The Most Expensive Movie We Ever Watched

A few months ago, I wrote about how Netflix wasn't working for us because we need to get three movies every time, one for E, one for M, and one for the grownups, and then we send them back and don't have any movies for almost a week.

The other reason Netflix doesn't work for us is because we are stunningly lazy.

I just tried to log onto our Netflix account to see how long we have actually had Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but I can't because I've forgotten our password. It's been that long. I think about three months. We've also had Blues Talks and a compilation of Three Stooges episodes, but at least they've been watched, and watched, and watched again. Eternal Sunshine has just been sitting there on top of the television in its little Netflix envelope, rebuking us.

It's hard for us to watch a movie. There are all those nights that S works. Then there are the nights that he's home but crashes because he worked a back-to-back (a night shift--remember that "night" means 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.--followed by a day shift--which would be 7 a.m to 5 p.m.--and don't forget to factor in the half hour commute each way). There are the nights that I have to work (luckily less frequent these days). There are the nights when we have to watch the Red Sox. There are the nights I just have to read my book, which actually have been frequent lately, as I've been reading some great books.

But the bottom line is that we suck. I mean, as my friend S would say, what kind of people keep Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind for three months, which means they actually could have bought the movie FOUR TIMES for the money they spent renting it?

You knew this was all leading up to the announcement that last night we finally watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

It was fine.

I mean, there was no way it could have lived up to three months of anticipation. But really, it was fine.

For the first ten minutes, I thought it was just another wacky-girl-spices-up-the-life-of-straight-boy flick.

Then I realized it was Desperately Seeks Susan meets The Time-Traveler's Wife. Come on, don't you think Kate Winslet looks like Madonna?

At the end, though, after Kirsten Dunst discovered what had happened, it did get good.

In fact, it kind of reminded me of the experience of watching Nashville, which is one of my favorite movies ever, but every time I watch it, for most of the movie I wonder why I think it's so great, and then in the last half hour, at the concert, it all comes together and I remember why it is so great. Not that Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is anything like Nashville or anywhere near as great as Nashville, just that it comes together in the end and the end makes it better than it was.

But now that that's taken care of, we'll be cancelling our Netflix subscription.