When 2007 met 2008

It's that night again. New Year's Eve. A night that's overrated second only to senior prom -- or the first night of your first marriage. (Did both yours end in the dry heaves too?)

At least you probably don't have to rent a tux or buy a gown tonight. Although a limo or taxi will seem like money well spent after your earlier strategy of "If Steve can drink Wild Turkey, so can I" goes horribly awry.

There's only one 80s movie that I can think of that truly encompasses all the emotions of  New Year's Eve. Thankfully, it's the 1989 classic "When Harry Met Sally."

And because it's a romantic-comedy, the guys out there might tempted to rent to tonight to watch with their significant others. Don't do it! First, no female is going to be happy with a "TV date" on New Year's Eve. Second, well, I have a whole list, of course...

TOP 5 REASONS GUYS BETTER NOT TO WATCH "WHEN HARRY MET SALLY" WITH A FEMALE:

5. New York. A great city to watch in a movie. But now she'll want to know why you haven't taken her there for a shopping vacation yet. (Doesn't that question answer itself?)

4. High maintenance or low maintenance? Meg Ryan is high maintenance, and now you-know-who wants to know which one you think she is. (Hint: If she's asking this question in the first place, she's high maintenance. Otherwise, she wouldn't care.)

3. Harry's sense of humor. Billy Crystal scored easily one of the best comedic roles of the 80s. And laughing at half his lines -- "No, you pretty much want to nail them too" -- will have you ringing in the New Year on the sofa with a blanket and pillow.

2. The whole romantic comedy genre. This movie is a diamond in the rough. Enjoy it and then go back to watching "Last American Virgin" or "Victory." Show too much enjoyment and suddenly "Sleepless in Seattle" and "You Got Mail" are coming to a DVD player near you. Let's just not go there today.

1. Sex. The whole "Men can't be friends with women without wanting to have sex with them" line is a trap. The biggest bear-trap ever unleashed on the big screen. Never, ever tell a female if you agree with this or not. Instead, repeat after me: "It's just a movie, Honey. Now let's check the score of the game."

Comments

[Douglas Arthur]

Does anyone else think that the "I'll have what she's having" scene is overrated? I was embarassed by it the first time I saw it, quite frankly. If any girl had ever done anything like that to me I would have left before she finished...I know...typical guy. Seriously though...anyone else wince at this scene??

I was working at a movie theater in Buffalo when this came out and we used to have to pre-screen movies on Thursday night after hours to make sure there wee not any quality errors in the print...so what happens? Right at the climax, we experienced a brain-wrap and the print threw itself off the platter. We spent a while sifting through the spaghetti and putting it al back together. We had to splice out a big damaged section. I don't know if my bosses ever ordered a replacement print or not, but right at the end when Harry is telling Sally that he loves her, I am not sure that people at my theater heard all the dialogue!

So, there...my little Harry Met Sally rant...the movie that propagated countless Rom-Coms in the 90s. Although, to a certain degree, You could argue that it was also responsible for begatting Shaun Of The Dead a few years back.

Sorry if you did not understand my movie theater insider references to things like "brain wrap" and "platter". I could explain, but I would bore the Stuck in the 80's audience to tears. (Not nearly as much as if I went into "ghosting" and shutter speed and aperture plate, though)

[Brad]

Steve - Wild Turkey bourbon or rye?

Douglas - you gotta love the Geneva mechanism...

[Bassnote]

Steve, my wife read this, and she could tell you are a bachelor. By the way, she loves this movie, and frequntly admits to me that she is high maintenance.

[Spears]

Bourbon, Brad! Bourbon! (I haven't touched Rye since an unfortunate incident after seeing Top Gun in '86. I think I covered it before in a podcast, but I can't remember which episode.)

And yes, the "orgasm" scene is incredibly over-rated. Sure, it's fun watching Meg do it. But once was enough. And I just feel bad for Harry, ya know? It's like, "Hey, I didn't make an ass out of you in public. Why are you doing it to me?"

[Spears]

Bourbon, Brad! Bourbon! (I haven't touched Rye since an unfortunate incident after seeing Top Gun in '86. I think I covered it before in a podcast, but I can't remember which episode.)

And yes, the "orgasm" scene is incredibly over-rated. Sure, it's fun watching Meg do it. But once was enough. And I just feel bad for Harry, ya know? It's like, "Hey, I didn't make an a-- out of you in public. Why are you doing it to me?"

[Douglas Arthur]

Honestly Brad, I feel a bit neutral about the Geneva Mechanism.

I always called it the "intermittent gear", but what do I know??

It always amazed me when things went wrong in the projection booth, how many people would assume that you could "just rewind it a few minutes" like it was a VHS tape.

The switch to polyester film stock in '95 was the cause of more problems than anything else. It held/created static so much more easily than celluloid and caused more brain wraps and damage than anything else. With celluloid, if the film broke, it broke. With polyester, it would stretch and burn and destroy the sprockets in the film gate! hated it!

