You Haven't Seen That?

I'm a pop culture guru and a pretty big movie buff with a ridiculous encyclopedic memory for details that most people don't pick up on or don't bother to find out about. Why? Because they shouldn't, it's useless knowledge. And I'm not talking about Kelly McGillis' next big role after she filmed Top Gun kinda knowledge (it was 1987's Witness by the way, opposite Harrison Ford). I'm talking about being able to spot a young Nicholas Cage (then known as Nicholas Coppola) in 1982's Fast Times at Ridgemont High. He had no lines, a couple brief cameos, one of which was flippin' burgers at the fictitious "All American Burger".

These are items of knowledge that I don't expect everyone to know, hardly anyone really. But what does a guy like me do when he's dating someone for 8 months and he finds out that his girlfriend hasn't seen Back to the Future? Is that grounds for a break-up? I think it's pretty close....the aforementioned Top Gun being an equally offensive "not-seen". Part of it is my fault for not being up front with her right away about my deal-breakers.

My girlfriend is an absolute treasure, but when I found out that Back the Future had somehow missed her radar, I about lost it. Of course it followed as no surprise that Teen Wolf, a true classic, had also not made the roster of FRIGGIN' AWESOME MOVIES THAT EVERYONE SHOULD SEE. Now both of these problems have been rectified and we're doing much better in our relationship because of it. She just sat down, by herself mind you, and watched the Back the Future Trilogy without stopping. I was so proud of her, but still wanted to wag the finger like "what took you so long?" I was also proud of her for sitting through Predator with me when we were dating early on...that one scored huge points with me because it epitomizes a "guy's movie". Now if I can just get her to tackle Roadhouse and maybe one of the Porky's flicks, I'll marry her tomorrow. In an attempt to play fair and broaden my own cinematic horizons, I played the good boyfriend and sat through Thoroughly Modern Millie and The Devil Wears Prada....everyone makes mistakes.

All I'm saying really is that I have a mild problem when I find out that someone has not seen a movie like Back to the Future or The Breakfast Club (or anything John Hughes directed). I can handle it if you don't know that Under Seige 2 took place on a train instead of a battleship. I can muster the energy to still sit at the bar with you even though you didn't catch Ace Ventura. Even still, I can allow ignorance when it comes to Alyssa Milano's very young role in Commando (way before she went vampy in Poison Ivy 2).

But if movies like Swingers, Teen Wolf, Caddyshack, or Uncle Buck have missed your radar.......then let's sit down and hash this out for the sake of our relationship.