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Movie Selector dilemma: What will my wife like?
Paul Sassone
Updated: March 21, 2012 3:36PM
Obviously, I am not doing this right.
I rent movies from Netflix, as probably some of you do. So, every few days a disc arrives through the mail. I could rent more, or I could stream, but a movie every few days is just about right for my wife and me.
That’s not the problem. The problem is what to rent. When it comes to making that decision, I waffle.
This can be illustrated by the number of movies I have selected and put into my queue.
There are 366 movies in my queue.
I’m not kidding.
366 movies.
I know I’ll never rent all 366 movies. What can I tell you? Selecting each of them seemed like a good idea at the time.
The root of the problem is that I have been designated Movie Selector for the family.
But there’s a catch. I have to select a movie that not only I like, but that is a movie my wife would like to see.
If — when — I don’t order such a film I often hear something like, “Wait a minute, wait a minute. Didn’t we just see a Western last week?’’
To me, there are few pleasures as pleasurable as a good Western. But one must be judicious in the ordering of Westerns. One must also include a sprinkling of movies the other half of the household might like.
Thrillers are a pretty good compromise. Women, as well as men, seem to like thrillers.
But renting some thrillers now and then is not going to give the Movie Selector carte blanche the rest of the time.
Sometimes the Movie Selector must select movies about relationships that have little, or no, gunplay.
So, I try to save in the queue some movies I think might be about relationships. I add movies that I would like to see, i.e., Westerns, and gunplay in general. Then, of course, there are the award-winning movies everyone says you simply must see.
And before you know it ... before I know it, there are 366 movies saved. I stare blankly at the titles and can’t remember what more than half are or what they are about. Are they thrillers, Westerns, epics, relationship movies?
What should I send for next? If I order X, will the choice irk my wife? Has enough time elapsed between Westerns?
Uneasy lies the head that wears the Movie Selector crown.
