I Would Be The Villain

There are people in the world who can watch a movie once. They sit there, take in a film and then say, "That was good/bad/indifferent. Now I am done with it, and see no need to sit through it again." I am not one of these people. I watch movies (even movies I don't particularly enjoy), multiple times. That will happen when you have so many movie channels, because they show everything on a four or five hour loop, so you can't but help to catch a movie a second time. Occasionally it is helpful; for instance, if you you missed a section the first go-round. Other times a movie is better the second time because the viewer has gained a better idea of just what the hell they were watching the first time around and as a result the plot makes more sense. (Apparently, with Inception it is more like 12 or 13 viewings.) In my opinion the best kinds of movie to watch a second time are ones you first saw many years ago and haven't seen in years. Whenever I watch a movie that I haven't seen since I was a teenager, I find that I get more of the jokes and subtleties. It's almost like an entirely new movie. However, there is another thing that happens when I re-watch an older movie and I'm not sure it's a good thing: I find myself taking the bad guy's side.

The other night, With Honors was on TV. I loved this movie as a teenager. But, when I watched it the other day, I found myself sympathising more with the uptight roommate. When Brendan Fraser's character first brings Joe Pesci to their home, the other two roommates are like, "Of course you can have the homeless person you just met live in our yard. I'm sure he's fine." Because everyone else is cool with it, when the third roommate isn't on board the audience is appalled. 15 year-old me was especially aghast. "Why don't you want him there? He's a human being too, you know!" But, in my latest viewing, 31 year-old me was much more on that guy's side. The thing is, I know me. In that situation I would totally be the one saying things like, "I don't know about this" or "Perhaps we should call someone" before bringing up the fact that the landlord was probably going to be pissed and this could jeopardise our lease. 31 year-old me has dealt with a few homeless people and I have found they are never well-read gentlemen. (Sometime I'll tell you about the one that swung a crutch at the back of my head when I was feeding my meter.)

Another movie that has changed with my older perspective is Swingers. The first time I saw the movie, 17 year-old me thought Vince Vaughn's character was really cool. 31 year-old me thinks that he's kind of sad. (Which is apparently how he was supposed to come across, but again, 17 year-old me wasn't much for picking up subtleties). I've spent much of my adult life trying to distance myself from the people who are too loud in that 'look at me, dammit' way. I just know that if I ran into that guy at a party I am making small talk for a few minutes and then desperately looking for a way to politely excuse myself.

Romantic teen movies are full of 'villains' that do exactly what I would do in that situation. How many movie dads are portrayed as the bad guy because they would rather see their daughters date the 'stuffy' kid who is going to the Ivy League school instead of the tough kid from the bad neighborhood? As a movie goer you're supposed to be on that tough kid's side, but as an adult I find myself sitting there thinking, "Why is that wrong?" In the real world, of course I would rather see my nieces date the kid who is going to Yale versus the kid who got arrested for vandalism at the start of the movie, I don't care how good his dance moves are.

Still, despite my new, crustier way of looking at things, I think I'm ok as long as I haven't gotten to the point where I start rooting for people like Jason and Freddy Kreuger. If I ever pop in a copy of Jaws and start rooting for the shark, it might be time to stop watching movies.