Discuss: Renting DVDs with Your Significant Other
Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, Home Entertainment
Here's a good question: How many times have you been out renting a movie with your significant other when a fight between the two of you over which movie to rent breaks out? Okay, maybe not a full-on fight, but more like one of those annoying arguments ... in public? Over at The Movie Blog, they have up a pretty funny post called How To (And Not To) Pick A DVD With Your Girlfriend. Of course, the title kinda leaves out boyfriends, husbands and wives -- but that's not the point. The point is that this has become one of the hardest tasks for a couple -- and if you've never argued with your significant other over a rental choice, then congrats: You're in the perfect relationship!
I can't even count the number of times I've been in Blockbuster with my wife (used to be girlfriend), and she'd pick up a movie like Underdog (simply because she wanted to see how our dog would react to the other dogs talking), and I'd sort of grumble back a "Really? Do we have to get that?" Then, most (if not all) of the time, she'd say something like, "Ugh -- you think you know everything because you write for a stupid movie site. Why can't I ever pick something!?" People look, the guy putting away movies smiles all-knowingly and I wind up watching Underdog while she holds our dog's head toward the screen, whispering "Who's that doggie? Is that doggie talking? Look at that doggie flying!"
Truth be told, it really is hard for me. Since it's my job to see a lot of movies, as well as know what the buzz is on every single movie that comes out, it's difficult to not give my opinion when she picks up a film I know got panned and wants to see it based on the "really cool description." Obviously, I have my own selfish issues to work through, and it'd be good to just give in sometimes and let her pick the movie she wants to see -- but I'd be lying if I said it's easy to keep my mouth shut. Because it's not.
Because of this, we've since cut off our Netflix subscription and have begun either watching DVDs I'm assigned to review (which, usually, are films we both want to see) and/or festival screeners (which are films I probably don't know much about in the first place). I'm happy to say we haven't argued over a film in a long time.
But I'm curious to see how you all handle these kinds of situations. Are you a movie geek and your significant other is not? Do you fight a lot over which movies to rent? Do you ALWAYS agree? Let us know in the comments section below, and be sure to check out that post over on The Movie Blog for some good problem-solving techniques.
Jeremy Renner Wants To Be An Avenger
Directors We Love: Jim Jarmusch
Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
Shelf Life: Fight Club_thumbnail.jpg)
Watch: Famous 'Matrix' Scene Re-Created with LEGOs
_thumbnail.jpg)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-07-2008 @ 10:14PM
annoyed said...
That's an incredibly stereotypical girlfriend you have there...nice to see that you are so condescending to her on the website. So let's see all women have horrible taste, and all men know the best movies out there?
Sorry to be so agressive in this post, but the point I'm trying to make is that people can have very different tastes when it comes to movies, but to hint that the whole female sex are silly creatures with stupid whims is extremely offensive.
Reply
4-07-2008 @ 10:23PM
Noah said...
oh wow to above, he never said one sex was more superior , he was just giving a personal story (he even set up the story)
Yeah it is a fun trip each time my sig other and I are looking for a movie. I read reviews all the time, so if she grabs one that I have read a poor review on, I do that same huff and puff.
We never really argue we just shoot each other's movie choice down and end up walking around the video store for 15 minutes only to walk out empty handed.
I will say this, there is a movie that I picked that ended up being horrible so now every time I'm like how bout this, she always brings up the bad movie. (I know there has to be other couples out there that this has happened to.)
Reply
4-07-2008 @ 10:35PM
Jessica D said...
My husband has always had terrible taste in movies, and hates it when I watch movies more than once when they're on tv and we 1) already watched it on tv, or 2) watched it at the theater.
I'm sure I can come up with a cynical, condescending, and publicly embarassing nomenclature for him at this point, just like you did for your wife, but I'll restrain, cause I'm a girl and I can restrain myself *insert smug face here*
Reply
4-07-2008 @ 10:45PM
Erik Davis said...
Sorry if you took it like I was placing all females in one category. My wife actually has great taste in films, and has great things to say about each film we watch. She sees stuff even I don't pick up. I even admit in the post that I'm being a selfish ass most of the time, but it's hard because I sooo want to give an opinion when she picks up a dud and wants to see it.
She's not stupid or ignorant for not knowing a particular film was panned. She doesn't follow movies as closely as I do, so she uses descriptions as her go-to method. But I do know if it's been panned. Hence, that's when the arguments begin.
