Written by Matthew Kaiser, Advice Columnist | 
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Why do you hate 
Romantic Comedies so much? -Barbara in Des Moines
What? When did I say I hate rom-coms? I believe the words I used were despise, loathe, and abhor – totally not the same. Ok, I kid, I really don’t hate romantic comedies. I just think most employ the same old sappy formula of “girl gets guy in the end, through some ridiculous and predictable series of events.” It’s tired, boring and… damn it, I expect better!
If I’m supposed to shell out ten bucks to waste two hours of my life, I expect it to be more entertaining. I’ve noticed that women seem to be the primary audience and that most of them are looking for a fairy tale type of ending. Most of the guys attending are probably there because they’re trying to please their woman or are there to pick up a woman. Personally, I would like to believe that most women want a little more substance to their viewing experience. You know, not just your typical “nerdy girl gets the unattainable hunk.”
First, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” second, “When Harry met Sally,” and last but not least, “Music and Lyrics.” What do you, dear reader, think? Before you send a ton of hate mail telling me I’m a stupid ass, at least tell me why I’m a stupid ass. Also, what are some of your favorite rom-coms? Now, I have to get going. I have popcorn in the microwave, a box of tissues, and “Sleepless in Seattle” spinning in the DVD player.
What is the nerdiest, weirdest, or wackiest thing you have done at the movies? -Chet in Cleveland
I’m beginning to think you’ve been spying on me, if not… what have you heard?!? Let me begin with setting all of those with dirty minds at ease. I have not had any sexual escapades in a theater, not that I haven’t tried. Well, unless you include the typical antics that happen at “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
As most of you already know, I’m a gigantic (yet still very cool) super geek. In my younger unemployed days I hit a lot of midnight new release movie premieres. Some of these included such cult hits as the “The Star Wars Saga” and most “Marvel” and “DC” super hero movies. For many of these, I would wear the typical geek garb. You know the type, a relevant geeky t-shirt and jeans. I would also go with the collected knowledge of many comic book and sci/fi fantasy movie bites in my brain. The nerdiest, weirdest, and wackiest thing I’ve done, so far, was for “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.” I had recently joined a Star Wars fan club (Tampa Docking Bay 1138, Fanforce) and they had been given an offer to attend an early screening on the opening day of the final movie in the “Star Wars” prequel trilogy. The only catch was that we had to come in costume, do a trivia contest, and get the audience excited about the movie.
Now I love dressing up, I do it on Halloween, at conventions, in drag shows (just kidding), so usually I’m down for some type of costumed attire. My only trepidation was that I was going to be wearing Jedi robes and waving around a light saber, in front of hundreds of non-costumed moviegoers. I was worried that I would look like some cracked out lunatic you might see on the five o’ clock news. I decided to put my petty fears aside and do it anyway. It was a new experience and it actually turned out to be incredibly enjoyable. Everyone relished the extra touch of having Darth Vader and Wookies walking around the theater. We even got to be on the local news (and I don’t think I looked like the cracked out lunatic that I thought I would). As soon as we took our seats and the familiar opening credit crawl of “Star Wars” began, all of the worrying I had didn’t matter anymore. It felt like I was saying goodbye to an old friend. Dressing up and participating really added to the experience and forever gave me a lasting memory to the swan song of one of my favorite movie franchises (and yes, I would do it again in an instant). In fact, for the 3-D release of the prequels I might just have to dust off the old Jedi robes and head back to a galaxy far, far away.
Matthew Kaiser is a (self-described) highly opinionated movie geek who lives in Tampa, Florida, with his wife and two pets. The Movie Matt-ers column appears every Monday. If you have a question for Movie Matt-ers, e-mail Matt at answers@hudakonhollywood.com.
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