Tonight I watched Good Will Hunting on A&E - the network managed to stretch it to two and a half hours with poorly timed commercial breaks.
I saw Good Will Hunting for the second time on a first date. Watching it tonight, I considered its efficacy as a first date movie. It's a very good film with a happy ending, but has heavy themes of abuse and more than a little latent homoeroticism. Not the best first date movie.
In my esteemed romantic career, there is a tie for Worst First Date Movie. The honors are split between Amistad (Erin) and Saving Private Ryan (Ginny). Amistad was not my first choice - we were just stuck with it and made the best of things. I recall a scene where one of the slaves talks about killing a lion back in his African village - I leaned over and whispered in Erin's ear: "Did I ever tell you about the time that I killed a lion?" Unsurprisingly, she reached for my hand a short time later.
The Saving Private Ryan debacle was the result of my inexperience; at that point in my life, I thought it was better to see a good, but date-inappropriate movie than a poor, date-appropriate movie. Ginny raised no objection to the idea; when we left the theater, she informed me that it was her second viewing of the Spielberg war epic. My charm in those days was such that the human female would gladly witness the gory aftermath of D-Day (for a second time) just to be near me.
I invite you to share your worst first date movies. Paul, if you're reading this, I'd love to hear your Boogie Nights experience one more time.
5 comments:
Bebe's Kids - Worst movie I've ever seen, date or otherwise. Fortunately I didn't really like the girl anyway.
1) Worst first date movie I've seen: Grand Canyon. I must have been about 17 and all I remember is thinking "huh?" after it was over, and also a memorable scene of Steve Martin getting shot and pissing himself.
2) Best first date movie: Taking Lives. Don't underestimate a thriller.
3) Good Will Hunting is a great first date movie. Every hetero/bisexual woman thinks either Matt Damon or Ben Affleck, or both, are dreamy. And spending an evening with a girl who's tingly only enhances the date experience.
[-jeff.]
I saw the movie Assassins several times with a guy I was dating in college...that and the 5th Element. Sucked.
My best movie date was Old School. I'm not joking.
In high school, I spurned a guy (supposedly)over a movie. He asked me out and when we were deciding on the flick, he threw out The Brady Bunch Movie. I vetoed it. We never went out. I never understood as it appeared I had offended him by saying no to the Brady's. He later became a good friend of mine and after a bit of an argument of why we never went out, it became clear: he thought my no to The Brady Brunch Movie was my way of saying no to a date with him. I think it was hard for him to accept that the no was really only to the movie and not a cheap way to avoid him.
Heather
Unfortunately, I was the victim of the "Boogie Nights" first date incident. Honestly, going in, I had no idea the movie centered around the porn industry. I had only seen one commercial for it, and I truly thought it was simply about partying and music in the '70s. I don't have to tell you that it didn't take long before a wave of panic hit me after realizing what the movie was really about. Sure, I tried to joke my way through the first 30 minutes or so of uncomfortable scenes and porn lingo. For a short time, I remember thinking that humor will be able to get me through this. But, eventually, Burt Reynolds got the best of me, as he always does. So, it wasn't long before I could not even look at or talk to the poor girl who seemed to be in almost a complete state of shock. I still wonder if she was more shocked at what was going on in the movie or that someone was dumb enough to suggest this for a first date.
By this point, we're probably about halfway through the movie, and I feel like Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. Just then, a particularly graphic scene was occurring, and I heard the following phrase:
"Can we go? I don't think I can watch anymore of this."
With my head in hands, I agreed that leaving would probably be best. As you can probably guess, there was not a second date. These days, I can't hear the name Dirk Diggler without picturing the horror on that girl's face for most of the movie.
In your defense, Paul, if I was the girl on the date, I would have checked out the list of possible movies and would have had the heads up about it. Second of all, would you really want to date a girl that was appalled by a movie depicting the porn industry? That movie isn't that bad. Hell, I would have more offended by going to The Piano and seeing Harvey Keitel...ew...on a first date.
Heather
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