Is there anything more catastrophic than introducing a friend to a piece of media you love and assume they will love too, only to see them react with indifference, or worse yet, visible disgust? No, there is not. And I’ve lived through two divorces, three bankruptcies, AND “super hero fatigue.”
So you can imagine my dismay when I insisted on sharing with my friend, Jeff 1998’s Meet Joe Black, a movie that inspired me to pursue my dream of managing a Linens N’ Things, only for him to react as if I had asked him to sit through an Andy Warhol movie titled, “Kleenex” or something.
I mean, this movie stars Brad Pitt, not Bud Dwyer.
I first suspected something was amiss when I glanced over to get his reaction to my favorite part, only to see him as stone-faced as if we were watching a documentary about where our food comes from.
I knew things were really bad when I heard the faint, tell-tale, tapping on a silenced smartphone, tucked strategically just out of my sight behind the armrest, his eyes barely darting back to the screen every 40 seconds or so.
“Maybe it’s not so bad,” I told myself, “maybe a family member just died, and he HAS to check his phone.” Sadly, this was not the case.
I knew all hope was lost when Jeff had to use the restroom. He didn’t even wait for me to finish asking before explaining that I didn’t need to pause the film. I told him I didn’t mind at all, in fact, I needed to check my emails anyway, and this is a really important part coming up. He merely responded with “Nah, it’s fine.”
Thankfully, Jeff must have done a duecer as this gave me enough time to mentally weigh the long-term ramifications of a murder-suicide, and decide against.
Instead, I just got honest, and we had a deep conversation. After several hours and the employment of multiple emotional-manipulation techniques learned from an alcoholic family upbringing, Jeff finally saw the error of his ways and agreed to stop denying to himself the indisputable fact of Meet Joe Black being the “A1 Bold n’ Spicy” of cinema. He sat attentively through the rest of the film, and I can’t wait to enlighten him on “Cocoon” next. Though weirdly, he doesn’t seem to be getting phone calls and texts…
