My husband and I aren’t exactly movie buffs. Granted, he’s much better at retaining the ones he’s seen than I am. I can’t tell you how often I have this conversation:

Person: “You know that scene in [insert absurdly popular movie title here] where [famous thing happens]?”
Me: “No, I haven’t seen it.”
Person: “What? It’s required viewing to be a good American/human being/superhero/penguin.”
Me: Shrug
Person: “It’s about [insert rant here].”
Me: “Oh wait, and [obscure thing no one remembers about the movie] happens?”
Person: “I think, yeah.”
Me: “Oh yeah. Pretty sure I saw that.”

I think the reason I don’t recall every movie that well is the same reason I don’t remember every book that well: I devour fiction. Eventually it blurs a little. I remember my favorites and least favorites, and then I remember parts or ideas that stand out.

*Ahem*

Anyway, despite my lack of movie knowledge, movie dates are a pretty standard for my husband and myself. They have a couple nice perks:

  1. They’re cheap.
  2. I get to eat popcorn.

popcorn happy

Seriously. I can think of few such perfect combinations. Movie dates have one very vital flaw, however:

The movies.

Don’t get me wrong. My husband and I both have plenty of movies we like. Our tastes overlap pretty often. But not always. That’s how we’ve come to what I’ve now deemed “The Tom Cruise Compromise.”

Sometimes, if I want to see a long dramatic movie that doesn’t interest my husband, I have to follow-up by watching, say, a Tom Cruise movie. I don’t know exactly know why I hate Tom Cruise so much. I obviously don’t know him personally. He could be a lovely man, but gosh darn it, if I see his face on a movie poster, I have absolutely no interest in that movie.

tom cruise sad

Our most recent date night was to see Edge of Tomorrow. The plot was okay, I guess. I’m picky about action movies. I tend to want a lot of plot and character development, not just explosions. This movie fell somewhere in between. I had a nice time in the big comfy recliners, dozing off on Husband’s shoulder and watching Tom die over and over again. That was nice. Halfway through, though, I started thinking about his age.

Now, I’m a polite movie-goer, so I turn off my phone at the movies, which means I couldn’t google “how the frick old is Tom Cruise?” I just thought about it. He’s been making movies awhile. I’m guessing he looks pretty good for his age, but he’s getting older. When do these actors accept that they have to stop playing the action hero? They all have to do it at some point.

Except Harrison Ford. He can make action movies until the day he dies if he wants.

What? Don’t look at me like that. He’s awesome!

Okay, moving on.

I guess the point is that we all have to make compromises. If the biggest compromise in our lives right now requires that I let my mind drift at a Tom Cruise movie while eating some overly buttered popcorn, then things are pretty good.

And Harrison Ford is awesome.