Sunday, June 8, 2008

Watching Sex

I mean watching the movie "Sex And The City" in case the title is misleading.

Wife Anita asked if we could see it together and I agreed, despite its unflattering reviews in The New York Times, and also in The Wall Street Journal. The critics at Rotten Tomatoes also gave it a failing grade (below 60% positive) though the general viewers were more generous. Gender seems to play a big role. The women love it, the men don't.

I said to Anita that it is our going out together that matters and not the particular movie that we watch. She responded that she'd never accompany me to my "men-type" of horror, sci-fi, action or similarly inane movies. That's honesty and lack of false promises or mushiness for you.

The 8:50pm show on Saturday that we saw was full of women. There were only seven men (me included) out of an audience of over 150 with a surprisingly high proportion of young females.

The movie itself was very well received, with a lot of "oohs", "ahs" and laughter. At the end many people (all women) clapped in applause - the first time I've seen this happen in Danbury. While leaving we heard four women tell their two male companions, "Oh, thanks so much for coming. We're sorry you didn't enjoy it as much as we did!"

About our own reactions Anita liked it a lot. But so did I, contrary to our expectations going by the reviews. Beneath my boorishness and practicality I may have a soft and sensitive core that would appeal to the four main women characters in this movie. Or maybe not.

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