the freedom of being in a relationship...

I hate the idea of starting off a writing career with an oxymoron. My mom always said that was the worst idea, but my mom is just a teacher. With that being said, something came to my mind while viewing the new Tina Fey movie, Baby Mama, this past weekend and I managed to remember it all the way until now. So I venture into the world of internet writing for the first time on this subject which I have oh-so-much experience dealing with. PS that subject is sorta relationships.

My relationship count maxes out somewhere just below the number of quality starts my buddy's prized Twins pitcher has made since returning from Tommy John surgery this season - so take everything I write with a fresh salt lick. Some context about my tastes so the three people who read this and already know me very well, re-know my tastes. I enjoyed Baby Mama and so far I enjoy nearly everything Tina Fey has done. I credit her, Amy Poehler and the rest of the current cast with the revitalization of SNL that continues without her.

Onto a question and groundbreaking thoughts...

Who exactly is this movie marketed towards and what type of people will be going to theaters to see it? Tina Fey is gifted, brilliant, and hardworking from all that I hear. (my inside information comes from BS reports with Seth Meyers.) Now maybe I sell the American public short, but aside from closer friends of mine who mark their wall calendars for every 30 Rock, I don't know who will be seeing this movie. With the title of the film and the plot of the movie, it appears to be a chick-flick. The problem with chick-flicks isn't typically the movie, but rather the stigma that comes with the movie.

Bill Simmons has called some recent movies that have done well like the 40 year Old Virgin and Knocked Up chick-flicks. They have neatly put together stories that end well with and feature few touching parts and a lot of characters that many people can identify with. People relate to and want to hang out with the characters they meet. The movies do well because they are packaged as fun guy movies with up and coming comedians who are legit funny. I really like nearly all of these films and own several. I don't mind the storybook ending each time because the journey in each movie is creative and hilarious and I like those sorta things. A lot of people do and a lot of people give each movie a chance because they know someone in the cast from a past movie with the same general feel to it. Forgetting Sarah Marshall is the most recent film from the cast and though I've yet to see it, I hear good things. I know it features some of the minor characters from the aforementioned movies.

A big question now, but not the purpose of this posting, is whether a chick-flick movie with two strong female leads can make it. I'm refraining from going any further down this road because Simmons somewhat addressed this in his Seth Meyers podcast and I cannot add much more than he did. It will be an interesting experiment and I hope it works out for Fey. After the first weekend's proceeds it looks good.

Okay, onto something resembling the title of this article. This type of thing could only apply to me and some people I know who have my taste in comedy. But this is exactly the type of movie that would be great to see if you were dating someone; everyone leaves the theater feeling good about life for at least a few minutes. And this is exactly the type of movie that I gets me weird looks from others who claim to not share my tastes when they hear I went to it. To them I have no good excuse like, "oh, well it was my girlfriend's choice this time" or it was either that or help the homeless day. Though I don't care about the ridicule, I bet it affects others who would like to see these types of movies but just are not arrogant enough to do so.

So I ask, what is a guy to do who wants to see a movie but can't bring himself to do so due to fear of temporarily being outcast and made fun of by those who suck at being open to movies that don't fit their stereotypical cool-guy motif? The way I see it there are two options and both are equally difficult.

A) Find and establish a girlfriend so that you may have someone to pawn off the blame onto when you have to go see a movie that you secretly think might be sweet.

B) Change the culture of America making more guys accepting to the possibility of movies that are not shoot'em up or over the top comedy being decent. (to clarify, I do like both these types of films too)

Now honestly, I can't figure which of those options is easier to accomplish. I am more apt to attempt B. Hence this column. That is unless some ladies out there are way turned on or even just not asleep by this point.

Back on target. Choosing A makes you no better than the meat-heads who don't give most movies a chance in the first place. It does accomplish the main goal of seeing the movie and could lead to other nice things that come with having girlfriends. Again, this is secondary information I've gathered from watching the films I speak of. I'm told there are other nice things that come with relationships. I've seen arguing.

Choosing B makes you a leader. Being a leader is tough, though, and few are cutout to do so. Even fewer try. Here are some good quotes about leaders. The first one is from Adlai Stevenson, who was famous and you should research, and it says "You can't lead a calvary charge if you think you look funny on a horse." A lot of people do look funny on horses. Even more people think they look funny on horses.

So A is the more realistic option for the majority of us out there. Go out and get yourself a partner and start living free. Sure you'll have to run everything you do by them, but think of all the things that you won't have to feel bad about telling the guys. Every guy accepts the fact that they will be somewhat whipped while in a relationship. They have to do things they don't want to do. Guys realize that is part of the deal and though friendly jabs occur as a result of the whippedness, most guys can't talk as they have experienced it themselves.

So my full-proof suggestion is as follows: find a girl who has a basic understanding of comedy and looks half-decent and run with her to your closest theater. For the sake of your movie viewing needs, give it a shot. Who knows, it could lead to something actually materializing and then that other good stuff too.


(End note: all comments, criticisms, critiques and phone numbers are appreciated.)