Our Friday night date

We usually go out to eat on Friday night with another couple--Joyce and Bill or Joan and Jerry or Ron and Jane or Sue and Wes, etc. But last night, everyone must have been busy or we gave up too early. So I suggested a movie. After some intense questioning (my husband resists change) we settled on "New in Town" at the dollar theater, which I think is now $1.50. It was billed as a romantic comedy, as was "Shopaholic," our other choice in that not G but not R group.

I thought I'd blog about it while I still remember the plot (24 hours later), because it is truly forgetable. And yet it isn't. When you're watching it (released in January 2009) you could swear you've seen this 4 or 5 other times. And you have. Only the names, climate, clothes and marital state change. This one is supposed to take place in New Ulm, Minnesota, but was actually filmed in Canada, and I guess they nearly froze their tushies off. Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick, Jr. play the leads--her the on the rise executive from Miami, and him the union boss--so you know where this is going. As smart as she's supposed to be, she doesn't seem to understand how cold it is in Minnesota, but as the movie moves on, and on, her clothing does change from 4 in. designer heels and skinny suits to muklaks and parkas. Nor does she seem to know you don't drink alcohol if you are stranded in a snow drift. I'm from balmy Ohio and even I know that. But drunken blondes are supposed to be funny, I guess. I'm not sure Min-e-so-tans talk like they do in this movie, but they did have to let them have the last say, even though they were scrapbooking Jesus lovers, because they were unionized. And all Hollywood has to make the executive the butt of the joke, so the worker can beat them, right? We watched about 5 minutes of credits scroll by at the end, and I wonder how many of those are small, independent contractors hoping to someday be big companies?

Just two other things, then I'm done. Renee's skin looked like she really had been affected by the severe weather--very red chapped and blotchy, and the small popcorn was $4.75--more than our two tickets.