I was last in a projection booth in 2001, before I made a career change, and the theater I worked in in Phoenix got one of the first digital projectors in the country. It was very cool, though I could instantly tell the resolution difference. I think the technology has gotten better. I saw 300 in digital, and Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer in Digital and have to say they looked great! So film may eventually go the way of the dinosaur.

Movie theaters themselves may go the way of the dinosaur too, but that is a different topic of discussion for a different blog probably.

Sorry Steve, I didn't meant to hijack you Harry Met Sally post...but, arguably, it is for the better. :)

[Al]

Never seen the movie. I guess I'm not totally stuck in the '80's.

[Christine]

I'm in no way stuck in the eighties, but this is my favorite movie. I'm far from a girlie-girl, but I would just melt if the man I loved hunted me down on New Years Eve and confessed his love. I get happy chills just thinking about it. This is the best love story ever, and the most realistic.

[Spears]

Best love story ever? Wow, hardy praise.

I'm not sure I'd even give it best love of the 80s status.

I think I'd go with "Say Anything" for that. Even though I think Diane Court's reasons for getting back with Lloyd are somewhat dubious. But like Lloyd says, he doesn't really care.

Other better romances of the 80s:
-- The Princess Bride
-- Romancing the Stone
-- Officer and a Gentleman
-- Ladyhawke
-- Reckless
-- Moonstruck

I guess I should save that list for Valentine's Day.

[GlennS.]

What bugged me most about this movie is that I was actually in one of those on-again/off-again relationships for the better part of the 80's. My sister even referred to it once as a "When Harry Met Sally Thing." Except we never quite reached that happy ending in the movie.

Not to worry. Since then I met Ms. Right, and yes Sean, we even watch Meg Ryan romantic comedites together ... but luckily, she prefers "You've Got Mail."

[Marissa]

Hey! I'm chiming in late on this, but who cares. I'm here and going to give my opinion.
I've seen this movie from start to finish exactly 2 times. The orgasm scene is embarrassing for the sake that considering how high maintenance Sally is, I can't believe she'd really do that in public.
With that being said, I've had the conversation with male friends about 'to sex or not to sex' with a female friend. All of them (except the gay one. My 'weapons' scare him) say at some point in time they'd want to do the nasty...even if it required use of alcohol to get me to agree. Not that they'd stoop so low, but it's always on the back burners of their brains.
I guess I was an odd gal out watching this movie because I hated Sally. I wanted to punch her in the chops. Perhaps I'm more like a guy.

[Shelly]

I like When Harry Met Sally. I think it's a crack up...including Billy Crystal's sexist jokes/one-liners. In fact, I may need to go find a recording of it and watch it tonight. :) Now, having said that...my husband would probably disagree. And, we all know I'm high maintenance (but not as much as his first wife)!

[Carla]

I'll give you guys that the 'orgasm' scene is ridiculous.. but more so (for me) because they made SUCH a big deal over it.

As for the movie.. While I'm not convinced it's the best love story movie fromt he 80's. It does rank at the top. However, I'm going to lean towards Moonstruck as being one of the best! But still WHMS does have one of the best one liners of all time: "You made a woman meow?" (which always made me think what he did to get that reaction!) Classic!!

BTW, I don't know Steve. I'm thinking that there are a few of us females out here that would love nothing more than to stay home on New Years Eve with the significant other and have a tv date night. My hubby and I prefered staying home on New Years Eve, with some take out Chinese, liquor and a little one on one... Good Times!!!

Happy New Year All! Be safe!

[Spears]

It's 2008 here on the East Coast!

[Bassnote]

Were still about a half-hour shy here in the midwest.

[Marissa]

Happy New Year Steve!! and 80s Nation!! xoxox

[Carla]

Yes ... Happy New Year all!! Waiting for all my west coast friends to join us in the New Year!!

[Tom]

Ahhh! Marissa beat me to it! Happy New year 80's nation! Let's hope it's a rockin' 80's year.

[Bassnote]

Happy New Year Steve!

[80sfan]

Douglas you have completely thrown me into a time wrap with your theatre talk. It has been years since I heard the term brain-wrap as I too was working in a movie theatre for 5 years during the late 80s/early 90s.

I have very fond memories of this movie when it came out. It was one of those rare occasions when the movie was not heavily marketed and it gained momentum week after week simply due to word of mouth. It was a must-see movie of the summer.

I too watched this movie for the first time at a midnight pre-screening and it reminds me of how fabulous it is to go into a movie without having a clue what it was about. Basically Meg Ryan was in it and we were there!

I adore the "I'll have what she's having" scene. I think it was one of the best moments in film. But yet my movie going experience plays a key role in my opinion as it was a completely surprise. I think someone who might watch the film for the first time today has more than likely already seen or heard of this scene already.

My co-workers and I loved this scene so much that we knew how far into the movie it was and would sneak into the back of the theatre to see the crowded reaction to it. Priceless!

If you don't already have it, I highly recommend the DVD edition with the Rob Reiner commentary.

[Spiky Sandy]

My favorite movie! I can't see how a woman can be so high maintenance. That's entertaining in and of itself. The best New Year's Eve scene ever!

Happy New Year everyone!!!