For as long as I can remember, the thing that I loved the most had consistently steered me wrong in the world of dating. I had always thought it was a good idea to emulate my favorite characters in film. In the 6th grade I had a ‘girlfriend’. I say ‘girlfriend’ because all she did was check the “YES” box in the note I sent her. At this point in my life Han Solo was my hero, he still kind of is. One day at recess my friend Alex Mattis told me I needed to smooch her, like how Han smooched Leia, like a scoundral! So I mustered all of my Han qualities and pecked her on the cheek. I expected her to kiss me back and was waiting for C-3PO to come in and tell me he isolated the reverse flux power coupling! Instead she laughed at me and ran away. That was the moment that solidified my status as a nerd in middle school.
During my high school years I was lucky enough to meet other kids like me; weirdos. We loved making movies. Monster movies, chase movies or anything with dumb violence and fake blood. They were never very good, but it never mattered. It was fun to be dumb. I developed another crush and I once again channeled a movie icon: John Cusack. Just as in 6th grade, I liked her… a lot. I liked her so much in fact that before she came over to my house I decided I needed to hide all my collections from my secret life as a nerd. My X-Files VHS tapes and action figures, my Simpsons toys, and my prized Star Wars themed Pepsi cans were all tossed in a box and thrown in the closet. We enjoyed what can only be described as a Say Anything romance, I was Lloyd Dobler and she was what’s-her-name.
Our relationship went through many stages. First Say Anything then a short rough patch that was The Notebook and at the end of senior year we were into our Garden State phase. I was so into Zach Braff’s New Jersey love story (I saw it 7 times in the theaters) that I decided to follow this girl to New York and trade a film school degree for a “real” degree in Communications, the most phony of all “real” degrees. On the 8 hour drive to college I listened to Imogen Heap and imagined my Natalie Portman girlfriend running into my arms every time I visited her. After about a month of taking the train to see her on the weekends she decided it would be better if she saw another guy (or 5) for awhile. She also told me she didn’t really care for The Notebook, it devastated me. I allowed myself to step into the unhealthy role of Leonardo DiCaprio in The Aviator. So I went a little crazy and submerged myself into film courses and started making slightly better movies with slightly more talented film friends.
With these new friends I finally found some confidence and entered the dating world once again. This time I decided to play the role of myself. I didn’t act like my film heroes of the past or my hero of the time (Daniel Plainview) but I also did not hide my obsessive love for movies or any of my collections that had traveled with me to New York. In fact, the girl I was trying to woo kind of dug it. We bonded over Lord of The Rings and one of our first dates was to go see Little Miss Sunshine. And although I don’t like to compare my life to movies anymore, we’re somewhere between Benny & Joon and Harold and Maude and we’re completely ok with that.
What film has given me, has given all of us nerds and collectors and weirdos is at the core a way to relate. A language. I can feel comfortable at a party if someone wants to talk about the best comedy film ever made (it’s Fletch), I can have something to talk about with friends in other states that I haven’t seen in months (also Fletch), I can even head over to the cinema on a Sunday and spend my afternoon alone in a theater with Tin Tin and Captain Haddock and not feel weird telling my fiance. This MoviePass contest was a dream come true because, like you this is my life. I spend my weekends at the movie theater. I love the previews. I love dimming of the lights. I love (and miss) seeing the reels changing. I promise to see an insane amount of movies this year and would love to meet up with anyone who wants to do the same.