in all stages of glammed up and natural. We see Lily Tomlin recovering from chemo, looking like she had been caught without stage make up. We see the wigs that Jane Fonda uses to achieve that irresistible look. We see a man in his 30's move to kiss the Sally Field character when she's looking at her most mousy and frumpy.
What I'm acknowledging is that the movie did take some risks, even as it played it safe for the most part. But what I'm really saying is that I appreciated this movie for what it did do and what it didn't try to do. It's a movie that knew what we needed, and it delivered.
What we needed: to laugh, to see all sorts of people take on a variety of roles, to feel happy about hijinks that were fairly low stakes, to be reassured that the high stakes issues the characters face will not blow them into bits, and to leave the movie theater content that we got to see a movie together, a movie that left us feeling affirmed, not dejected.
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