My Movie Adventure

I checked off something I've been meaning to do on my list of things to do- I went to the movies by myself.

I'm sure half of you think this is sad and pathetic, and the other half of you are rolling your eyes wondering why I even had this on a list of things to do.

Well, I have been saying for the last year that I wanted to go see a movie by myself. It seemed silly that I had to have someone to go with. It's a movie, it's not like you need someone sitting next to you to either enjoy it or think it sucked. For this reason I don't understand why people go to the movies on a first date, it seems so unproductive. Aren't you supposed to try and get to know someone on a first date? If you take them to the movies then you are probably getting more intimite with your popcorn and candy than you are with your date.

Since I do not have a better half I usually go to the movies with a friend, but scheduling conflicts sometimes make it hard to actually go see the movie, so most of the time I wait until the movie is on Netflix and don't even try to attempt the theater.

Yesterday was different. I had a long day and by the time I got home around 3:30 I went straight to bed, only to wake up around 9pm. Everyone I knew was in the city, I was all by myself. The boat had sailed for me to do anything, I would have to put on my face and do my hair, which I hadn't even brushed yet. No, I didn't want to spend two hours to go out. Plus I was still feeling tired and getting over being sick. So I went to my handy dandy fandango app on my Iphone to see what movies were playing. I had seen previews for the movie The Box, and the last show was playing in fifteen minutes. I got in my car, unbrushed hair and in yoga pants and drove to the theater. I bought my ticket, got a good seat and waited for the movie to start. By the time the previews were rolling I thought to myself, "I can't believe I'm here by myself! What if people think I'm a loser for being here all alone, they probably are all thinking, 'that poor girl, can't even get someone to take her out on a Saturday night' Who cares what they think? I don't. They can think I'm pathetic all they want. Maybe someone will feel so bad for me they'll buy me some popcorn. Mmmm, popcorn sounds good, but I don't want to miss the previews..."

Once the movie began I stopped worrying so much. And to give my fellow movie viewers credit, none of them must have thought me too pathetic, because I did not get any popcorn from any of them. Note to reader; if you ever see a girl in the movie theater by herself around 5'5 with brown unbrushed hair she would not be offended by you offering her some pity popcorn. In fact, make it with extra butter.

*****SPOILER ALERT!!!! I AM ABOUT TO TELL THE ENTIRE PLOT TO THE MOVIE I SAW, SO IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON SEEING THIS MOVIE PLEASE STOP READING NOW! DON'T WORRY, I'LL WAIT.....*****



The movie itself was pretty good. It was about a family in 1976 that has a mysterious package delivered to them one morning. It is a button. A man with half his face burned off comes later in the day to explain to the wife that if they decide to push the button that they would receive 1 million dollars, and someone that they do not know will die. Long story short, she pushes the button, and then all this weird stuff happens that I still don't really understand. Then the couples son is kidnapped by the same man with his face burned off. He then tells the couple that their son is now blind and deaf. They have two options at this point, they can keep their million dollars and live the rest of their lives with their deaf/blind son and try to make the best of it. Or, the husband can shoot his wife, and the minute she dies the son will then get his sight or hearing back. At this same time another husband and wife are shown with the box with the button on it, trying to decide if they want to push it. The wife tells the husband to shoot her, which after they profess their love to one another he does, just as the new couple push the button. The son is back to normal, and the husband is taken away to some unknown place. It was sort of unclear on a lot of things. I liked it, but still don't really understand who made the box and why are they sending it to all these families. What is the end result supposed to be? It's after seeing films like this that I use my usual, "it's just a movie" answer.

I did start thinking about what I would do if some half-faced man came to my house to offer me a million dollars if I push a button and someone dies. I have been asking this question since I knew the concept of the movie and have been discussing it with people. I said I would not push the button, I had some people ask if they could push the button more than once for more money, and I was suprised that the end answer was sort of split down the middle. Some did not care that someone would die, and some- like me- felt that they could not feel responsible for another person's death, no matter what the outcome may be.

But what if pushing the button didn't involve death? What if you pushed the button and you would never gain another pound again, no matter how much food you ate, but in exchange you could only wear polyester blend fabric? What if you never aged if you pushed the button, but you smelled funny the rest of your life? What if you pushed the button and you got a gazillion dollars, and could buy whatever you wanted, do whatever you wanted but still had to go to a soup kitchen to eat all your meals. What would you do?

It would be like me being able to push a button that made the rest of our country's presidents republicans, and the Red Sox would always win the World Series. Yes, that sounds awesome, but who really wants a guarantee on anything in life? That's where it gets fun, not really knowing what might happen. So no, if a man with half his face burned off by lightning came to my house with a box with a button I would not push it. No matter what his offer consisted of...because having to wear polyester for the rest of my life is a scary thought to me.