Lassie's Not For The Dogs

I watched a movie last night.

I'm so far behind the times when it comes to pop culture, and movies in particular, that it's almost funny. Sometimes, my sons will tell me the plot of a movie they've seen in the theater. Good enough. I don't like being taken for a ride, emotionally, and that's precisely what movies do. They pull you into another reality. No, thanks, I'll just stay home.

For the record, I used to watch movies, and I even paid money to do so. But these days I have other things I'd rather do -- like watch Deadliest Catch or something on TLC or good ol' Red Green. Oh, and I see a LOT of movies. In their cases. At work.

But last night, I happened to be channel surfing as this one movie began, and the narrative hooked me. The voiceovers were the first sentences of college entrance essays. Huh, that's interesting. Reminds me of one of the blogs I like to read. By the time I found out the movie's title, I had decided to keep watching.

Now, back to the library. As I said, I handle many movies every day. I see all the covers. There's this one with a photo of a certain comic actor and a huge sandwich on the front. That movie would NEVER interest me. It's obviously about a goofy guy who eats weird food and for whom English is a learned language. Silly.

But this movie that hooked me last night had a few very poignant scenes. And some of the main characters were, uh, not wound up very tightly, to borrow a phrase. They were downright odd, disconnected, inarticulate, emotional, and dysfunctional. I grew to like them -- well, most of them. There was a coming-of-age theme that attracted me. The scenery and cinematography were interesting. I had to find out how this movie ended, and I enjoyed being taken for a ride. Imagine that!

If you have any more involvement in pop culture than me, you already know that the "ELL sandwich movie" and the college essay movie are one and the same. Guess I was wrong when I judged that movie by its cover. Huh.