Sorry if it sounded mean -- this one story was a pretty funny one, and I wanted to tell it. And yes, she really did want to see Underdog just to see our dog react to the talking dogs on screen. I will forever give her sh*t about that.
Reply
4-07-2008 @ 10:52PM
Christopher said...
My Partner and I are huge film buffs! Between him & I we see at lest 3 films in theater per week, & always hit the film fest (In Another State)...so when we go into the video store 9Xs out of 10 we already have a clue on what we want to rent!
Reply
4-08-2008 @ 1:27AM
eugene said...
My wife has great taste in movies and she's far more critical of them than I am. She actually cares for stuff like plot, story telling and character development. If it weren't for her, my netflix queue would be nothing but big special effects drvien popcorn movies.
Reply
4-08-2008 @ 6:39AM
rachel said...
My husband and I generally don't disagree much on what to watch but we do have 2 seperate 3-at-a-time Netflix accounts so we each get to pick what we watch next but we always watch whatever we get together.
Reply
4-08-2008 @ 1:15PM
John said...
Simple solution: rent 2 movies. And why are you renting from that corporate thug Blockbuster? May Netflix drive a spike through Blockbuster's heart.
Reply
4-08-2008 @ 8:17AM
BondsBabe said...
Luckily my boyfriend and I have similar movie tastes, so we don't have problems when it comes to going to the movies or renting something. Now renting a movie or going to the theatre with my sister? A whole other ballgame! The last movie we agreed on was Eastern Promises.
We usually have this "You dragged me to see XXXXX so you have to come see XXXY with me." argument. Sometimes, we end up both liking the movie. Sometimes one of us is disappointed and sometimes both of us are disappointed.
I thought your post was cute. C'mon gals, we can laugh a little! Who hasn't put their tv on Animal Planet to see if their dog will react? Erik meant no harm!
Reply
4-08-2008 @ 9:28AM
Eric H said...
My wife and I just alternate the order on our netflix 3 at a time. ! I want to see, one she wants to see one we want to see, Works out fine, we don't HAVE to watch every movie together.
Reply
4-08-2008 @ 9:31AM
Liz Newcomb said...
Going to the cinema with my husband was always a drag, usually because he was never happy with any movie we saw, no matter how good it was (case in point: "There Will Be Blood"). His negativity would sometimes ruin a movie for me. We finally decided not to go to the cinema together anymore and I would go alone if I wanted to see something. We do watch movies together at home (he's not as picky if we haven't paid $12 each to see it) and he seems perfectly content to watch whatever crap happens to show up on TV, but hates to go out to movies.
Reply
4-08-2008 @ 9:50AM
angela said...
wowo. he is a great actor.I saw him weeks ago via webcam. I was contacted by him first on a celeb site called 'Searching Millionaire dotcom'! I also got several of his pix.
Reply
4-08-2008 @ 1:05PM
Daisy said...
I work at a popular video rental chain, so I get 10 free movie rentals a week....and my boyfriend and I use them! Usually we agree on movies - with one of us suggesting a movie and explaining to the other what sounded interesting about it. When we don't agree (like for example, he likes stupid comedies like Meet the Parents, which I find awkward and annoying, while I like horror films which he finds boring and uncomfortable) we rent it anyway and watch it separately.
Reply
4-08-2008 @ 3:12PM
rex said...
My wife doesn't like scary or violent movies. She developed this taste in movies from her father who would much rather watch a movie like "13 Going on 30" then an action movie.
My sister on the other hand would rather watch action/intense movies and my father raised us watching movies like "Aliens".
Fortunately for me there are some movies (The Bourne series) that are action intense that my wife likes that we can both enjoy and funny or romantic movies that I enjoy too. Most of the time picking out a movie at the rental store is quite a chore for us.
PS: Erik, you didn't mention if your dog enjoyed "UnderDog". Does he/she feel that my miniature wiener dogs would enjoy it? In the future could we have some reviews by your dog?
Reply
4-08-2008 @ 4:57PM
Mel said...
My man and I met at film school, which means we are both cursed with Review Snobbery. However, secretly I would want to watch Underdog to see how my dog would react...I cannot lie.
Reply
4-08-2008 @ 7:56PM
cough said...
Are you people living in some bad sitcom? Can't you pick two movies? Or three, just in case.
Reply